elysium19
01-22-2008, 08:29 PM
OK, I'm gonna get some shit for this, but that’s the price I'll pay for some good information.
I've been doing most of my own maintenance since I bought the car at 19k miles, including differential oil, engine oil, plugs, brakes, etc. I believe (although really I should go check for sure now) that the previous owner had done all the scheduled maintenance dates up to that point. The car now has 49K miles on it, and is 3.5 years old.
For some ungodly reason, I forgot about coolant. I think I topped it off when I first got it, but the coolant system has not been touched for over 2 years and 30K miles, and possibly contains the car’s original fluid from Japan. I just hurried outside and checked and, I can’t even tell for sure, but I don’t see any fluid through the reservoir bottle anywhere above the “low” mark. I believe it is very, very low. Just to make clear, the car seems to be running just fine, which is reassuring.
About 3-4 times over the past few weeks when it has been very cold out (well below freezing) I got the radiator/coolant light come on for just about 10 seconds at startup, then it went away, so I wasn’t too concerned, but that’s what got me thinking about this. I know that low coolant can be really bad when the engine is very hot…but this is the opposite.
Can anyone let me know what possible damage occurred here, given the cold temps? If there are no major mechanical problems, is it likely that there is still SOME coolant down there, and that my engine hasn’t been frying itself?
Needless to say, first thing in the morning I am running out to get a bottle of coolant (50/50 premix), and I am reading the radiator flush DIY as we speak, for this weekend. I douched this one up good, I know, so please keep the flak to a minimum. Any advice or informed speculation about my engine’s condition, though, would be appreciated.
-Andrew
I've been doing most of my own maintenance since I bought the car at 19k miles, including differential oil, engine oil, plugs, brakes, etc. I believe (although really I should go check for sure now) that the previous owner had done all the scheduled maintenance dates up to that point. The car now has 49K miles on it, and is 3.5 years old.
For some ungodly reason, I forgot about coolant. I think I topped it off when I first got it, but the coolant system has not been touched for over 2 years and 30K miles, and possibly contains the car’s original fluid from Japan. I just hurried outside and checked and, I can’t even tell for sure, but I don’t see any fluid through the reservoir bottle anywhere above the “low” mark. I believe it is very, very low. Just to make clear, the car seems to be running just fine, which is reassuring.
About 3-4 times over the past few weeks when it has been very cold out (well below freezing) I got the radiator/coolant light come on for just about 10 seconds at startup, then it went away, so I wasn’t too concerned, but that’s what got me thinking about this. I know that low coolant can be really bad when the engine is very hot…but this is the opposite.
Can anyone let me know what possible damage occurred here, given the cold temps? If there are no major mechanical problems, is it likely that there is still SOME coolant down there, and that my engine hasn’t been frying itself?
Needless to say, first thing in the morning I am running out to get a bottle of coolant (50/50 premix), and I am reading the radiator flush DIY as we speak, for this weekend. I douched this one up good, I know, so please keep the flak to a minimum. Any advice or informed speculation about my engine’s condition, though, would be appreciated.
-Andrew