When Should I Change My Antifreeze?

Manufacturers generally recommend coolant changes every 2-3 years or 30,000 miles. Some do change theirs every year for maximum corrosion protection, especially if your vehicle has aluminum heads, blocks or radiators.

The life of antifreeze depends generally on it's ability to prevent corrosion. Once that ability is gone, corrosion will begin and start eating away the metal inside the engine and radiator. To find out if should to change your antifreeze you need to test it. You can purchase test strips that indicate the condition and whether it should be changed.

Reverse flush is the ideal way to change coolant because if you only drain and add, it can leave a significant amount of the old coolant in the engine block. It will also help removing deposits and scale which will interfere with good heat transfer.