How dangerous is lack of coolant for cars?
Coolant is one of the important but often forgotten components of a car.
Harmful effects when car lacks coolant
To keep the engine and other equipment in the vehicle operating normally at the allowable temperature, users should regularly check the coolant. Lack of coolant can lead to the following dangers:
Engine overheating
As the name suggests, coolant helps cool the car engine. The piston moves up and down in the engine several thousand times per minute. Therefore, a lack of coolant will cause heat to accumulate inside the piston, making the car hot both inside and outside. In addition, the car's engine power will also decrease sharply.
Engine failure/failure
When an engine overheats, a car can experience a sudden loss of performance, resulting in shaking or stalling. This is especially dangerous when driving on the highway.
Too high engine temperature also melts metal parts inside the engine such as piston rings, pistons...
In addition, high temperature causes parts to expand, covers the combustion chamber, causing the piston to jam in the cylinder, cracks the head gasket that holds the coolant, and can even cause dangerous fires and explosions.
Increased repair costs
Not only does it damage the engine, lack of coolant also forces the car owner to replace many parts such as cylinder head gaskets, water pumps, pistons or engines. The cost of repairing and replacing these parts is quite high.
Increased heat consumption
An overheated engine will operate less efficiently, resulting in higher fuel consumption than normal. This is both costly to run and harmful to the environment.
How often should car coolant be changed?
To keep the car engine running normally at low temperatures, the car owner should check the coolant regularly. The coolant tank is usually located under the hood, inside the engine compartment.
During operation, the operator should monitor the condition of the cooling water system using the digital instrument cluster. If the needle is at C (Cool), the temperature of the engine compartment is stable. If the needle is at H (Hot), the cooling water system needs to be checked, topped up or replaced.
According to experts' recommendations, after a car has run about 40,000 - 50,000 km (equivalent to 2-3 years), the radiator should be cleaned and replaced with new water. However, if the car travels more, in harsh weather conditions... the coolant can quickly run out or leak. Therefore, it is necessary to check the coolant regularly.
