Changing engine coolant.

[bigrhino]

I have a 2011 Tahoe. Can I change the coolant myself?

 

[Doubeleive]

I have a 2011 Tahoe. Can I change the coolant myself?

yep, when you drain it have the front of the vehicle sloped down/forward (slightly) then when refilling do the opposite have the front of the vehicle up (slightly) this way all the trapped air can come out, if it hasn't been changed in a long time it may be advisable to drain it and refill with water and add some radiator cleaner (as advised by the cleaner directions on the bottle), then drain again and refill with fresh coolant I have found it helps a lot.

 

[SnowDrifter]

^^ That's about all there is to it

Pop the lower rad hose, let it drain. You'll get some more out if you remove the heater hoses coming off the water pump.

Fill it through the upper radiator hose so the water pump doesn't get airlocked

 

[cmc76]

Not to be " that guy" but I remember the old tale of once you flush the coolant you get a leak.
Sure as shit, the 2 trucks I've flushed , I've had radiators repaired.
Coincidence.....probably.

I've also flushed 4 that had no issue. So who knows

 

[SnowDrifter]

Not to be " that guy" but I remember the old tale of once you flush the coolant you get a leak.
Sure as shit, the 2 trucks I've flushed , I've had radiators repaired.
Coincidence.....probably.

I've also flushed 4 that had no issue. So who knows

We don't use silicated coolant any more. I think that was just bad timing. It's easy to say "Don't do XYZ or you'll get a leak" trying to form a correlation causation argument when in reality, it's just standard maintenance on a rig as it ages. At what point is standard maintenance blamed for an expected mileage related failure?

I've seen just as many water pumps get corroded and heater cores plugged up from junk due to not changing the coolant.


142k on mine. Original radiator, heater core connectors. I change my coolant regularly and recently, put honda coolant in it as an experiment. Hell, the water pump was fine when I took it off at 140k but I didn't put it back on just out of principle.

 

[cmc76]

Uhh....ok then.

 

[thompsoj22]

Uhh....ok then.

I have had the same post coolant service leaks as you have, Just did a flush and replaced all hoses and heater "T,s" and im staring at the waterpump knowing that i should have changed it also. I think that the components that leak after a flush were on borrowed time anyway so might as well do the maint as prescribed and see what happens. If the flushes were done in accordance with manufacturers fluids and intervals i dont think replacing the coolant will ever create a leak.

 

[bigrhino]

Thanks everyone.

 

[manderson7015]

Just did upper and lower rad hoses on my '10 Hoe. Pulled lower let everything drain. Changed hoses and threw those damn factory clamps in the trash put old school clamps on. What a couple pos! Anyways put dex cool back in reservoir and let it warm up. Let cool for 15 min. Burped hoses...and viola.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk