Our cars have to operate in a wide range of Wilmington, North Carolina temperatures, stop and go traffic and your engine coolant must be able to perform ‘no matter what’. Think for a moment about the environment where the coolant works. Very hot, high pressure, corrosive…and when was the last time you had your cars cooling system inspected?

And all the while, it has to protect the components of the cooling system from corrosion. These components radiator hoses, heater hoses, heater controll valves, bye-pass hoses, water pump, thermostat, cooling fan and radiators are made from steel and aluminum, plastics and rubber. The graet thing is Wilmington, North Carolina as Atlantic Car Care to inspect your auto coolant system, as well as perform our 96 point vehicle inspection. The coolant has to be formulated to protect against corrosion for all of these different materials. That’s why different manufacturers recommend different types of anti-freeze for our Wilmington, North Carolina vehicles.

There are several different ‘families’ of anti-freeze available to us here in Wilmington, North Carolina. Your owners’ manual will tell you what kind you should use. Of course, Atlantic Car Care Wilmington, North Carolina best keep sercet in Auto Service, will know what to put in your car.

It’s important to stay on top of this because coolant system failure is the most common mechanical problem people have here in Wilmington, North Carolina. Regular service at Atlantic Car Care needs to be done to avoid failures and also to keep your warranty in place.

While the specifics of the service required may vary from vehicle to vehicle, your service consultant at Atlantic Car Care will know what to do. You’ll be advised to replace the coolant at specified intervals, a good rule of thumb is every 30,000 miles or 24 months.

Some manufacturers may recommend periodic coolant system flushes. A flush adds a cleaning step to the fluid replacement process. Again, check to see what your service consultant recommends.

Someday, you may have to deal with an overheating problem, so you need to know what to do if your coolant temperature warning light comes on or your temperature gauge is in the hot zone.

Now, overheating can be very expensive. You can literally melt down your engine and have to replace the whole thing. So take the warning signs seriously and take immediate steps.

First turn off the air conditioner. This will lower engine temperature right away. Next turn your heater to maximum heat and run the fan at high speed. You might need to roll down the windows, but this will take a lot of heat off the engine.

Pull over as soon as you can safely do so, especially if you are stuck in slow-moving traffic, and shut the car off. It may take as much as 45 minutes for the engine to cool to the point that it’s safe to operate the car again.

If you need to add water or antifreeze, be sure to wait until the car cools down. Opening the radiator cap or even the overflow bottle when the coolant is hot and under pressure may result in serious burns.
Most of the time it is much cheaper to have your vehicle towed in to Atlatic Car Care Wilmington, North Carolina most Trusted Auto service center.

So after the engine has cooled for 45 minutes or so, look to see if the coolant is low in the overflow tank. If so, you can cover the overflow tank cap with a large cloth and open the lid. Then start the engine and pour in some water or antifreeze. Pouring it in when the car is running will circulate the new, cool fluid with the warmer fluid in the engine and avoid engine damage.

Of course, overheating is a serious problem and you need to get it fixed right away. Atlantic Car Care can make sure the coolant is right before you drive home.

Those spring and winter inspections really come in handy when they head off a cooling system problem. And don’t forget that severe service driving conditions, like towing or hot, dusty driving around Wilmington, North Carolina, mean that you’ll need to service your coolant more frequently.

We suggest that you have Atlantic Car Care inspect your coolant system to find small problems before they become big, and to change belts and hoses before they fail. After all, we don’t want you to lose your cool out there in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Below is a few coolant system services Atlantic Car Care offers:
The BG CT2 installs new 50/50 coolant into a vehicle’s cooling system while simultaneously removing the old, spent coolant. The BG CT2 can be refilled and emptied with a flip of a switch. No need to carry heavy buckets of coolant all around the shop. The system is small and compact, taking up the least possible space. It is completely portable and can be used inside or outside the shop. Unlike other systems, the BG CT2 has the capacity of transfusing the coolant with or without running the engine. Most vehicles can be serviced with the engine off, thus preventing the common problem of continuous intermixing of new and used coolant due to the closing and opening of the thermostat. This process backflushes the vehicle’s cooling system, removing scale and debris not accessible when going with the normal direction of coolant flow.