Check your car in colder weather

The mercury dipped low Tuesday night and promised to dip even lower Wednesday evening.  One thing most of us have in common is making sure our car starts on these colder mornings.  Mike Bennett from Savannah Tire says one of the best things you can do is check your anti-freeze (coolant level.)

Bennett shows me as he uses a gauge to pull fluid out of the radiator.  He says you need to make sure there's enough coolant and that the quality of what's already there is still good.  "You don't want your engine to freeze based on the fluid quality," he says.  Bennett says the older the coolant, basically the less it performs, especially in cold weataher. And he says "you can damage your radiator or even damage your engine" if there's a problem with either low fluid or old coolant that doesn't do what it should" to regulate temperature. 

He suggests getting the fluid checked periodically and flushing the radiator every 2 years or 24,000 miles.  (professionals use a machine to flush out old coolant that may be rusty and put in new fluid.  It normally costs on average about $70.00)

If you know your way around cars, you can probably at least check the fluid level and quality yourself.  I found a gauge that looked a lot like Bennett's for $1.29 at a local auto supply store.  There was another one for about $4.00.  A jug of coolant runs about 10 bucks.

Bennett does say don't just take a quick look under the hood and assume the coolant level is too low. "Actually when it gets warmer the fluid will rise or expand a little bit in this reservoir or whatever kind of container it's in.  So, you don't want to fill it too high or the fluid will have nowhere to expand.  It will end up spilling out."

Bennett says most vehicles will have markings to show the right levels needed for the coolant.  He also says some people confuse air conditioning freon with versus radiator coolant, which is needed all year long.  "The bottom line is if you're not sure when you had this checked, doing it soon may save you a lot of trouble," Bennett tells me.