Many people don’t realize the importance of the fluid flush for their vehicle. Proper fluid flushes save car owners thousands of dollars over the life of the vehicle. Flushes prevent rust build-up inside the lines that transport the fluid. The master cylinder can fail and brake calipers and wheel cylinders can stick. Flushes also limit hose fatigue. These types of issues can happen with all your fluids, including: power steering, differential, clutch and transmission. Flushes can even prevent costly transmission replacement.
Unfortunately, we have found that not all repair shops are providing proper fluid flushes. The industry has referred to these as “drain and fills”. A proper flush is different than a drain and fill in a number of ways. A proper flush is done at regular intervals based upon climate and amount and type of miles driven. It includes cleaning out areas that trap the fluid, like a brake or clutch reservoir. It doesn’t make sense to leave the dirt in these areas and put new fluid in. The fluid will simply become contaminated with the next start-up.
An example to further demonstrate the difference follows. Draining and filling a cooling system requires draining a radiator of it’s fluid. What comes out is about 50% of the system’s capacity. This requires a technician to replace what came out, again 50% of the fluid. Now, you have 50% contaminated fluid and 50% new fluid. What will happen to the new fluid? The new fluid mixes with the old and is contaminated. So, you paid for a service and you still have dirty fluid in your system. The proper way is to flush the system thoroughly with water. This will remove all fluid from the engine, heater core, radiator, water pump and hoses. When the new fluid is added, it is clean and remains so. We do not recommend long-life coolant in any vehicle. It is toxic to the system.
Here at MARS Mobile Auto Repair Service, we always take the additional time to complete a proper fluid flush. A small amount of preventive maintenance through regular fluid flushes can save you a great deal of money down the road.