Radiator flush on a system that does not have radiator cap?

MARISSA_MABRY

MEMBER
2002 FORD ESCAPE
V6
2WD
AUTOMATIC
220,000 MILES

I went to get my oil changed today, and they wanted to flush my radiator. They said it was "dry and dirty". I do not have a radiator cap. My coolant reservoir is filled to the max line and my car is not overheating. I am confused on what to do now? My impression was that my coolant would be empty if my radiator was dry.

3 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Yeah. I agree that the word dry doesn't make sense. However, if you had no cap on the bottle, I would recommend flushing the coolant out and putting a cap on it. You don't want contamination in the coolant which will happen if the bottle is not covered.

Here is a guide on coolant service that will help explain this:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/coolant-flush-and-refill-all-cars

It is good that you don't have an issue right now but I would not wait until you have an issue to take care of this. Let me know what questions you have. Thanks

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Tuesday, November 24th, 2020 AT 4:28 PM

MARISSA_MABRY

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I have a cap on my coolant reservoir. My car is a 2002 Ford Escape so it has a pressurized system that does not have a radiator cap at all. I am not missing anything, my car simply does not have it. My coolant reservoir looks clean and is full.

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Wednesday, November 25th, 2020 AT 2:49 AM

DANNY L

MECHANIC
5,648 POSTS

Hello, I'm Danny.

It sounds like they might just be trying to up sell you on a coolant flush. Places do that to make more money off you. If the level is fine and the car is running good not overheating then I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to test the condition of the coolant you can go to any auto parts store and buy coolant test strips. You just dip them into the coolant and it will tell you the condition of the coolant as to being good or dirty. Just wanted to add my 2 cents. Hope this helps and thanks again for using 2CarPros.

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Wednesday, November 25th, 2020 AT 12:20 PM