Replace Coolant (Flush vs Drain & Fill)

[Triforceofcourage]

I have a 2011 Hyundai Sonata with 60k miles on it (90% highway miles).
I've had it for about 2 years & 3 months.
So the manual says I have to "replace coolant" which I'm assuming is the engine coolant.
The dealer charges 140 for a "flush" & 70 for a drain & fill.

Which one should I do? The dealer obviously recommends the flush and says they don't even offer a drain and fill but would do it if I wanted.

What do you recommend? The manual doesn't really specify. It just says "replace coolant".
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Triforce

 

[EagleKeeper]

Do it yourself. $10-15 of Prestone and hour of your time. Maybe a set if pliers along with a hose.

And should do this every couple of years.

If you want to flush, I believe that you need drain the radiator, opening the petcock. Close the petcock partway and run a hose into the top. Run the engine until you have clear water showing at the radiator top.

Stop engine. Let radiator drain out.

Close petcock, pour in gallon of pure coolant.
Start engine and let idle to flush air. Top off radiator with 50/50 mixture and ensure overflow is properly filled.

Drain fill is just the first step out the petcock and last step to flush air and top off.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Usually a flush on the coolant system is used for, well, flushing gunk and stuff out. Normally you should only need a drain and refill, especially at only 60k miles.

Guess I'm spoiled with my Dexcool, I get 5 years out of my coolant changes 😀

 

[gururu2]

The car is pretty new so I would just do the radiator drain and refill that. If you keep up with the coolant maintenance I would not foresee you having any problems down the line. Is there a recommended interval for a water pump change? All the coolant will be changed when that occurs. Suggest sticking with Hyundai brand coolant from the dealer.

 

[kitatech]

The car is pretty new so I would just do the radiator drain and refill that. If you keep up with the coolant maintenance I would not foresee you having any problems down the line. Is there a recommended interval for a water pump change? All the coolant will be changed when that occurs. Suggest sticking with Hyundai brand coolant from the dealer.

yes....

 

[Triforceofcourage]

Update: So I brought it in and asked for the drain and fill only. They accidentally did the flush anyway and I only paid for the drain and fill since it was their mistake 🙂

 

[ViviTheMage]

Update: So I brought it in and asked for the drain and fill only. They accidentally did the flush anyway and I only paid for the drain and fill since it was their mistake 🙂

:thumbsup:

 

[BlitzPuppet]

Update: So I brought it in and asked for the drain and fill only. They accidentally did the flush anyway and I only paid for the drain and fill since it was their mistake 🙂

Haha, you lucked out there. How much did you pay? Around here the shops wanted $120 or so for I flush I think...

When I changed the coolant before I sold the car on my 2004 Impala, I opted for a drain, run water until clear, and fill since the 3.4 engine is notorious for the LIM Gasket leak. I wanted to be as gentle as possible!

 

[mvbighead]

Yikes, that seems steep regardless.

Honestly, unless it's been seriously neglected, the drain and fill is a fine approach. Think of it like an oil change.

I seriously can't seem to figure why that costs sooo much more than an oil change. They're damn near the same process.

 

[T2urtle]

a lot of newer cars are coming out with long life-ish or 100k coolant. Not sure about your brand but I know nissan went for regular green (60k) to blue for (100k+), same goes for honda and toyota with its PINK and red colors. I would think its the same for Hyundai /kia

but a good drain and fill is all you need. Also not all prestone off the shelf is good for asian cars. While they might work great for ford/gm/mopar, asians cars normally want a coolant formula of NO- silicate and NO-phosphate (i cant spell the chemicals).

coolant flush at my infiniti dealership is 129 or 159. I do my own drain and fills, nissan coolant only runs $25 for full strength and that gets me two drain and fills.

 

[Mark R]

Hyundai specify standard (regular green) ethylene glycol coolant with first change at 60k miles and every 20k or 2 years thereafter.

*Do not mix any other type of coolant with regular coolant*. Many of the new anti-corrosion formulations are not compatible with the old style and will either be deactivated, or can react and form sand or sludge.

If you do want to change to a longer-life coolant, then you need a full flush first, but even this can be troublesome as not all long-life formulations are compatible with all gasket/seal materials.

A non-amine, non-silicate, non-borate, low-phosphate hybrid organic acid coolant (e.g. Valovoline Zerex Asian) would be a suitable long-life upgrade for your hyundai after a full coolant flush.