Hello,
I have a question about my Chevrolet Blazer 2019.
I have about 15,000 km so far and I attached my coolant level picture.
I don’t understand if I need to add more coolant or I still have some time.
Please see picture attached.
It seems slightly below the upper side of the arrow, it it enough for now? What’s the minimum level allowed in this kind of tank? How much more time I can drive without topping off the level. My next regular maintenance is schedule around 2 months from now and I drive around 20-30km per day.
Thank you
The level should be in the crosshatch area above the arrows.
Tester
Which means I should add more coolant? and it’s not ok as of now?
Not low enough to worry about.
I would buy a gallon of the EXACT coolant specified, and fill it with the specified mix (50/50 is typical) to get it into the hatched area. But this is not an urgent issue, unless you’ve noticed a significant drop over a short period.
Is that picture with the coolant hot or cold. If cold, don’t worry but if hot, I would get a gallon of premix from the dealer and fill to the bottom of the cross hatch cold. If you live an an area that does not go below 0 degrees F, (-17C), then you could add a small amount of distilled water instead.
Hi, this picture is from when the engine is cold. So you mean if it’s cold this level should be enough for now without adding? Since my next maintenance is like couple of months from now, and I drive 20-30 km every day. I just wonder what’s the minimum according to this picture when there is a risk of notification popping up on my dashboard.
If you still are in the warranty period contact the dealer . Your warranty should be 36 months or 36000 miles which one occurs first.
Why would you want to wait until it is too low? Adding a bit of the right pre-mix or some distilled water takes about 5 minutes and costs very little. This is an extremely easy and cheap bit of preventive maintenance.
I’d keep checking periodically. There is quite a margin for error built into the system. If the engine is warmed up and running, you should see the level drop even lower but still be about halfway between the parting seam and the bottom of the tank.
If the cold level, engine off drops below about halfway between the parting line and the bottom of the tank, then the system could start drawing air and that will cause the temp gauge to fluctuate between hot and normal.
As long as the coolant stays at this level, you are OK to let it go until the next service date. Just make sure whoever services the vehicle is using the correct coolant.
I think it’s the opposite. Hot engine, the level will rise. Cold, the level drops. No?
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As long as you can see coolant in the bottle when the engine is both cold and hot there’s no emergency to add more coolant now. If it were my car however I’d probably bring it into the diagonal pattern when cold by adding a little. Make a mark on the bottle where the level is located and monitor that it isn’t changing much day to day or week to week providing the engine is the same temperature each time you check.
The coolant expands with temperature. For example if there are 4 liters of coolant in the system when the engine is cold, you may measure 4.5 liters when the engine is hot. Even though it is exactly the same coolant, hot or cold. Years ago cars had no coolant expansion bottles, and when the engine got extra hot coolant would just overflow the radiator and onto the ground. Folks got tired of having to top off the coolant every couple weeks so someone thought of the plastic bottle. That’s all that bottle does.
BTW, just b/c the level in the bottle is ok doesn’t necessary imply the level in the radiator is full. That has to be checked independently of the level in the bottle. If you don’t know how, next time ask your shop to show you.
Coolant circulates through the the surge tank, if there is coolant in the surge tank, the engine and radiator are full.
You misunderstood me. The coolant reservoir on GM vehicles and others without a pressure controlling radiator cap is often below the level of the top of the radiator. Not sure how air gets into the system but the level in the radiator will drop, pushing coolant going into the reservoir.
The system is self bleeding so when the engine is started, the coolant in the reservoir will drop about 2 inches. But yes your statement is true. Whether engine off or engine running, the coolant will show a higher level hot over cold, but the level for engine running will be lower than engine off.
At least that is the case on my Silverado.
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