Do YOU wear safety glasses when doing a coolant service?
No. I wear eye glasses and use safety glasses when there is a hazard.
Thanks for replying
As of few years ago, any time I work on my cars, I wear safety goggles. I have glasses but they are not large enough for full protection and they are also expensive, so I need to protect them too.
True that when you are changing the coolant, you probably do not need goggles, but the problem is when something leads to another and you get involved in the deeper crevices of the car, you are not going to quit and go grab your goggles. You have warmed up and are going to keep going until you have metal clips flying around your garage-at least this is what happened to me a few years ago, got lucky and just hit my forehead; lesson learned.
I have one blind eye, and my good eye has cataracts, but the eye doc thinks 5 to 10% of total blindness is to big of a risk at this point to operate, yes I always wear safety glasses, even wore them last night to split crab legs for dinner!
Was younger painting the eaves, big old glob of paint dropped into my eye, rinse and seek emergency treatment the can said, rinsed as well as I could er did some drops to look for scratches to the eye, saw none and sent me home. Ethylene Glycol can cause vision damage, why take a chance?
So just last weekend, Safety glasses on I was hitting the end of a dandelion digger to get a tin can out of the auger for the 2 stage snowthrower, and the plastic handle shattered and would have hit my eye, but bounced harmlessly of the safety glasses, be careful, not whatever.
If I have to crawl under a car, I normally will don glasses, just to keep debris out of my eye. If I was opening a radiator cap on a cold car, I wouldnât necessarily take extra effort, but would if it was warm or hot.
Any time I get under anything or use any kind of a tool that creates particles (cutting, drilling, sanding etc.) I ALWAYS wear safety glasses. Having experienced loss of sight via cataracts and had both eyes operated on, I donât ever want to risk my vision.
For the record, Iâve found the safety glasses at the auto parts stores to be far better than those at the hardware stores. Theyâre far more comfortable (I think) and they donât fog.
I read the back of an antifreeze jug not too long ago and for disposal it actually suggested to dispose of in household septic system. I donât remember what brand it was. Seems like not a great idea. Anyway, disposing of antifreeze properly for a home mechanic seems a bit more challenging than motor oil, where you can take to most parts stores or town dumps.
Ethylene glycol, the major component of the green antifreeze, is quite biodegradable and would most likely be perfectly acceptable for most wastewater treatment plants. In a big system like that, it gets diluted and the microorganisms could digest it. I wouldnât do it in a septic system since theyâre small and the microorganisms are subject to being overwhelmed. What you read isnât ridiculous, but I wouldnât call it a recommended practice.
A 2006 car i would definitely do the hoses at the same time if they are original. Upper, lower, and the 5 or 6 little hoses. But if you ainât scared of them breaking and what comes with it when they do then just do the coolant at least. Coolant is one of the easiest maintenance jobs a DIYâer can do. Drain, fill, bleed, and top off. At the most a pair of pliers to turn the drain plug is all you need you donât even need a Jack.