Dealer No Longer Fill Coolant/Poss Leak

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

V6Raptor

Full Access Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
Posts
195
Reaction score
167
Location
SoCal
Hello folks. So I took my ‘19 in for an oil change at a local dealership here in SoCal and noticed in their printout that it specifically states no refill of coolant or brake fluid. Now I understand brake fluid but coolant? I recall before that the dealer refilled wiper fluid and coolant. I asked the service advisor when I picked up my truck and his explanation was that since the coolant is “recycled,” there shouldn’t be a need to refill the coolant. He also said that since they used to refill coolant during oil changes, people wouldn’t know if there was a leak or not so they stopped. Thoughts?
 

Old-Raptor-guy

FRF Addict
Joined
Jul 25, 2021
Posts
1,505
Reaction score
3,206
Location
USA
It is not odd. Pretty much no quick lube place tops off coolant anymore.

There are probably 5-6 reasons I can think of.

A big one is this.

Coolant bottles used to be unpressurized "over flow" bottles. In the last 25 years coolant bottles known as "degas bottles" are the norm.

Degas bottles are integrated into the pressurized side of the cooling system, and most if not all have the "radiator cap" on them. it is dangerous to open a hot pressurized cooling system.

When ever you have a question, the answer is almost always liability/safety.
 

Old-Raptor-guy

FRF Addict
Joined
Jul 25, 2021
Posts
1,505
Reaction score
3,206
Location
USA
I'd find a new dealer
The brake fluid and coolant should be ok but for fock sakes they should look and let you know
absolutely, brake fluid leaks are fairly rare so most the time low brake fluid is due to brake pads being worn and the fluid has been displaced to the calipers and will return to the master cylinder when brake pads are replaced.

always fun to replace brakes front and rear and then have 1/2 a quart of brake fluid on the ground because someone just kept topping it off.
 
Top