Composition, features, problems, and treatment related to cooling fluid – a review

Abstract

Vehicle coolant is one of the most important operating fluids. Along with changes in the design of engines, the composition of the coolant has also changed. The main function of the coolant is heat transfer (HT). It absorbs up to one-third of the heat energy generated by the engine. The coolant is also responsible for protecting the cooling system from damage caused by corrosion, scaling and deposits. The unfavorable working environment of the engine is also affected by smaller capacities of the cooling systems (CSs) of the drive units, extreme temperatures and increased pressure in the CS, enhancing the importance of the fluid composition. The coolant must be replaced every three years or 100,000 kilometers or every five years or 250,000 kilometers with the Organic Acid Technology (OAT). It is worth remembering that coolant of unknown composition or low quality used for a long time can expose the system to engine overheating, corrosion, deposits and restriction of liquid flow. This can lead to engine failure, in extreme cases even engine seizure. Currently, there are many types of fluids, including nanocoolants with different compositions, that are available on the cooling market. The article presents these fluids, describe the most common failures of CSs, present the currently used methods of fluid replacement in the engine and proposes an innovative method based on the pressure method, which allows both replacing the fluid in the entire system and cleaning it.