Not to get confused, coolant and antifreeze refer to the same fluid that is crucial to your engine. The names refer to that essential fluid's ability in your engine to cool when the engine is creating heat and to continue to flow when the engine isn’t running, and temperatures fall precipitously.

You might say that, before you start the engine, that liquid is antifreeze. Once your engine is running, it’s coolant. It does both. It doesn’t freeze when the thermometer gets dangerously low and it doesn’t boil when the engine is creating heat.

The heat comes from friction within the engine. As parts move, they rub together and that creates heat. Oil helps to reduce the friction, which is why it’s essential to change your car, truck or SUV’s oil on schedule. But oil doesn’t eliminate all the heat. The coolant finishes the job carrying heat out of the engine and into the radiator where air is pulled through to carry away the heat. But, until the engine is running, the fluid’s capacity as a coolant is dormant. It is more potential than active.

In the summer, the fluid doesn’t need to serve as an antifreeze. Temperatures generally won’t fall low enough to risk freezing the fluid. But, with winter, temperatures can get darn cold. If the antifreeze isn’t up to snuff, before you ever try to start your car, truck or SUV, you could have a catastrophic mechanical breakdown.

Engine blocks can crack when antifreeze isn’t 'antifreeze' enough. 

To ensure that your antifreeze is able to take the worst that a Johnsburg winter is liable to throw at us, you can have it checked. You might want to do that while having your car, truck or SUV’s oil changed. You might even want to have your vehicle completely winterized while you’re at it.

While a qualified auto repair technician is testing your antifreeze, they can also test the fluid’s capacity as a coolant; it needs to do both with equal efficiency. You want it to go with the flow no matter how hot or how cold.