Time for car maintenance

[Pontiacman]

Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks for always helping me out with my car when the need arises. I have a few things on the car that need to me replaced and wanted to know if it is easy enough to do myself to save some money. My airbag sensor is comming on and the dealership I took it to said thaey could fix it for $250 buck. Then they serpentine belt is starting to crack and was wandering if that was easy. Then here comes the fun question of the engine coolant. I have the dexcool in mine and the car has 95000 miles on it. I have had the IMG fixed on it a year ago. Don't know if I want to stick with it or go with the green stuff. And is it easy to flush to they system myself.

Thanks

[Zef_66]

Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks for always helping me out with my car when the need arises. I have a few things on the car that need to me replaced and wanted to know if it is easy enough to do myself to save some money. My airbag sensor is comming on and the dealership I took it to said thaey could fix it for $250 buck. Then they serpentine belt is starting to crack and was wandering if that was easy. Then here comes the fun question of the engine coolant. I have the dexcool in mine and the car has 95000 miles on it. I have had the IMG fixed on it a year ago. Don't know if I want to stick with it or go with the green stuff. And is it easy to flush to they system myself.

Thanks

I don't know much about the airbag system so I can't help you there.

The belt is very easy to change. 15mm socket on a ratchet, loosen the tensioner, remove the belt, and install the new one according to the routing. Not hard at all.

As for the coolant, this is a little more involved, but not difficult. But since your intake gaskets were just changed a year ago, your coolant should be fine. Even with dexcool, it should last more than a year. Is there a reason you want to change it?

[Pontiacman]

I have owned the car for 2 years and I don't think the radiator has been flushed before I ownd it. The car is an 2004, so I was thinking with the dexcool it is suppose to be changed out 5 years or 150,000 miles. Could they have flushed the system when they changed the IMG?

[Zef_66]

I have owned the car for 2 years and I don't think the radiator has been flushed before I ownd it. The car is an 2004, so I was thinking with the dexcool it is suppose to be changed out 5 years or 150,000 miles. Could they have flushed the system when they changed the IMG?

The cooling system should have been entirely drained when they changed the intake gaskets. And they should have also used new fluid. Reusing the old fluid is not recommended at all. So unless it was a shady garage that did the change, you should have new coolant as of the date of your intake gasket change.

[Pontiacman]

I took the car to one of the dealerships here in town. My extendend warranty took care of the work. When I take the car in for the airbag like I will shure ask them. Were abouts is the the tensioner at for the belt? And what about a can of Restorer that you can put into your oil?