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Hot take: check your coolant overflow tank BEFORE the low coolant light comes on
Two months ago my overflow tank was clear and full right at the cold line, and yesterday it was nearly empty with crusty orange gunk lining the whole inside. Nothing leaked on my driveway and my temp gauge never moved, so I figured it was fine. Turns out the cap on the tank was letting air in and the coolant was slowly cooking off on my 40 minute highway commute. A buddy who runs a shop in Mesa showed me the difference on his bench: fresh coolant looks like weak tea, mine looked like rusty pond water. He pressure tested the system and the radiator was fine, it was just the $9 cap and old fluid. If I had waited much longer that gunk would have plugged the heater core and turned a cheap flush into a dash out job. When is the last time you actually opened the hood and looked at that little plastic tank instead of just the light on the dash?
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