I needed to go buy some of the old green stuff for my 95 truck. But Oreillys told me that the orange stuff "works with dexcool and pre-1996". I was just curious if anyone trusts it.

 

Afaik, only Dexcool is orange. I could be wrong though. I've used green coolant that says its compatible with either, never had a problem. But then I haven't mixed it with Dexcool either, only used it by itself or mixed with the old green stuff.

 

It will probably be ok.......but the two mixed together will turn your coolant to a brown coffee looking muck!!!! Happened to me with my 07 Taurus.

 

IN these cars I only use green or prestone yellow any car coolant

 

Me too but I ONLY use factory stuff from the dealer. They have special lubricants for the water pump and other moving parts that only the factory coolant has. Apparently coolant is a fairly complex thing.

 

If Oreilleys told me that my Iroc had four wheels, I'd go out and count just to be sure. I simply drive by that place and feel dumber.

 

I hate dexacool coolant but that being said without a really good flush of the block and entire system stick with it and hope it does not completely eat your intake gaskets. For honda stay with honda blue and for toyota use the factory coolant or give it a good flush. Otherwise for the green prestone yellow is good stuff

 

Classic

 

They sell the conventional green coolant too. No need to take risks based on the advice of a possible high school drop out working the counter.

 

if you've ever seen the effects of dexcool firsthand, you'd never recommend it to anybody. don't buy it, don't mix it. this proves the kid at o'reily is an idiot by his advise.

 

Napa makes a conventional green coolant under their house label/brand.

 

Posts like this make me wish there was a "like" button on the forum.

 

You can find idiots "everywhere".

I went to my local Napa and asked a guy I have seen working there for years about brakes.
He looked me straight the eye and said , I don't know anything about brakes.


I took my car to a shop once because I was told he was a "Chevy" guy.
I even asked him to his face if he was familiar with my car. Yes was his reply.

Then he Crushed the under side at the pinch welds cracking the side skirting because he did not know where the lift spots were.

Like I said, there everywhere.

 

Conventional green is still the right answer if there is brass in the cooling system. It works well, really well, with iron blocks too. But it is not a modern "extended life" coolant so you'll have to change it more often. I'll take that trade-off in a heartbeat.

Here is a good article if you are interested, although possibly dated by now. Different people will draw different conclusions. I chose the conventional green for my situation.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...ml#post5970973

 

I read up on Dexcool. Bottom line: don't use it if it wasn't OEM.

 

If it was OEM flush the system completely clear including the heater core and then fill with the yellow stuff.

 

I thought he was asking about the universal Prestone stuff that is a flourecent yellow.....I was told you can mix with all types of coolant. I personally don't use it....I stick with good old green coolant. My son has Dex Cool in his 01 Bonneville and supposedly if you change it every 100,000 miles it works well??? I have heard horror stories of people who never change it past the 100,000 miles.

 

There's nothing wrong with dex-cool used properly. I have converted all of my older vehicles to it. Just keep a proper pressure cap and have no leaks. Same as green, oxygen is needed to have rust start. Proper cap, full level, no air (oxygen) no proplem. All these vehicles have pushing 175-200+K miles on them, again no issues.
Joe

 

I switched both of my 1996 Impala SS's over to conventional green coolant. I bought them both used and the Dexcool coolant was a mess.

My 95 Buick Roadmaster (same engine, same cooling system, except HD Towing Package) was OE w/ green and no problems.

 

I tend to stick with whatever coolant that was put in at the factory, with one exception:

Anything that came with "conventional" green stuff, I've switched to silicate-free Peak Long Life (full strength). I also use this in my Acura as a replacement for Honda silicate-free (Honda only sells 50/50 premix; a gallon of distilled water is 89 cents at the grocery store ) .

The only vehicle I own that uses Dex-Cool is my '03 GMC M-van. I clear water flush and refill the cooling system (radiator, engine block and heater core) every 4-5 years. At 143k miles I've yet to have any cooling system issues. I use a GM licensed Dex-Cool (like Prestone) and not some Dex-Clone.

I have no idea what Toyota long life "red" coolant is, but it's in my Lexus cooling system. I just flush and refill with the Toyota stuff.