Guy before me had orange dexcool in it but I am doing a flush and went to the store and the guy told me I should only be running green (ethylene glycol) type of coolant.

Does it make a difference?

 

IMHO YES. That red/orange shitt is junk. Always go with a good name brand green, 50/50 mix. That red stuff will literary plug passages in the engine. As well as corrode aluminum and make it impossible to get a bolt out. Some ppl will tell you different. Here in MN, we use the green. Make sure you are a 50/50 mix. Read up about it...

Anyways, I use green. Used it in every vehicle.

 

I prefer green but I've had no real problems on anything using dexcool. (at least on normal vehicles, the abused industrial stuff I work on has had several issues though) Pick whichever one you want, just make sure to flush ALL of the old stuff out. The two together do not work in any degree of safety.

 

What is best way to fully flush everything? I was going to remove thermostat, drain all coolant. Then Fill with water and leave a hose running with the car on and drain plug open until the stuff coming out is clear.

Is there a better way?

 

I drain it from the radiator and take out the knock sensor and the identical port on the other side of the block. (those ports were made for that even though it got used for a knock sensor in later years.) Then I start taking lines off and flushing through, radiator, heater core, block. You probably will never get all of the water out so, when you mix up the fresh coolant leave it a little 'rich' on coolant. That way when it does mix with the 'flushing water' still in the block it will be 50/50.

 

FWIW, I've had DexCool in my '86 TA since 1997. Prior to that it had two replacement heater cores. Since then, that second replacement core (1997) is still intact.

It is more important to completely flush the system if you are changing types. If you are only going to flush/drain/fill, absolutely getting every bit of the former coolant out is less critical.

 

I use green in everything. Most of my cars are driven and have 100-250k miles on them with original heatercores and radiators.

 

when i did my last coolant change, i didn't know it was important to get all the coolant out. i switched from green to orange. i hope i didn't do any damage.

Now i am switching back to green. i pulled my knock sensor but it looks like the hole is plugged?

 

It's probably sediment accumulation. Try poking through it with an awl or small pick.

 

You were right, it was built up gunk I removed with a pick. Was worried it was the other half of my knock sensor stuck in there. Thanks

Draining the block from the knock sensor only is sufficient right? I didn't remove the plug on the other side

 

I'd pull it too. That half of the block isn't drained otherwise.

 

Yup, gotta empty both sides to drain it all the way; the block itself will stay over ½ full on the side you leave the plug in.

 

Hello all, so was thinking of a coolant change as well on my 85 IROC, until I just went and checked and I will be darned if the coolant is ORANGE!!! So now I'm inking of taking it to the local radiator shop (30+ years open so ya trustworthy) and see if they can change it to GREEN with their machine. Reading up on various coolant websites the general consensus is to NEVER change from one to the other, but rather keep up on the changes regardless of color.
I have a bad feeling the P/O had heating issues....
Single electric fan runs constant
Coolant is orange not green
Puffs blue smoke only at start-up ( result of overheating more than once)

The car runs great other than a very mild miss at idle(original vacuum lines possible leak) I am concerned the orange will never be completely removed from every cavity, and the mixing of GREEN/ORANGE is very very bad according to the sites I read (not manufacture endorsed sites)
Who else has changed from GREEN to ORANGE back to GREEN without problems?
Thanks all

 

The orange stuff is not particularly appropriate to the 50s design small block (305, 350, etc.)... the problem being, they were designed over a half-century ago for gaskets that were "state of the art" back then, but are real thick and made of materials that allow the orange stuff to weep out.

I tried some in a small block once. It came out EVERYWHERE... I couldn't believe how many things I found that were places water came close to the surface... I think the single worst was, the plate covering the back of the water pump. After about 15,000 miles the ENTIRE edge of the cover was a big crust of orange gunk. But there were other places too; the intake gaskets were obvious as well.

OTOH, in a LS block with TOTALLY different design gaskets, it's fine.

However all that may be, I changed from orange to green, with a heavy heart (and damaged wallet). I drained the engine COMPLETELY (both drain plugs in the block for example), flushed it all out w tap water, let it sit for a day or so to drip-dry, then refilled it with 2 gallons of green juice and the rest distilled water. Probably came out around 60/40 water/AF.

And you, and all of THEM, are right; about the worst thing you can do, is mix the 2 colors. It makes something (not sure which) turn to some kind of jelly-like mud that clogs radiator and heater core vanes.

Blue smoke at startup has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with overheating unless the castings got practically red-hot. More likely, somebody used O-ring seals and nothing else, and put them on BEFORE (below) the retainers instead of where they belong.