MILLER8338

Over the years I have read posts here where some people claim that Orange antifreeze is bad and only Green is good or just the opposite without ever explaining why they think so. Here is a link to a good explanation about the differences between orange & Green antifreezes.

That sight has a good example of the amount of work that goes into a "Frame Off" restoration too.

AntiFreeze • Corvette Restoration Forum

96 Z 28

Real Problem is DexCool (Orange) does not play nice with Standard (Green).... The two when mixed form clumps that block the radiator and other cooling passages/hoses.

So you can use either one, as long as you make sure to flush they entire cooling system before interchanging.

shoebox

Most modern coolant off the shelf mixes with both kinds, so there really is not much issue these days.

ebonez28

Im going to run 25% green and water wetter. We bearly see 40* here. A guy at the part store said Antifreeze also helps raise the boiling point of the coolant. I thought it just helped on the freezing side and only the higher pressure raises the boiling point? Does water wetter work better with less antifreeze or strait water? has anyone seen any real differances with water wetter?

mrmint69

Prestone says mixes with both, so I buy the green. I bet GM wishes they could have done a "take back"

96capricemgr

Dexcool showed up at the same time as 100K mile coolant drain and due to the long drain they wanted to make sure to not have leaks so they started having clay stopleak tables put in the radiators when those were built. Those caused a lot of the plugging issues people blame on Dexcool along with the already mentioned sludging from mixing with green.

It really isn't a bad product, just like the LT1 waterpump and opti since they are different they are blindly convicted as being bad without any evidence or understanding to back up that judgement.

I used orange up till I had a second car that took green then I started buying yellow, never had a cooling system issue on the 96 with Dexcool, now the car with green had sat for a year before I bought it so the heater core was plugged, but instead of blaming green I understand it was sediment fell out while it sat combined with a neglected cooling system, as I said it was green and it looked like it have been there a LONG time.
My wife's 2003 Impala has Dexcool yet pushing 190K original hoses, I did the lower intake gaskets at 142K and that was when the original fill of Dexcool got drained.

car_ramrod

I've been doing a lot of reading about this subject lately and have come to a few conclusions, my 2 cents FWIW:

1. Colors can't be trusted...Nowadays there are so many types of coolants, you can't judge the chemical composition of them just by the color, traditional green coolant is silicate based Inorganic Acid Technology (IAT), but there are modern silicate-free coolants that are also green, both are suited to very different applications, so we're doing ourselves a disservice by referring to different coolant technologies simply by color.

2. Dex-Cool isn't as bad as most people make it out to be. Dex-Cool is a long-life Organic Acid Technology (OAT) that is silicate free but also uses 2-Ethylhexyl Acrylate (2-EHA)which is the particular polymer that gives it a bad rap, as it's a plasticizer which can affect, you guessed it, the plasticity of certain plastics, perhaps those found in the intake manifolds/gaskets of GM 3.1/3.4 engines...

3. When I do my coolant system maintenance this summer I'm doing a complete flush and refill with with a 2-EHA free OAT coolant that's rated for "lifetime" but I will still probably flush it every 5 years or so afterwards.

4. I'm installing a coolant filter like Class-8 trucks have. I know its probably not necessary, but might help pumps and seals last longer and heater cores not get plugged, etc.

5. Some of the same places that do used oil analysis also do used coolant analysis if you're ever wondering about the level of corrosion protection ingredients or quality of your current fill.

6. Like Shoebox said, I don't believe mixing different coolant technologies causes clumps or whatever...What I believe it does, is lower the time/mileage to replacement, to that of the lowest common denominator. i.e. If you put enough of the traditional IAT silicate-based coolant which is a 2-year product, into a long-life 5-year product, be prepared to flush and refill at 2 years.

7. And finally like 96capricemgr said, I believe cooling system problems are caused by neglect, rather than the "right" or "wrong" "good" or "bad" coolant. The silicates in traditional coolant will come out of solution quickly, and by the recommended replacement interval of 2 years, your coolant will still transfer heat every bit as good as it did on day one, but you have essentially no corrosion protection left, and the corrosion will be aggravated by low coolant levels allowing air to touch things like radiator tubes, heater cores, block passages, etc.