is prestone 5/150 dexcool a good coolant? i want to change my coolant myself to save money. but i dont want to make any mistakes to mess up my car and end up paying for it in the long run. the car has 30,000 on it so i was just going to flush the radiator and then add new coolant. anything i should look out for while doing the job? any suggestions?

thanks

steve

 

Shoebox has a writeup on his site... http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech1.html

Is dexcool the orange stuff or the green stuff? Dont switch from one to the other if your car currently has green, use green. If it has orange, use orange. Switching can cause a sludge buildup which may be harmful.

 

dexcool is orange, prestone is green!

 

i thought dex-cool was made by prestone? my car is a 95 so i assume it has the original anti-freeze in it. (which would be normal anti-freeze, not dex-cool) although the car is 9 years old it only has 30,000 on it. i just bought the car and i'm not sure if the previous owner has changed the coolant. i want to put dex-cool in it because i hear it is a much better coolant. if i flush everything out and put dexcool in, it shouldnt sluge up right? has anyone switched over?

 

Prestone makes orange dexcool!

 

I just went in my garage and seen the bottle was a prestone bottle!

 

"Dex-Cool" is a proprietary trademark held jointly by GM and Chevron (thru its purchase of Texaco/Havoline). It is used for an extended life coolant formulation.... specifically a conventional ethylene glycol base, with a lubrication/anti-corrosion package that eliminate phosphates, silicates and several other hazardous, unstable and abrasive compounds. They have licensed other coolant manufaturers - e.g. Honeywell/Prestone - to manufacture it.

If you plan to change from a conventional "green" coolant to the extended life "orange", you need to do a COMPLETE drain and flush, making sure to remove all the old coolant. This can NOT be accomplished simply by draining the radiator. IT requires that the block also be drained, or a full "power" flush.

 

how should i do a "power" flush. can i just use a super flush radiator treatment. letting that run for 10 min and then flush it all out with a hose? how would i go about draining the block?

 

i think what injuneer means is that at a radiatior shop or a genearl repair shop has a high pressure hose that they attach and it flushes coolant out of the block and radiator. but for as long as ive been able to drive , i have always ran a hose through it (radiator) and my coolant has been fine, i dont like other people working on my cars so its rarely in the shop, however if you want it done RIGHT then have them power flush it out at a shop , aroudn here its like 75 for the whole process

 

is it true a high-pressure power flush can damage our (plastic) radiators?