v8bug

I am putting a 2003 5.3l in my vw this winter and have some questions about the cooling system.

The radiator I am using is a universal horizontal model with a lower and upper outlets, nothing special. Do I hook the thermostat output from the water pump to the lower port on the radiator? and the upper on the water pump to the upper on the rad?

The radiator I am using was filled with the old school green antifreeze when I used my genI sbc. With the 2003 5.3l can I still run the green, or do I have to change to the orange junk?

any help/suggestions would be great!!


thanks,

matt

2000badbird

iTrader: (5)

u can use the green kind as long as u drain the dexcool coolant out of the engine just make sure not mix both kinds

v8bug

cool, thanks!!

y2k_ta

iTrader: (80)

Moving to Conversions & Hybrids (from General LSX Discussion)...

Stu Cool

iTrader: (13)

I would fill it with water first and run it that way for a little while, then flush the water out and put coolant in it.

The hose from thermostat housing goes to the bottom radiator fitting.

Sounds like a neat project, got any pictures? We like pictures!

Pat

v8bug

ok sounds good.

I will snap some pics wednesday and post them up. To post them should I link them attachments? How would I get them to show right up on the page?

thanks,

matt

G-Body

iTrader: (4)

I can`t even find the regular green anymore, prestone has changed to an extended life mixes with anything, its still green but its not the old style green stuff.
Some people were actually running the old style green in LSx engines when it was still available, it just shortens the coolant lifespan because regular green is only a year or 2 instead of 5 years for the new dexcool.

Definently fill it with water and run it first. I ran water through my engine with a garden hose till the orange color stopped coming out. Then I put it in with water in the radiator and ran it. It was orange within 20 minutes of run time. I drained it and refilled it with water, ran it for about a week and it was orange again. Drained it and filled it with prestone, within 6 months the green prestone had turned orange . The early dexcool was nasty stuff, I`m not sure if they had it fixed by 2003, but I would say make sure to wash the dexcool out of that motor as good as possible. For the first few years that GM started using dexcool it had a nasty habit of turning into sludge when it got old.

G-Body

iTrader: (4)

I forgot about posting pics. You can attach them to the thread if they are small (under 100kb) and they will come up a thumbnails that you can click on to make them larger.

If you want them to come up in the thread fullsize you will have to have them online somewhere else and link them using the little "insert image" button when you reply.
You can have them hosted online by one of the free image hosting services IE photobucket, imagekafe etc. Or get a f-quick account

Snow Dog

iTrader: (3)

Prestone also make a yellow universal coolant that will mix with either and not cause any issues. I would still run straight water through it like suggested simply to clean things out. Then I would then dump in the yellow stuff just to be safe. I believe the yellow stuff is also 5 year or maybe it was only 3. Don't remember but you can find it at autozone and other places as well.

Peak still makes the green stuff that doesn't mix with dexcool I want to say.

justforfun

dito on the flush with water just don't leave it as pure water for an extended time since it does not have the lubrication properties for the pump. Probably a good time to run radiator flush through the system.