Changing my water pump just wondering what everyones using for radiator coolant these days. And what grade should i buy.

 

Use Dexcool period. Don't even consider anything else. There is no specific grade. Dexcool is Dexcool and pretty much any brand will be the same. Engines today have a variety of different metals, alloys, plastics and seals that require a specific coolant. The old green coolant will cause premature wear on components as well as seal failures. It can also cause a chemical reaction with certain materials that will result in a chalky white substance that ends up circulating throughout your engine and causing even more damage over time.

 

Dexcool is what GM says to use. i personally use the Prestone prediluted all compatiable coolant.

Green coolant will not eat seals and all that that the above poster mentioned.

 

Really? Tell that to the customer that just spent $450 at my shop. A few months ago he had a Dexcool coolant system flushed with green (different shop). At only 27,000 miles (a few thousand after his flush) his water pump seals were pissing everywhere. What kind of knowlege or experience in this field do you have to base you opinion on?

 

And others will tell you the same story about DEX eating seals and what not. You must have missed the last 2 threads about coolant that ran like 10 pages long.

The experience I have with coolant is that i have been runing green forever and havent had a single problem, they key is to not mix dex and green and to change your coolant often enough.

Plus when a mechanic does flush they typically dont flush the block out fully and if the green and dex mix then it will cause major problems.

But hey whatever man think what you want to. Im not in the mood to sit and argue over coolant right now plus its a topic that has no solid proof on either side so mits pretty much a waste of a discussion.

 

I don't need to read any thread about coolant. Been doing this over 20yrs. Good luck running green. You might just get lucky, alot do.

When you say " Plus when a mechanic does flush they typically dont flush the block out fully and if the green and dex mix then it will cause major problems." makes no sense. If they don't flush the block out fully, than they are definatly mixing the coolant. I run 12 quarts through your system which is usually 4 more quarts than neccessary. This guarantees all old coolant is flushed out. Believe what you want, it's not my car. Just please don't go spreading misinformation on this board if you are not 100% positive. An opinion would have suficed in this case rather than a bold statement like this "Green coolant will not eat seals and all that that the above poster mentioned".

I'm glad you think you right. God bless. I don't want to ague either and refuse to after this.

 

I hope i get lucky running green, i mean green has only been ran in cars for what like forever comapred to Dex?

Im not trying to argue with you, i am just saying what i have seen and there are mechanics that will say they did a coolant flush yet didnt flush the block out hence mixing the dex and green.I am glad you are a mechanic that doesnt do that.

My statement wasnt meant to attack you just stating that using either Dex or green coolant isnt going to hurt anything. I am not spreading misinformation because there is not undeniable proof that green coolant eats up anything, if there is stated proof then post up. You dont have 100% proof and neither do i, lets leave it at that.

And I use that green **** from prestone that is supposed to be compatiable with dex and regualar green.

 

Gm says to use Dexcool so just use Dexcool man. Listen to the general.

 

I have dex-crap in my car still, but my truck (99 Silverado with 5.3) has had green in for years and it's running just fine with no leaks. In my GTP, I got that dex-junk out asap, it was growing **** or just building up...something. Then when I pulled off the heads, there was all kind of that same buildup around the ports. I'm not much of a believer in the dex.

 

Just for your info:

" In many US and Japanese antifreeze formulas phosphate is added as a corrosion inhibitor. European vehicle manufacturers, however, recommend against the use of phosphate containing antifreeze. The following will examine the different positions on this issue to help judge the pros and cons on phosphate inhibitors.


In the US market, a phosphate inhibitor is included in many formulas to provide several important functions that help reduce automotive cooling system damage. The benefits provided by the phosphate include:

• Protect aluminum engine components by reducing cavitation corrosion during high speed driving.
• Provide for corrosion protection to ferrous metals.
• Act as a buffer to keep the antifreeze mixture alkaline. This prevents acid build-up that will damage or destroy metal engine parts.

European manufacturers feel that these benefits are achievable with inhibitors other than phosphate. Their main concerns with phosphate containing products are the potential for solids dropout when mixed with hard water. Solids can collect on cooling system walls forming what is known as scale. This concern comes from the fact that European water is much harder than water in the US. Because phosphate "softens" water by forming solids of calcium or magnesium salts that can dropout of solution, there is potential for cooling system blockage. Compared to old-fashioned phosphated antifreeze, Dexcool® may be more stable and improve water pump life."

"So the bottom line is this, if your car came from the factory with Dexcool®, use Dexcool® for replacement or to top off. If your car came from the factory with standard "green" antifreeze, use that for replacement or to toping off. Case in point, Dexcool® has been known to cause head gasket and water pump failure on some Ford OHC V-8's."

NOTE: Fords don't come from the factory with Dexcool. They come with green and should be replaced with green. Same for GM, they come with Dexcool and should be replaced with such.

 

I will have to check the green i have and see if it has the phosphate in it. the bottle says it is compatiable with all coolants so it jjust may have it in it.

My point was that there are others out there that claim dexcool destroyed their seals and stuff. I am not backing that statement up by any means, but just saying what has been said by some other people. i myself have not had any coolant related issues on my car. I just did an engine swap and the water pump was clean as was the old engine. Everythingm seemed fine to me when it was apart.

 

It's all good bro. When I see certain posts I feel the need to post my opinion or experience. I don't want to see someone save $2-$3 for a gallon of antifreeze to either void his/her warranty or have problems in the future. It's not worth it. I've just seen it too many times.

 

When you say buildup, what does it look like? Milkshake? Brown? Curious.

 

Im not saving anything on my coolant anyway, that prestone all compataible coolant prediluted is expensive.

I checked the bottle again and it says for use in all cars and works with all coolant types and includes anti-corrosion and specifically mentions it works well with aluminum parts.

 

Just caught this before going to bed. It sounds like you have Global coolant which they claim will work for all cars. My shop is going to it as we speak. I'm not real happy about it but I do agree the point that if the manufacturer agrees that it won't void warranty, so be it.

 

It was kind of like a brown/redish algae, really slimy.

 

Use green or dexcool but preferably dexcool.....as long as you change it once a year, you will have no probs I've seen damage that dexcool & green coolant causes with my own eyes, it was because it wasn't changed....can't believe GM states that Dexcool doesn't need to be changed for 5 years...lmfao Electrolysis is the cause of metal corrosion....the coolant gets an electrical charge after a while if it hasn't been changed which causes breakdown of cooling system components