okay here it goes, its kinda long so bare with me...
im at work today and im talking to one of the guys who works there just at night a couple times a week. his other job is he works for a pontiac dealership as a mechanic.. so we where talking about my car and somehow a coolant question came up.. he is like ur running dexcool right? i was like no the guy at my dads body shop said it was fine to run this other stuff. (keep in mind my car was a salvage title and we put a new radiator in it as one of the repairs) so then i put in a 160 degree stat.. so i told him about the stat and not running dexcool.. and he was like ur nuts for not running the dexcool.. and the car is probally runing worse with the 160 stat.. he said to put the stock thermostat back in and change to dexcool cool... but here inplays the problem.. i figured tommorw i will flush my coolant system and add dexcool. (he said running the green stuff for a little while wont do any damage) but he siad he wanted me to flush my system real good, let the water from the hose run through the engine for a while, but then he said it may not be good because it is cold out and if some water stays in the engine and freezes it will crack the block?
the guy from the dealership said i had to do all this confusing **** to flush my coolant, it went like this 1. open the coct from the bottom of the rad and let all the coolant drain. 2. take the bottom hose of the rad, then take the thermostat out, then put the hose in the thermostat area and let the water run through for a while. he was also saying try to get some heater core lines of and stuff like that.. it went on and on about stuff i had to remove and run water through..
the guy from my dads shop said that i should just drain the rad then put the hose in the top of the rad fill it with water and let the car run with the coct open on the bottom of the radiator, therefore the water will cycle through the engine and remove all of the coolant ( when i first got the car we flushed it like this).

the question im asking u guys is WHAT TO DO?
my options are
1. leave everything like it right now until it gets warm
2. flush the damn coolant the mad confusing way and add dexcool
3. flush it the way the guy from my dads shop said i can do it and then add dexcool.
4. should i keep the thermostat in or put the stock one back on?

please guys help me out here... if u can ill be online for the next few hours.. reply or hit me up on aim the sn is bodyblaste

 

as long as you flushed your system free of dexcool the first time before adding the green **** you should be fine. i know GM recommends the dexcool but i know a few guys that dont like it and have flushed there system and run the green **** w/o problem. you just dont want to mix the two.

 

yea man i figured that, the system was flushed and the green stuff was added, IT CANT BE THAT BAD FOR THE ENGINE.. also what do u think about my thermostat situation

 

If the car is running fine on the green stuff and your not having temp problems I wouldn't mess with either one, but thats JMO. As for the green stuff I dont see why it would hurt anything at all, think of it this way if it was bad then why have people used it for years, and still continue to use it today?

 

the reason why i am asking is becauase, the ls1 block and heads are all aliminum and the dexcool may cut down on corrosion. Also does anyone have any instructions on how to flush the system the right way, and how to get all the water out when im done so i dont crack my block in the cold weather of NJ.

 

Flush and put dexcool in and leave the 160 stat...not a hard procedure at all...If i am correct the coolant should also keep the water from freezing so i dont think you will have any problem with the freezing situation...just run the car for a while and keep topping it off with coolant to get all the air out of the cooling sys...this will keep it from overheating...good luck

Wes

 

yea i heard there is a kit u can buy from any auto parts store, it goes inbetween the upper hose of the radiator and u remove the coct from the bottom of the rad and run the car, the water cycles through the whole engine and u stop as soon as u see the water running clear out of the radaitor for a few min.

 

keep the 160 and get a hypertech stage 3 programer it will run alot better.

 

i fixed it today i flushed the engine so many times today... i took the 2 lines of that run into the thing by the thermostat, i belive it may be the water pump... i kept flushing it, i ran it with the hose in, until the water was clear... so i think everything was out, then i added 1 gallon and a 1/4 of a gallon of dexcool to the radiator and put anothber 1/4 in the resivour... because i belive the cooling system is a tad bit under 3 gallons so that should make a pretty damn close 50/50 mix