Cooling System Help....96 Lumina

[3mw]

I have a 96 lumina (3.1) with approximately 116,000 miles and it seems to be in pretty bad shape, but I would like to make it last as long as possible. Any how, I had a really bad coolant leak (visible) that I could not trace, but I'm 99% sure it was coming from the top of the front engine cover (timing chain) gasket. To make a long story short, I did some thing that I felt uncomfortable doing ....I added Bar's Leak. It appears that the leak is sealed, should I now flush the system or leave it in for a while? What is the best way to remove the thermostat housing? It seems like I would have to remove the air intake duct that is connected to the throttle body and the throttle body itself. What aftermarket flush would you recommend? When changing the thermostat, will I use any type of gasket on the housing or just the rubber seal on the thermostat? I've always used Dex-Cool in the car and I hate this stuff, I noticed that Prestone has an Extended Life Coolant that can be mixed with any color coolant, is this really Dex-Cool or would this be okay? Can I use the old fashioned green stuff even though the label under the hood says that Dex-Cool must be used? If so, will I have a problem if their is any trace of Dex-Cool in the system? Thanks.

[BNaylor]

The Prestone Extended Life coolant is based on the same technology as Dexcool. It is organic acid technology based (OAT) and technically can be mixed with Dexcool. Best thing to do is flush the cooling system of the old Dexcool and start using coolant like the Prestone XL. Prior to flushing run Prestone Super Flush or similar through the system.

[3mw]

What is the easiest way to tremove the thermostat housing? What do you guys remove?

[tblake]

to remove the t-stat housing the easiest way will probably be to first remove the throttle body. You will also need to install a new throttle body gasket. Also for some good info, read my post "Coolant???? Going Where????".