Orange or Green antifreeze

[quadtrac]

I have a 2000 Grand am and it has the orange "Dex cool" antifreeze in it. Many people have told me to flush that stuff out and run the regular green antifreeze. They said it will eat the gaskets out eventually. What is the best antifreeze that I should use. Thanks

[Andrew Martin]

Not quite true. I've seen people try to use orange antifreeze in other vehicles and they wondered why it ate their gaskets away. Apparently, they never saw the "Designed for GM Vehicles" badge on the jugs.

You have a fairly recent GM product; using GM Dexcool antifreeze will prolong cooling system component life and improve its efficiency. The green antifreeze is just generalised for "All makes and models" and doesn't fit any one make in particular. Think of the green antifreeze as a "jack of all trades" and the orange antifreeze as a "master of one".

Dexcool antifreeze is the best antifreeze you can use in a more recent GM vehicle.

[J-Ri]

The orange Dex-cool is supposedly "fixed"... the original pink Dex-cool had lots of problems. In my experience, the orange isn't much better. It still eats away at aluminum and gaskets, but doesn't sludge up like the pink did.

I personally reccomend using non-silicated universal coolant. Silicated coolants can (supposedly) damage aluminum parts not designed for it. My '96 Beretta (designed for Dex-cool) has had green silicated (basically VERY fine sand) coolant in it since ~'98 with no problems.

[Andrew Martin]

That's interesting. =S I've used Dexcool antifreeze in all four of my GM vehicles and never had any problem with it whatsoever.

But he's ASE certified and I'm not. =D

[xeroinfinity]

Yeah its realy personal prefferance on the coolant.

Gm does recomend using Dex, though you dont have to.

My Se uses Dex and its only 1 year old and is already looking terrible! My GT has the old green and is looking fine after 2years.

The newest Coolant by Preston, a yello colored fluid, mixes with all coolants.

I dont recomend mixing any green with Dex it'll turn to sludge in no time and clog things up(heater core, radiator).

ps- thier are several ASE techs here at AF, myself included.

['97ventureowner]

I've used DexCool in 5 of mine without major problems, ( one intake gasket replaced in a 3.4 but that was poor design/materials.) Whatevercoolant you decide to use, make sure it meets the specifications of GM . If your vehicle is under warranty, you can void it by using something not compatible. DexCool is an Organic Acid Technology coolant with a different protection package than the old standby ethylene glycol coolant we all used years ago. Your engine isn't fully protected if you aren't using something that meets the minimum specifications set forth by the vehicle manufacturer.

[Shortbus]

GM used to have issues with inferior quality gaskets but like said earlier they have been corrected, mid to late ninetees models with dexcool often had gasket and coolant issues. The failed gasket areas would leak and air contacted the coolant around the leak and formed a nasty crystalized slimy coating on the interior of the component (usually an upper intake).

Decool itself is better for todays engines that utilize aluminum in the cooling sytem and engine.

Main problem with the dexcool crystalizing or forming gel is when the coolant comes in contact with outside air, this only happens when you have a minor coolant leak that lets air into the system. A closed and pressurized system that is regulary maintained will be just fine with dexcool.

['97ventureowner]

Originally Posted by Shortbus

Main problem with the dexcool crystalizing or forming gel is when the coolant comes in contact with outside air, this only happens when you have a minor coolant leak that lets air into the system. A closed and pressurized system that is regulary maintained will be just fine with dexcool.

Thanks, I forgot to mention that also. A problem with air infiltrating some cooling systems and causing issues has been traced to faulty radiator caps. The fix was to replace it with a Stant brand cap.

[Andrew Martin]

Radiator caps, or coolant reservoir caps? 96-98 N-bodies I know don't have direct access to the radiator, just a reservoir with a plastic cap.

[xeroinfinity]

I've seen stealerships use green coolant when a vehicle was under warranty.
The newest coolants available are the best to use, most all allow for a wider temperature range adding more protection.

Originally Posted by Andrew Martin

Radiator caps, or coolant reservoir caps? 96-98 N-bodies I know don't have direct access to the radiator, just a reservoir with a plastic cap.

The 99+ N-bodies are the same, no radiator cap, just the reservoir cap. You can buy replacement rad. with a cap pricey tho.

['97ventureowner]

Originally Posted by Andrew Martin

Radiator caps, or coolant reservoir caps? 96-98 N-bodies I know don't have direct access to the radiator, just a reservoir with a plastic cap.

I should have been a little more clear on this. Some vehicles that have radiator caps have experienced a problem with them in where the seal breaks down and allows air into the cooling system. Not all GM vehicles have radiator caps(closed systems) and not all have experienced this issue.So it will not apply to all vehicles.