JK23112

Okay......I have seen some back & forth comments from a few folks regarding the GM 'orange' Dexcool anti-freeze versus the old school Prestone 'green' traditional anti-freeze that has been around for decades.

I have a 2004 Silverado LS 5.3L 2wd which I purchased several weeks ago with ~ 75,000 miles on it. It has the orange stuff in the reservoir and I am assuming that it has never been changed & flushed out; so I intend to do that very soon.

There is a Jiffy Lube franchise nearby, which I have used several times with various other vehicles to do just about everything except oil changes. They've come in handy for manual transmission gear oil & differential fluid changes. I still do my own oil & filter changes on all of my vehicles, though (which I'll do on the Silverado in another month or so - but the oil was just changed 500 miles before I bought it). When I change the oil & filter, I'll go with a synthetic - probably Mobil-1 or Castrol Syntec in 5w30 viscosity.

The chap said that their TransTech Dexron ATF replacement would run $99 and that the coolant flush & fill would be $79. They use green/yellow Pennzoil stuff out of a 55-gallon bulk drum, and don't carry any other type - nor do they have the red & pink stuff used by Toyota. The label on the drum said it is "compatible with any vehicle & any color coolant" - including GM/Dexcool. He said that their coolant is as good as or better than any OEM stuff.

Some of you on here said that the green/yellow stuff and the orange stuff will break down each other. Sounds to me like mixing them is a bad idea! Perhaps I will just buy two gallons of Dexcool @ Wal-Mart (about eleven bucks apiece + two gallons of distilled water) and flush it out myself in the back yard - and I won't stay awake at night worrying if I didn't get all of the orange stuff out before changing over to green/yellow coolant. I suppose it will be okay to keep using the orange stuff and flush it out every other year (as I have always done with every car I drive), right?


Regarding the ATF, I cannot tell if it has ever been flushed out. It looks nice & pink and I believe GM calls for 100k change intervals. Even so, I will probably get it changed (messy job?) just for peace of mind. Since I'll be keeping this truck a long time, I figure it is a wise expenditure if it will lengthen the service life of the truck.


He said that the rear differential change would run either $39 or $59, depending upon whether or not it requires synthetic oil. They'd have to run the VIN to be sure. That's something I would not do myself - as I don't have any way to suction it out of there.

I will eventually do the power steering fluid myself, too. I usually just siphon out as much as possible with aquarium tubing - then refill it with new fluid. I drive it a week or two and repeat the process until I have used a whole quart of fresh fluid. It's worked with other cars and saves me from paying some schmuck $69 to do it in a shop.



Anything special I need to consider regarding the aforementioned stuff?

nauticstar87

With the ATF, its better to flush and get a filter change then jsut changed the fluid. I'll be flushing mine every 36,000miles, along with the diff fluid. I've never "sucked" the fluid out the diff. When I change my fluid, I take teh cover off and drain it, then put on a gasket, and refill until the fluid is at the fillhole level. As for the Coolant... It's a matter of opinion. I'm going to let mine go to 100k, and go from there. Unless I develop a leak or it starts to discolor badly. then, I don't know what i'm going to do. I wont pay a shop to touch my truck, unless its for an alignment or tires, maybe the trans flush, but I'm nervous about that.
Dunno bout the steering fluid.

992door

I would just run the dexcool that is what i put back in mine after i replaced the radiator. I mean where people run into problems is when they dont ever change it. If you change it every now and then you will be fine.

silverado_svc_body

I've heard good and bad about dexcool. I just flushed the sludge deposits out of mine and put in prestone which is what I use in my semi truck

JK23112

Thanks for the replies. I believe I am going to stick with Dexcool for the radiator and will end up flushing & filling it myself.

I'll have the ATF done at a shop - possibly Jiffy Lube with their TransTech system (which gets everything out of the torque converter as well); and will ask them about a filter. BTW, where is the filter for the ATF? I have heard of a screen inside a transmission. Is that the 'filter' to which you refer?

Regarding the rear axle, I will probably get that done along with the tranny fluid.

Thanks again!!

nauticstar87

the filter is basically a screen inside the trans, you have to pop of teh tranny pan...

gotstylez

He said that the rear differential change would run either $39 or $59, depending upon whether or not it requires synthetic oil. They'd have to run the VIN to be sure. That's something I would not do myself - as I don't have any way to suction it out of there.



you dont suction it out. you unscrew the bolts take off the cover and let it drain. if u can do a oil change then u can SURE do this. its VERY easy plus to put it backa ll you do is buy some gasket maker and put it on the corver screw it back together and pour new diff fluid in. very easy.

Coppertop71

There seems to be a lot of reports online about law suits from GM owners who have engine problems that are blamed on using Dex Cool. I know these 5.3 have a big problem with head gaskets leaks and Dex Cool is one of the possible causes to this.

992door

Some people despise it some dont. Me personally i have 166k miles on my tahoe and it has had dexcool in it from the get go and i have not had any issues from it. (knock on wood)

xpeder

as long as the coolant is change it is good and the gasket do not get eat up by deterating cooLANT