peter654

Should I use orange fluid gm dexcool or can I use Green fluid.
Thanx

KChevy75

Depends upon what's in there now. If it's dexcool, I'd stay with dexcool. I always get the full strength gallon jugs then mix with a gallon of distilled water. There's no sense in paying for 50/50 when half of it is just water.

If you don't know what's in there now and you are just topping off, I'd use the Prestone AntiFreeze that's labeled as compatible with any existing antifreeze.

oilcanhenry

1989 is too old for factory Dex-Cool. I am dropping the Dex-Cool out of my Malibu, and putting the old green antifreeze in, before winter-time comes. The 1998 K-1500 runs on the old green A/F, no problems at all. Never have trusted that new orange stuff. Too many people have had lots of problems with it. I run an additive to cut down on corrosion and electrolysis issues as well. I agree about using 100 percent A/F and using distilled water to cut it to 50/50, as it's cheaper that way.

peter654

That’s what I heard on the internet , that it can damage using dex -cool. I’m thinking about using Prestone 50/50 green antifreeze. This van was leaking coolant from back side heater hose. So I had no idea what coolant was inside , all I see very dirty fluid like rust color.

peter654

Twist first then press down and turn counter clock wise ? My other car was very easy to remove radiator cap but wow this van not easy at all. I opened once few days ago but now I can’t even open it. Even drainage **** on the radiator is so rusted it won’t open even soaked on on blaster and wd-40 for few days in a row. I unhooked one of the back trunk area hose to remove coolant , is that okay ? Removed about two to three gallons.

oilcanhenry

Shouldn't be a problem, no, Man,that is a real sorry looking radiator cap. Shouldn't surprise me as Death-Kool is some real nasty stuff and has caused lots of issues.

Yeah, back in the late 1960's and early 1970's Dupont's "Zerex" decided to put some anti-leak material in their anti-freeze. Ended up clogging up lots of radiators and caused overheating.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...599-story.html

I won't get near any Zerex product due to that fact alone. Fool me once and all that jazz!

As for opening a hot radiator cap, it's best done slowly, with a good cloth shop towel or some kind of heavy rag, of course..

peter654

I got new radiator cap from auto zone $10.00. I need to flush few more times then use prestone concentrate. 😊👍

Richard Lowman

is rain water ok? can i boil tap water to use instead of distiiled water? tks

mountainmanjoe

rain water might be ok as long as there's no junk floating around in it.

If you live in a place like me where the water supply is mostly rain water, you're probably ok to use it. If it's ground water, then the minerals might cause some scaling or chemical reactions.

Boiling does nothing but kill bacteria LOL. Not the same thing as distilling at all. In fact, boiling will just get rid of the pure water, and leave you with an even more concentrated mix of minerals and salts.

Where I live, distilled water is dirt cheap. I'm talking like $2/gallon at the supermarket.

oilcanhenry

Yeah, I guess rain water would work, as long as its collected properly,but distilled water is dirt cheap like you said.