jay loves chevy

I have a 2002 chevy prizm and i am trying to find out what type of antifreeze to use to top off the overflow bottle and top off the radiator. I called several chevy dealership's and they tell me that the oem coolant is dexcool which is orange. The owners manual tells me it is the green coolant. And since this engine is a toyota engine i called toyota and they told me that this car came with oem toyota long life (red). Then i called advance auto and o'reillys auto parts and they tell me to use universal coolant. I am so confused about what to use to top off the radiator and overflow bottle. I took the radiator cap off and it looks reddish color. Does anyone know what the original oem factory coolant that was put in this car? I would really appreciate it since i got 4 different answers from every different place i called. Can someone please help me out because i don't want to mix the wrong coolant. Thank you very much.

oilcanhenry

5-year Dex-Corrode.

jay loves chevy

Thank you for your reply, so is this red coolant in my car right now is dexcool? I thought dexcool was orange. This coolant in my car now is clearly a red color. So your saying it is ok for me to pour orange dexcool into the overflow bottle to top it off and mix it with this red coolant that is in the car?

Rednucleus

When is the last time you did a coolant system flush and fill? Maybe time for that with a trusted mechanic that will get correct coolant on board for you

jay loves chevy

Here is the deal. i bought this 2002 chevy prizm a year and a half ago. I have no idea what the guy did with this car because he is dead now so i cant call him up and ask him. I bought it off his daughter just getting rid of it. It is a very nice car and has red coolant in it. Just recently i noticed the overflow bottle is empty and made numerous attempts to find out what coolant i should add to top off my car. It looks super clean and I love this car and only has 53,000 original miles on it and runs fantastic. yes it was garage kept and i can tell. What i cant tell is what coolant to top off the overflow bottle because it is empty. I can only stress that the fluid in the radiator is red. Also i get multiple answers of which fluids i should use to top it off and fill the overflow bottle with. I can inform you all that since i have no clue what to top it off with i bought the 50/50 prestone all make/ all vehicle. and it says that it is compatible with any color fluids. They claim that it is a universal fluid but when i poured it into the overflow bottle it looked green. WTF. From research told me it was yellow and would not change the effect of the color. BS. Maybe my car will be toast because my car is a chevy prizm /toyota corolla and has a corolla engine and no one can give me a clear answer. i will give you an update if my engine gels up and my heater core clogs up.

Rednucleus

My thought was since you are unsure, if you have the system serviced, it will get all new fluid so there will be no incompatible fluid disasters. Then use all new fluid per dealer specs

oilcanhenry

Yes, use the 5 year orange antifreeze.

Here is a Scotty Kilmer Youtube video that might help:

tech2

sorry to add to the confusion. Did the previous owner service it at toyota? If the fluid history is not available...flush the whole system. It could very well be due by time or mileage. Dexcool is a good coolant but if left in to long...it becomes acidic and will eat gaskets.

I love scotty but he has his hoat and oat coolants mixed up. Yes, you do not want to add the wrong coolant...hoat and oat can gell when mixed.

OilCanhenry...have you ever seen dexcool look that red?

oilcanhenry

No I have not, Tech2. Its always been orange colored.

It must be some foreign stuff (china?) I agree with you. No telling how long that red fluid has been in there, so may as well flush it out good and refill.

Yeah I dont always agree with Scotty, but he does come up with some good things, but no one is perfect.

jay loves chevy

Hello everyone, wanted to give an update on my situation. I did remove the green prestone all vehicle all color antifreeze from the coolant overflow bottle and topped it off with zerex asian antifreeze and let me tell you my car runs so much smoother and much more quieter when i start it in the morning in my cold climate in pennsylvania. I believe that what is in my radiator now is (red) toyota long life.I am going to get it flushed out totally and put all 100% full toyota long life back in it.next month. i am going to buy 2 gallons of toyota red long life and get the local radiator shop totally flush the old and put the new in. Will cost me 60 bucks for the antifreeze and 100 bucks for the labor. Not bad price when you love your car and want the best for it.