Coolant? Green, Orange, or yellow?

[hardwaycooke]

Old engine. New aluminum rad. Which color coolant
And what mix? I was told green and just use
Pure coolant, no water. What do y'all think?

And after I build it in a couple months, what
Then?
Thanks!

[skorpioskorpio]

This subject has come up before, and the general consensus was Green stuff and that Orange stuff was the stuff of the devil. That said Green stuff should always be mixed half and half with water, perferably distilled water. It's sold concentrated (or is also available pre deluted 50/50). Straight coolant is far less effective than a 50/50 mix, it's the water that regulates the temperature and carries away the heat. The ethyl glycol just extends the standing and operating temperature of the water. The cooling system is based on the boiling point of pressurised water not the boiling point of the glycol.

[Lee H]

Green, 50/50.

[Ridgeclimber]

I don't think it matters what color the coolant is. Different manufactures have different colors. As long as it it extended life coolant, should be ok. If you dilute the coolant 50/50 with water you should be good for about -40 degrees Celsius. Or what I used is Evans waterless coolant. Put it in full strength. It does not ever go bad or need to be changed, does not expand when hot so no need for an expansion tank, will not boil and cools good. I am using a stock two core rad to cool my LS LQ9 6 liter with no over heating problems.

[mblackburnjr]

Also keep in mind that dex-cool(orange), is acidic. Air pockets from low coolant levels will result in rust forming. It also doesnt mix with green and can sludge up.

[Andy4639]

Well solid anti freeze isn't going to do you much good it will also freeze up if there is no water mixed with it. The newer model cars all use the orange stuff because of the Aluminum heads and radiators. Any vehicle that has 2 differant metals is going to see some form of build up if not taken care of thats just how life is.
If you want the best solution mix it 50/50 but never run it pure water are pure antifreeze, neither will work by themselves for long extended times.

[cool68]

take into consideration what year motor you are using and what was used in it from factory.

[ClemsonChevy]

Prestone sells a yellow antifreeze that will mix with any color. you can get it straight or 50/50, but you always run it 50/50. If you mix orange dexcool with older green type antifreeze, It turns sludgy and blocks passages. Most autoparts stores have their own generic brand of the yellow type "mixes with any model, any year" antifreeze.

[68c10airstream]

Hi hardwaycooke, google search "www.motor.com" and look in magazine articles, august 2004 for an article called "coolant confusion". As a past ase mechanic i thought i had a pretty good hold on the antifreeze situation until i read that article. Motor.com has all of the past articles available as PDF files and i made a thick book with all of the technical info i needed, real handy to pull out the book and take it to the vehicle and look at theory of operation, typical readings, etc. I probably invested $40.00 in a holder, paper, sleeves and some ink, or i think you could send it to a jump drive and take it to office max and they will print it in color for a fair price. Good luck, Brian Fuller

[C. M. Wolf]

Ok... With any AL parts on these trucks, ya might wanna avoid any coolants w/ "Silicates" in them. & it can be a huge caution to mix the wrong coolants w/ each other...

I personally won't use any coolant with Silicone/Silicates in them as they'll eventually clog your cooling system. The old GM Blue with Glycerol used to be the best coolant on the market,(& one of the more expensive ones), but GM has since replaced this coolant for Dexcool,(orange), which I wouldn't even use in an engine I didn't like!

This site is a good read, lots of coolant info...
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...griUIIWssl3OlA

IHTH

Michael