Orange antifreeze

[Andy4639]

I had the water pump go out in the 71 a few weeks ago. It's less than 3 years old. I installed everything Saturday and refilled the radiator with orange coolant. I drove it today and got it up to good temp and when I got home I let it cool down and took the cap off to check the level. I had brown sludge in it like mud. This is a new aluminium radiator with all new antifreeze.

Should I drain it again and flush it good and start over. I'm thinking to go back to the green stuff if I do. What is everyones thoughts stay with the orange are swap it??

I have read some very bad things on the orange antifreeze on the net but everyone says stay with it but flush it every 25,000 miles.

[Steeveedee]

I've run the orange coolant for years without a problem. It is supposed to be good for 10 years, but I've always had some problem or another (or upgrade) that caused me to do a coolant change at 5 to 7 years, and at that point, I just flushed and put in new, just because.

[Foureye71]

Dexcool and the green antifreeze don't mix. Id flush it out and fill it back up with the green stuff.

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by Foureye71

Dexcool and the green antifreeze don't mix. Id flush it out and fill it back up with the green stuff.

This is a 2004 Heavy duty 6.0 that came with the orange stuff. I drained the motor and all taking the old pump off. Well at least I thought I had. The motor has been in my truck going on 3 years.

[LongBox]

The key to this is making sure that all of the old coolant is flushed out. I use one of those T fittings that goes in the heater hose, then use the garden hose to flush with the heater on full blast, and the engine running. Let it run for a fairly long time. Then fill with the coolant of your choice. Personally, I favour the green stuff, as it is relatively widely available, and I don't trust the long change intervals that are supposed to be the main benefit of the orange stuff.

I change coolant every two years, regardless of the mileage.

[midniteblues]

Green stuff for me too. But I here the dexcool and orange is aluminum friendly.

I get rid of dexcool asap it seems too break down too quick for my liking.

Andy I'm not real familiar with Ls blocks.
But if there is drain plugs in the bottom of the block pull them out for your next flush an fill.
Sediment settles and thats where youll find it...at the bottom your new water pump probally stirred it up.

[Foureye71]

Originally Posted by Andy4639

This is a 2004 Heavy duty 6.0 that came with the orange stuff. I drained the motor and all taking the old pump off. Well at least I thought I had. The motor has been in my truck going on 3 years.

Oh ok, Id run the dexcool over the green stuff since it is an ls then.

[toolboxchev]

Originally Posted by LongBox

The key to this is making sure that all of the old coolant is flushed out. I use one of those T fittings that goes in the heater hose, then use the garden hose to flush with the heater on full blast, and the engine running. Let it run for a fairly long time. Then fill with the coolant of your choice. Personally, I favour the green stuff, as it is relatively widely available, and I don't trust the long change intervals that are supposed to be the main benefit of the orange stuff.

I change coolant every two years, regardless of the mileage.

I even went so far as to pull the 2 drain plugs on my Gen I block a year and a half ago. It did help considerably. Flushed the heck out of my system and even ran water thru it with the radiator cap off and plugged a schrader valve in the engine block and pushed compressed air through the system.

Re-filled with Prestone and Distilled water. Going on a year and a half with it needing a flush now. Most coolants have SCA's in them which are corrosion inhibitors only chemically designed to last a year. They need to be replaced or else issues start.

On industrial diesel engines they even put a filter on the coolant system which have additional SCA's in them for extended service. Its a pellet like material and timed released. I thought about adding something like that but most likely unnecessary out my way.

[57larry]

I also run the green

[painterljp]

I've heard you have to run a ground for the aluminum radiator as it gives off a acid reaction to any antifreeze. Run a small ground wire on bottom of radiator so it doesn't cause the reaction, look up running a ground strap to your aluminum radiator. You will find out all kinds of info. My son worked for a radiator shop in high school he told me all about it, I never knew. Now I do. Thanks. Hope it helps..

[Trevor]

Get rid of that Dexcool/orange crap ASAP !

A paragraph from a 2006 Consumer Affairs article (14 lawsuits pending at the time) pretty much says it all;

"Ten years after General Motors began using Dex-Cool as an antifreeze in most of its cars and light trucks, GM car and truck owners continue to complain that the coolant corrodes and clogs radiators and radiator caps, erodes water pumps, rots radiator hoses, causes chronic overheating and engine damage while leading to leaky engine gaskets."

They could've also added (my experience in addition to some of the above) "corroded block heaters (rotted-out wing bolt)", "corroded/leaking frost plugs" and "rotted-out poly water jacket crossover tubes".

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by Trevor

Get rid of that Dexcool/orange crap ASAP !

A paragraph from a 2006 Consumer Affairs article (14 lawsuits pending at the time) pretty much says it all;

"Ten years after General Motors began using Dex-Cool as an antifreeze in most of its cars and light trucks, GM car and truck owners continue to complain that the coolant corrodes and clogs radiators and radiator caps, erodes water pumps, rots radiator hoses, causes chronic overheating and engine damage while leading to leaky engine gaskets."

They could've also added (my experience in addition to some of the above) "corroded block heaters (rotted-out wing bolt)", "corroded/leaking frost plugs" and "rotted-out poly water jacket crossover tubes".

Yes I read a bunch of the statements on the law suits. I think I'll just flush it and change it over to the green.

[Andy4639]

So with everyone talking about the Dexcool orange coolant being bad can I just drain the radiator good and flush it out a few good times with hose water and some type of cleaner then swap it over to the green with Demin water?

[Trevor]

They say the only thing worse than Dexcool, is mixing it with regular antifreeze, so I splurged and spent the whopping $5 on the Prestone flush kit, hooked up the ole garden hose and let 'er go ...

I hated the look of those tees permanently in my heater hoses, so bought heater hose just for flushing things and temporarily swapped them. Kind of a pain but I say it's worth the effort, always shocking how much crap comes out of a supposedly 'clean' system.

[sprint_9]

Originally Posted by Andy4639

So with everyone talking about the Dexcool orange coolant being bad can I just drain the radiator good and flush it out a few good times with hose water and some type of cleaner then swap it over to the green with Demin water?

You should flush it completely, hoses, block, heater core. You really can only flush good with a kit you can buy like the Prestone one described or have a shop do it. You want to get all of the old out as you dont want to mix the two as they are different chemical makeups.

[B Myers]

I'm running OAT coolant from Peak. New technology coolant, made for diesels but totally compatible with gas and very low corrosive blend. Don't use gm dexcool, flush and go green or upgrade to OAT.

[Money_pit]

The g-05 hoat antifreeze is good but pricey and often hard to find. I'd recommend good ol green but using an aluminium radiator and aluminium heads you should also be using the anode that goes in the radiator. My understanding is that when you use this anode in the aluminium radiator the acid from the dis similar metals eats the anode and not your parts so it is a wearable replaceable item. Had one in for two years now antifreeze looks just as clean as the day it was poured in with distilled water. Just my .02 cents.

[biketopia]

DEX-Cool is fine, it's still used by GM, if their was a problem it wouldn't be around. The problem is people mixing it with green, or any other "mixes with all makes and models" type coolants. Also letting it get low, the mud pepole saw in the 3400 v-6 radiators and such when dex first came out was because they were run low. I've run dex in my duramax since 03 with zero issues. Always stays the right color and never any problems. Which ever you decided, flush the hell out of your system and then pick your poison. The mixing is what really gives DEX a bad rap and second to that being run low, if your run dex have an expansion tank that will keep the radiator full.

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by biketopia

DEX-Cool is fine, it's still used by GM, if their was a problem it wouldn't be around. The problem is people mixing it with green, or any other "mixes with all makes and models" type coolants. Also letting it get low, the mud pepole saw in the 3400 v-6 radiators and such when dex first came out was because they were run low. I've run dex in my duramax since 03 with zero issues. Always stays the right color and never any problems. Which ever you decided, flush the hell out of your system and then pick your poison. The mixing is what really gives DEX a bad rap and second to that being run low, if your run dex have an expansion tank that will keep the radiator full.

I have never mixed them and it's never ran low other than the day the pump went out. But I didn't keep driving it. I had it towed home. I have the over flow tank also which has always worked for the past 20 some years with the older green stuff.
What I can say for sure is how it was ran before me. But it had all new put in when we did the motor 3 years ago.