I have to change the upper radiator hose on my car tonight and figured that I'll end up changing the coolant from the regular green stuff the extended life coolant (I've heard that it's a lot easier on the aluminum parts) and was wondering if there is a trick to getting the old coolant completely out of the block and all the passages? I figured that I'd just have to drain as much as I could and then keep flushing it with water, but wanted to see if there it a shortcut that might ensure that it all comes out. My driveway drains right back into my garage (which really sucks!!), so I wanted to do it with the least amount of flushing as I can.
Stick with the green stuff. The orange stuff is nothing but trouble in an old car. First, a bit of history on the orange stuff. It was developed so that GM could claim that their cars were cheaper per mile to operate for the first few years of their life. The orange stuff does last for a couple of years in a brand new car, and hence you could defer the cost of cooling system flushing for those few years and thus the car would be cheaper to maintain. Averaging things out then, you have a net savings per mile for the first few years of the car's life. So, under "Ideal Conditions" (like in a brand new car) the orange stuff will last longer, but the green stuff is far more forgiving of older cars. If you have ANY impurities in your system (like dirt, for example, or even traces of old green coolant) it can cause the orange stuff to "crystallize", or turn into this sludgy gook with the consistency of runny cottage cheese. That isn't good on anything in your cooling system. It stops cooling well, your car overheats or blows a gasket, and then you are in a world of hurt. Likewise, if you do have a little bit of a leak in your system, it would not be that big of a deal with the green stuff, but with the orange stuff that leak becomes a source of impurities and hence accellerated crystallization. That's why the intake manifold gasket problems on the GM 3.4 liter v6's are such a big deal -- a little leak causes the cooling system to stop functioning over time, and that causes all sorts of internal heat problems; the gaskets deteriorate further, and then you end up with either coolant splashing on your cam bearings or warped heads. Believe me, there are dealerships out there converting newer cars to the old green stuff because it causes fewer problems in the long run. Just change the green stuff out every year like you are supposed to, and you shouldn't have any problems with it. - Freed
i changed to dexcool last spring but this spring i replaced the waterpump gasket , thoroughly flushed the cooling system and installed good old prestone .
