flushing coolant

mastershake · 07-17-2011, 03:27 AM

i'm planning on flushing the system in the next 2 weeks after this heat wave passes because the coolant smells fishy... and its orange

..

so ive been doing research and ive concluded these are the correct steps (correct me if im wrong)

1. drain coolant via drainrooster or lower hose if the rooster is too difficult.
2. follow directions on prestone flush bottle, bleeding the system with each drain and refill.
3. drain all the rinse water out and add 50/50 prestone

what im wondering is.. if i use plain water to rinse the system and then drain via the radiator, wont there still be alot of water in the block/heater core when adding 50/50 coolant? i havent found much info on that so if someone could clear that up...

mastershake · 07-17-2011, 08:08 PM

a.graham52 · 07-18-2011, 07:20 AM

therory sounds good to me.

mastershake · 07-18-2011, 06:20 PM

ok so i bought a bottle of peak instead of prestone because thats all autozone had, and it said to rinse the coolant out BEFORE putting the super flush in. problem is i accidentally put the flush in before rinsing out the excess coolant. with this be an issue? the prestones bottle says nothing about rinsing first but idk if the formulations are different

Final500Alero309 · 08-31-2011, 09:43 PM

I am also draining my coolant soon too. I was told dexcool will, eat away head gaskets and intake gaskets, because of its high acidity. Also tends to clog heater cores and coolant passages and was told regular green in instead of the GM dexcool

zearchyo · 08-31-2011, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Final500Alero309

I was told dexcool will, eat away head gaskets and intake gaskets, because of its high acidity. Also tends to clog heater cores and coolant passages and was told regular green in instead of the GM dexcool

can anybody back this up

Final500Alero309 · 08-31-2011, 09:56 PM

My dad who has been a technician for 25 years and has seen first hand on what dexcool has done to GM coolant systems, they said it is to last 100,000 but you are lucky if it lasts 50,000. If you wait until 100,00 it will be an brown/orange mud, and do the damage previously stated.

mastershake · 08-31-2011, 10:39 PM

yup, when i flushed the dex out, little chunks of brown sludge came out with it. not sure if it was from a previous gasket problem or just the dex cool but i was glad i switched to green...

MMGT1 · 08-31-2011, 10:52 PM

Guys, I have to say, don't go green on this one. I know there have been threads going on the subject for years now. I have seen first hand on my other GA what the green does. head gasket went after using green for a few years, no biggie jsut put in new gaskets and Im off again. Not the case, teh green coolant had eaten "pocks" into the heads and the mating surface of the block. Huge mess to fix that one. I have seen many, and I mean many gaskets gone using the dex, and never the kind of damage we saw in mine. Stick with the Dex, just do it every 50-60K as suggested above and you'll not have any problems... well, no messed up heads anyway!

zearchyo · 08-31-2011, 11:56 PM

thats what i thought bc theres a reason y gm recoments it

xXManwhoreXx · 09-01-2011, 11:20 PM

I plan on doing a full system flush soon new rad, thermo, hoses and running water through my coolent passages for a while dexcool has been know to penut butter up and leave chunks everywhere.

a.graham52 · 09-02-2011, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xXManwhoreXx

I plan on doing a full system flush soon new rad, thermo, hoses and running water through my coolent passages for a while dexcool has been know to penut butter up and leave chunks everywhere.

usualy only happens when dexcool gets hot AND airaided. the leading cause is a low coolant.