rust and sludge came out of the core when i pulled it i have had 5 fords prior never had any problems with the cooling systems

 

i removed 2 coolant sensors today, and had drained the radiator because i had plans to flush the coolant system while i was at it, i flushed the radiator but was unable to get to the drain plugs on the engine, i have green anti-freeze in my 95(dont know what type) would it be ok if i used the prestone green (5yr/150k all vehicle) antifreeze? or am i at any major risk of damaging gaskets? i havent done much with coolant before, other than topping off, but to my surprise there is ALOT of depth into this subject here, now im a little nervous as to what to use, and is the green prestone REALLY the same thing as dex-cool? when i my engine blew a few years ago orange fluid came out, so im asuming it was dex-cool, and i never had a coolant problem with it, sludge in the resivour i cleane out today, and i cant find zerex in my area, what retailers carry it?

 

DanB2760,

I can speak from experience that you must have your cooling system completely flushed of the Dex-Cool (Red/Orange) before you switch to the green coolant. There is something chemically that makes the two anti-freezes incompatable with each other. It will eventually form a black gooey muck if you mix the two.

I don't see why you won't use the Dex-Cool (Red/Orange) there is nothing wrong with it. There is a lot of opinion about Dex-Cool on this and other forums but, I have never seen anyone offer one stitch of emperical data proving otherwise. Besides, GM still uses Dex-Cool in all of the vehicles they build. Just make sure your cooling system is full and your coolant recovery bottle is full at all times. Also make sure you have a good Stant or AC/Delco radiator cap.

If you are determined to use the green coolant and you cannot get the drain plugs out of the block, take a propane torch and heat the area of the block around the plug, not the plug. Get it hot and then let it cool. Do this several times and the last time heat it and then try to break it loose while hot. I have had good luck doing this. Patience is the trick.

 

If the hex on the drain plugs is in good shape and some one has not rounded the corners off I have never failed to remove stubborn ones with a good six point socket. You may need the extra leverage of a breaker bar instead of a ratchet. Put some pipe dope or teflon paste on them when you re-install them. Nice and sung. They do not need to be gorilla tight.

 

Yeah. I had a buddy that used the dex-cool coolant in his 87 Blazer and mixed it with a different kind that was green after he said he couldn't really tell a difference. He had started to have the same problem with it not mixing well but luckily he caught it before it did any damage. We flushed out his entire system and put what he normally used back in and never had any further problems with it.

 

well i had dex-cool appearently when my engine blew,(fed 2010) as orange ran all over the snow lol, anyway when the shop put my new engine in, they used the green stuff, so being that i couldnt get those plugs off (particurally the driver side was the worst to access), i flush what i could out of it, still had some trapped, and refilled with the prestone green(any make any model), everything back to the normal, truck runs great, stayed cool, execpt advance sold me a bad coolant tempature GAUGE sensor, said it was 210 when the coolant temp i just put on the intake manifold said it was 180 warmed up, so put a new sensor on, lost a few onces of coolant when i pulled it and then retopped off, everythings in the normal, this is the 2nd time i had bad luck with BWD sensors, might wanna stay away from them from now on, lol, dex-cool is orginally what i bought, but being i couldnt get the entire flush done i switched back to the green, thanks for the help, a week ago i though antifreeze was antifreeze no different(shows i was wrong) btw anyone ever try PEAK antifreeze? if so how was it?

 

Yes there are different antifreeze types. the chemical make up is different. Most everywhere you go they sell "Mixes with anytype Antifreeze" From what I have read this stuff is supposedly NOT compatable with 65% of the different types of antifreeze. Yes it may mix but that does not mean it is chemicly compatable.

The only antifreeze I have found that lists different types for different years, & makes is Zerex. If you go to their website they have several different types and they list what vehicles each type should be used in.

 

I'm one of the new "kids on the block" here so I am not about to start any arguments about coolant properties. This is my story. 2002 Blazer, 65,600 miles. Drained and flushed system and replaced the coolant with Prestone green. Two months later, noticed a leak below the driver's side of the engine. The dealer found and replaced the leaking manifold gasket, the thermostat, recycled, filtered and replaced the green coolant which was fine with me.
~ $750.00. Four months later, the radiator split down the right side. Dealer replaced it and flushed and refilled the system with the green. ~ $550.00. The service manager would not say anything bad or good about Dex-Cool, but he said their policy is to use whatever coolant the customer has unless it is a warranty repair. Then they use the yellow. The vehicle now has 98,600 miles and no more coolant issues. The moral of this story: I can't answer that.

An added note, I recently noticed a thunking noise coming fron the front end when driving over a rough road or rail-road tracks. Figured the front suspension had some worn parts so I took it in. The dealer said the front end was tight but the toe-in was off. The noise was coming from worn hood hinges. They installed two washers in the hinges and aligned the front end. No more noise. Just sayin I got that one wrong.

 

I have a 00 Blazer I changed out the Dexcool the first thing. I bought it used and the guy I bought it from all ready did the intake gasket. I drained the Dexcool and took out the thermostat and put the hose back on and filled it with water and ran the car at idle till it came up to temp. then drained the system I done this twice and put in a new thermostat and fill it with green Prestone, I have had no problems and its been over three years.

 

I will have to admit, I did not read every single post on this thread, for the amount of information to digest is a lot to handle in one sitting! But for my experiences with dexcool, I will have to say that I have not had problems with it. The water pump went bad on my blazer around 78,000 miles or so, and the system had never been flushed prior to the replacement of the pump and there was no problem with the dexcool in the way of being "muddy" or anything of the like. Since then, everything has been ok, but I had to add some more coolant once or twice since then (it now has 89,7XX miles). My dad had an '88 Camaro that took prestone coolant, and from what I can remember that caused no problems either. I have said that it is each to his own, so I will not say that one should use one over the other, but personally I will continue to use dexcool until it gives me fits itself. And I do believe that one cannot expect to get the best performance out of something that they continually choose to neglect and just "let go" because the container says that it is good for 5 years or 150k miles. Of course this is all my personal opinion, and I do not claim to be an expert on the subject.