some dex-cool mix with green type

[MetalSlug]

My 2000 silverado 5.3L, the preview owner change out the water pump and refill it with green type, by the look on the reservoid cap, i can see some brown stuff, I want at least drain under the radiator and refill with prestone 50/50. Or I have to take to the shop for complete flush ? truck is no over heat or lost coolant. Just some brown stuff I saw left behind.

btw if I take to the shop for flush or dealer, should I get dex-cool put on or the green stuff ?

 

[yonyon]

Start fresh. Do a garden hose flush, drain, then add 50% total system capacity of full strength coolant and top off with water. Do that and you can safely use whatever flavour of coolant tickles you moustache.

 

[The_Jeff]

Chances are good they used universal green which is a dexclone not silicated and would mix pretty well.

But if you see goo, it's time for a flush for sure. And his neglect in the past might have blown his water pump.

 

[JHZR2]

I'd go someplace where the flush will be done with real dex. That means the dealer likely.

I don't like clones for various reasons, and while it is assumed that even non dex-clone green is lower silicate than it was in the past, you just don't know.

I'd be careful, it isn't a bad idea to drain and flush the radiator, or preferably even pull hoses and flush out more.

IMO yours is one of the best situations to justify a flush.

Use dex cool.

 

[MetalSlug]

Thanks, I was thinking the same, Imma pull upper and lower coolant hose and doing the garden flush. And im putting dex-cool back in, all my camaro still having dex-cool so im pretty confident using it on my truck.

 

[Bgallagher]

You can flush it yourself. Try mixing cascade with hot water instead of a store bought chemical flush using the garden hose. A lot of the big rig guys use Cascade and it works great at degreasing and cleaning up the radiator plus it isn't foamy like soap and rinses easy. Drain then do a few flushes with distilled until it is clean then put 50% Dex (Texaco supplies GM's dex, typically cheaper then dealership) then top off with distilled H20.

 

[yonyon]

Keep in mind that if you do a water flush, then drain and fill with 50/50 you'll end up with a mix that's a lot more water than antifreeze. If you later decide to go from that watery mix to a mix closer to 50/50 you'll need to find out what your mix is and then add straight coolant to adjust. The most common tool for that is a radiator hydrometer, but test strips or a hand-held spectroscope can also be used if they're available. The hydrometer would probably be the lowest cost option of the three.

 

[MetalSlug]

Thanks for the tips, i will try flush this weekent.