Orange coolant or traditional green coolant?

Question

My 2002 Chevy Malibu has given me quite a few problems with the intake gasket and overheating problems as well. I have taken my vehicle to the shop for the second time in the passed 6 months for overheating issues. Recently last week I took the car to a shop and had the mechanic replace the intake gasket and water pump since both had failed. The mechanic told me the cause for the intake gasket to crack and leak coolant is the orange coolant itself, and that he recommends me to flush it and add the regular green coolant. He also said he had issues with a Chevy vehicle and replacing the orange coolant with the green coolant fixed the common intake gasket failures. So my question is, is it safe to switch from orange to green coolant? I'm not that good with cars, to be honest I don't like working on vehicles, so I never pay attention on how to fix anything on them. Back to my question, will any internal parts be damaged if I switch to green coolant or is it ok to use green coolant instead of the orange one? 

Thanks in advance for taking time to help me out.

M S · Accepted Answer

Search online for the "GM dexcool problems" to see all the issues with the orange dexcool coolant in the late 1990s & early 2000s GM cars & vans.   They finally changed the intake gasket rubber material around 2004 so dexcool doesn't  dissolve them.

Anyway,  drain all the orange stuff out and flush the radiator 3 or4 times with water. Run the engine and heater until it is hot each time you fill it with water.  Then you can put the green coolant in there at a 50/50 ratio with water.

There is not going to be any damage or corrosion  by using the green stuff as long as you stay with a brand name coolant like prestone.  When the car was new, you had to run dexcool for the warranty to be valid

E · Answer

I think the orange coolant is the GM spec.It should tell you in the owner's manual.  But if it hasn't worked, and you trust your mechanic the green coolant won't ruin anything but it won't fix leaks either.

You might want to get a second opinion before going green

Chris · Answer

if you thoroughly flush all of the dex cool out and then switch to green antifreeze, you should be fine

this can be done by removing the lower radiator hose and opening the radiator drain( if it has one ) and refill it with water run vehicle with heat on over and over until what drains out is water
refill with 50/50 mix of prestone green antifreeze

i've used Dexcool in GM trucks for over 10 years and have never had any issues

? · Answer

visit an automobile areas save, seem up with form of fluid the automobile could be utilising and ask the adult males there. i could say the brake fluid could be sparkling together as the potential guidance and transmission fluid could be crimson. the potential guidance gadgets commonly use transmission fluid.

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Orange coolant or traditional green coolant?

4 Answers