These pictures are in order from the original coolant (left) to the 5th flush (right).
Red Factor
Home News History Modifications Pictures Links Email
Antifreeze Change
These pictures where taken on March 2, 2003
I read a document recently on the new antifreeze DEX-COOL used in GM cars that are year 96 and up. It just so happened that I needed an antifreeze change and decided to give this new coolant a try.
Looking for the draincock was pretty easy. It was located on the left side of the radiator at the bottom. It is a plastic screw that you open with your hands, no tools needed. When turned the coolant comes out of the bottom of the radiator, not the draincock.
When I drained my antifreeze it came out dark brown. This color was a lot darker than I anticipated. When draining not all of the coolant will come out. Only about 4-5 quarts came out for me. I then closed the draincock back up and poured Prestone Super Flush into the radiator and filled the rest up with distilled water. Make sure you use distilled water because water from your faucet contains items that eventually corrode the inside of your radiator. Also I have been told that if non-distilled water is used with a Prestone brand coolant, then a slimy settlement will form inside your radiator.
I then started the car and ran it for about 10 minutes after the engine was at normal running temperatures. After that I let the engine cool, and drained what I could. I then filled the radiator with just distilled water and ran the car again for 10 minutes. I repeated this about 5 times, or until the water coming out of my radiator was becoming a litter brown. I then filled the car up with straight coolant, no mixture, because I knew that only 4 quarts came out and the car holds a little over 12 quarts total in the cooling system. This means that filling up the radiator with 4 quarts of straight coolant was ok because there was already too much water in the cooling system for a coolant mixture to be needed.
The outcome of this change was a lot more than I expected. I knew that this new DEX-COOL would not cool any better than the normal green antifreeze, but I did know that it had unique corrosion inhibitors that would be beneficial to my car. The flushing of the system was what caused the cooling system to run cooler. My car normally ran 210° F and a little above. Now the car runs 210° F and below. I didn't see it go past 210° F even when I was running the car hard. It will only go above 210° F when I sit in traffic, but never higher. Before the antifreeze change, the upper intake would be hot to the touch and now it is somewhat cooler than before. The actual flush was the best for the car, but the effects of the DEX-COOL won't be known until a while from now.
These pictures are in order from the original coolant
(left) to the 5th flush (right).
How much distilled water I used to flush the system 5
times.