oups59

I am doing a coolant and thermostat change and I will like to know what coolant are you using ? I saw one orange (Dexcool) and one yellow (Prestone). Both aluminum friendly both long life ( 5 years - 250,000 Km).

Rob Edwards

Orange.

Bill Ball

Either is fine. Dexcool's supposed advantages for aluminum blocks have not proven true. Porsche used the green stuff. If you are switching from yellow/green to orange or vice versa, do a very thorough flush, which you should do anyway.

marton

be careful; there are no national or international colour standards for antifreeze.
Just depends on which colour dye the factory drops in. The colour can & does change.

For example, Was it GM that delivered new cars filled with orange antifreeze & a sticker that said "do not use orange antifreeze".

Marton

RyanPerrella

I think Porsche's stuff is Orange now, for the 997's and boxsters and cayennes. But I could be wrong. I previously used MB coolant as I was told it was really good stuff and was great at removing scale in the 928. It was Orange in color but this time I just got genuine texaco havoline dex-cool approved coolant. I would stay away from the no name stuff personally, but if you change it every 1-2 years then anything should be good. Problems arise when you go 5-8 years witht he same coolant.

Adam Geist

Hi all,

I've been using Honda Long-Life coolant in all my cars for several years now. Honda has a proprietary formula that is specifically made for aluminum engines and components. It's comes pre-mixed, but is a bit pricey.

It does not contain silicates which is known to accelerate bearing/seal wear (or so I've been told).

Adam

IcemanG17

Orange

Mrmerlin

If your changing the coolant do this as well make sure to remove both of the block drains and and flush the system out a few times also replace the heater control valve and the short hose that connects it to the rear of the right cylinder head, BTW I use Dexcool ........orange

oups59

Do you change it every 2-3 years? I know that for my BMW 535, it is recommended every 2 years

Marine Blue

Seems everyone uses something different.

Anyone have any data to help with decision making? I'm also doing a fluid change soon and I know others probabl ponder this.

Mrmerlin

the Dexcool is supposed to be good for 5 years due to the additive package

Adam Geist

http://www.mr2.com/TEXT/HondaCoolant.html

worf928

I used Dex-Cool on my '89GT and noticed that it left orange scaley stuff everywhere. Since then I switched to the Preston long-life green stuff that says on the bottle that you can mix it with any color coolant. So, far I've had no issues and no deposits. But, I still change the coolant every two years.

IIRC if you _switch_ to Dex-Cool you have to make sure that all the old coolant is out - a good flush - as it does not like to mix with the older green coolant.

dr bob

On an older recommendation, I started using the G-05 Zerex product six years ago, which happens to be almost colorless. Not quite water-clear but very close. Prior to that, the car had Porsche anti-freeze when I bought it, then the orange Prestone extended-life coolant for the first change I did. For all but the first change, the block and radiator were thoroughly flushed with water at each change. The first change was "flushed" but I didn't pull the galley drains in the block as I should have. ;(

Like Dave C. and I'm sure many other owners, I change the coolant every couple years on a schedule.

I use a gallon of coolant, a bottle of Water Wetter, and the balance is distilled water. So far so good. The car lives in a very mild climate here in SoCal, so the main purpose of the coolant is really as a water pump lube and metal preservative. It would probably do as well with distilled water, two bottle of the Water Wetter for pump lubrication, and a small dose of amine to pickle the aluminum once. Fill completely, do a vacuum degas to get stray oxygen out, and drive it forever.

heinrich

orange