dookie454

It's not really difference of opinion. The difference here is your coolant system is not 16 years old proven by "with proper maintenance". Your car might be 16 years old, mine is 14, my coolant is 2yrs old, so that's misleading.

His sounds like it's original, and even if it's not my point in saying that was "If you see gunk under the actual radiator cap then flush it!"

If there's gunk under that gap there's likely gunk in the heater core.

Did you know most heart attacks are the result of a >90% block and the person didnt even know it?

Injuneer

Huh??? I guess you're calling me a liar.

I offered an OPINON. If you don't like it, sorry. I just get tired of all the generalities that get posted about "these cars", and I'm disappointed you've chosen to join that crowd.

Last I checked, my heater core is 16 years old, and even with the 160* t'stat and the dreaded (oh, no Mr. Billllllllll) Dex-Cool, it puts out lots of heat.

Have a nice day.

Brangeta

My sister finally let me check every fluid in the car, and to my HORROR, the coolant is ... just.... TERRIBLE looking! It's completely rust colored. The overflow dipstick has dried "mud" caked onto it and the radiator cap is horribly covered in rust. It was changed just over 2 years ago, so this is absolutely HORRIFYING.

This isn't something I am going to attempt. I'm going to take the car to NTB to have the service done. I would like to outline the exact process to who will be doing the job, as I do not want them messing up the water pump. Does the LT1's unique reverse flow cooling system make it any different from other cars with regard to flushing the system out?

A fast reply would be very helpful if someone can provide me one. NTB is open today. If I wait til tomorrow, I will need to loan her my car and inconvenience myself.

ALSO, once flushed, can we switch from the green 2-year stuff to the orange DEX-COOL 5-year stuff without issue?

Thanks guys!

Brangeta

Update from last post. I found some info on shbox's site, read it, and talked to NTB and they told me they just hook the car to a machine that sucks the stuff out and puts new in. So I didn't take the car there.

I printed out shbox's instructions and will be taking the car to a chevy dealership tomorrow and making sure they do the process properly. If they get the opti wet I'm going to throw a fit.

Also, I researched the DEX-COOL stuff on this forum, and it seems that people who have changed from green to DEX aren't happy with it overall. Some comments I read mentioned that if the system isn't air tight, it'll get fouled. Her Z28 has a (likely) slight coolant drip from some unknown location (which is still dripping a green drop every few days despite her completely brown, rusty coolant......), so that does not sound like a good modification.

Related to the above paragraph... the green drip has always been suspected as a coolant drip, but the A/C compressor has a green dye in the oil supposedly and is another option. I've tried finding the location of the VERY slight leak and cannot ever find it. I think it might be from the overflow tank.

The green drip does indeed have a very gross taste to it if you touch a dab of it to your tongue. Burns like a 9-volt battery on your tongue, which says to me it's coolant... but...

Anybody happen to know what color the liquid in a car battery is...?

byrons1502

the one thing u need to look out for is a coolant exchange which is just sucking out a gallon of coolant and putting a gallon in. You NEED to find a place that FLUSHES the coolant out. They should use chemicals before they start and let the car warm up for 10-15 minutes. Then the upper radiator hose is disconnected and adapters are hooked up to hoses and a machine flushes the system out using an electric pump. I run the coolant backwards forcing the t-stat open and breaking up the ridges on the vehicle. It will get 85-90% of the old coolant out. I also remove the overflow tank and flush it out with a garden hose to make sure i put as much pure green antifreeze in i can. Then i put in a conditioner. This is how we do it at my shop for the last 17 years when we got our machines.

6SpdLT1Z

x2.