Coolant

[GN]

On a 2000 S-10, is it a must to use the red color coolant? Can a good brand of something else be used instead on a flush of the system?

[A383Wing]

yes...flush out the system and use the good green coolant....the red or orange stuff is crap...

[The70RT]

They do make a green that is compatible with the red. Make sure it is or it will clog your system. The red stuff will eventually cog your system as well if it gets old. It's best to flush out all the red and go with the green like 383 wing says.

[Cooter]

As stated, use a good GREEN coolant and flush all that red sh*t out ASAP! It is supposedly boidegradable and derived from a sugar based base...I've seen MANY late model GM cars and trucks with rediators clogged and eaten up by that crap....

[jaak]

As stated, use a good GREEN coolant and flush all that red sh*t out ASAP! It is supposedly boidegradable and derived from a sugar based base...I've seen MANY late model GM cars and trucks with rediators clogged and eaten up by that crap....

When I worked at a GM dealership a few years back, I was suprised how many customers (buying new cars) would want the red stuff drained and flushed/ then refilled with green right after buying their new car. Of course we always recommend changing over to Green when we had a customer come to the shop wanting a flush/refill done on their cooling systems.

Jason

[adauto]

 
The crap I've seen and the damage done... 

[A383Wing]

I had to change the plastic t-stat housing in our 2003 PT Cruiser at 25,000 miles..that red-orange crap ate it away...switched over to green coolant and never a problem since...got 80k on it now

[Silver R/T]

yes...flush out the system and use the good green coolant....the red or orange stuff is crap...

How is it crap? Toyota and other asian makes use orange and GM been using red for a while

[doctor4766]

yes...flush out the system and use the good green coolant....the red or orange stuff is crap...

How is it crap? Toyota and other asian makes use orange and GM been using red for a while

Yep, good question.
I've always had it in Toyotas (since it was a factory item) and my LS1 also used it from new.
Gotta say I've never had any issues using the stuff apart from it's price.

And it can get freakin hot down here at times too.

[The70RT]

It also plugs the intake water passages then eats the gaskets. Almost always an intake leak occurs before 100K. Yeah GM and Toyota use it.......they make money from it!

[moparstuart]

 It eats the hell out of intake and head gaskets on GM products

  Eat them right up !!!   get the red stuff out right away and use green !!!!!!!!!

[A383Wing]

it also eats plastic t-stat housings on PT Cruisers as well...like I stated in post above.

I can't begin to count how many intake gaskets and aluminum intake manifolds I have replaced on 90's & later GM 5.7 liter engines....I think Chevy took stock in replacement gaskets to make more money.

red is bad, green is good

and Toyota coolant is their own brand...have not seen any issues with any of those engines that run that paticular coolant

[Cooter]

yes...flush out the system and use the good green coolant....the red or orange stuff is crap...

How is it crap? Toyota and other asian makes use orange and GM been using red for a while

Toyota uses a totally different coolant..It just happen to be redish/orange..

[jb666]

It eats the hell out of intake and head gaskets on GM products

  Eat them right up !!!   get the red stuff out right away and use green !!!!!!!!!

It was one of the first things I did when I got the new rig...

[Bigun426]

On the Duramax fourm that I'm on has stated that Dexacool or what ever the red stuff is has been linked to causing corrosion in aluminum as the coolant degrades over time. Has been accused of causing coolant leaks around the injector sleeves in the heads due to corrosion.