mike33 Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Gentlemen, I would like to change the coolant in my 02 Deville. Other than disconnecting the lower radiator hose and draining, then add supplement. Then refill slowly at the purge tank. What else would I need to do? Thanks! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Gentlemen, I would like to change the coolant in my 02 Deville. Other than disconnecting the lower radiator hose and draining, then add supplement. Then refill slowly at the purge tank. What else would I need to do? Thanks! Mike Be sure to use DexCool mixed 50/50 with distilled water. Add the GM supplemental cooling system tablets (or bar's leaks golden seal) to the lower radiator hose before you reconnect it. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgaouette Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 I'm doing the same thing to my 01 Deville. I just picked up 2 gallons of Prestone (Dexcool Approved) coolant, the orange stuff. Is there any reason this will not be adaquate in place of Dexcool? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike33 Posted January 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Cool, so obviously you leave about 40% of the old stuff in the engine, and most people are ok with that because of the long life properties of Dexcool? Gentlemen, I would like to change the coolant in my 02 Deville. Other than disconnecting the lower radiator hose and draining, then add supplement. Then refill slowly at the purge tank. What else would I need to do? Thanks! Mike Be sure to use DexCool mixed 50/50 with distilled water. Add the GM supplemental cooling system tablets (or bar's leaks golden seal) to the lower radiator hose before you reconnect it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 I'm doing the same thing to my 01 Deville. I just picked up 2 gallons of Prestone (Dexcool Approved) coolant, the orange stuff. Is there any reason this will not be adaquate in place of Dexcool? Thanks! Several companies are licensed by GM to produce Dexcool and Prestone is one of them. If it says "DEXCOOL" on the container, it is the proper coolant. Jim Drive your car. Use your cell phone. CHOOSE ONE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Cool, so obviously you leave about 40% of the old stuff in the engine, and most people are ok with that because of the long life properties of Dexcool? Some of us (or at least one of us) do not wait five years or anywhere near 100,000 miles to refresh the Dexcool. My cooling system is drained and filled with fresh chemistry somewhere between two and three years. Jim Drive your car. Use your cell phone. CHOOSE ONE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike33 Posted January 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Jim, do you use the same drain and refill procedure as metioned above? Cool, so obviously you leave about 40% of the old stuff in the engine, and most people are ok with that because of the long life properties of Dexcool? Some of us (or at least one of us) do not wait five years or anywhere near 100,000 miles to refresh the Dexcool. My cooling system is drained and filled with fresh chemistry somewhere between two and three years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac Jim Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 I let my mechanic flush my system when I changed my coolant. In the old days when I had cars that didn't have the modern revers-flow cooling like the Northstar and GM LS series V8's and most other newer engines, I would leave the petcock open and the garden hose in the filler cap, and let the car idle for awhile until all color went away from the water out of the petcock. Some recommend pulling the thermostat to do this, and it may be necessary on the Northstar. In any case I would flush the coolant before putting antifreeze back in, particularly in an aluminum engine with green coolant. -- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data -- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgaouette Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 In 01 I converted my 99 Eldo to Green as my dealer called the original coolant DexClog and recommended the change. I still have the car and have kept it green since the initial change with no problems. It's been a summer car only and only has 50K or so on it. My 01 Deville and 03 Seville have stayed orange with no problems also! My dealer also recommends no coolant tabs but I put them in despite there recomendation! I will add that my 97 seville went (head gasket) with green in it but that car I bought used and when I pulled the motor to do the gaskets I found that the water jacket was about half clogged at he bad cylinders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chazglenn3 Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 The latest sevice bulletins that I have seen posted on the web says that the use of the cooling system supplement is not recommended for routine maintenance. I have copied and pasted the information below... TSB #00-06-02-006D: Engine Coolant Recycling and Warranty Information (Aug 15, 2006) Portion of the bulletin that talks about Sealing Tabs and Dex-Cool Sealing Tablets Cooling System Sealing Tablets (Seal Tabs) should not be used as a regular maintenance item after servicing an engine cooling system. Discoloration of coolant can occur if too many seal tabs have been inserted into the cooling system. This can occur if seal tabs are repeatedly used over the service life of a vehicle. Where appropriate, seal tabs may be used if diagnostics fail to repair a small leak in the cooling system. When a condition appears in which seal tabs may be recommended, a specific bulletin will be released describing their proper usage. Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyG Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Mike33, Your '02 is obviously Dexcool and you are doing the proper thing to just drain and refill the system. JimD's post was not a suggestion that you should flush your engine, but I feel that he was pointing out exactly what you SHOULD NOT do to your Northstar. A couple things that you might consider doing is trying to get as much of the old coolant out as possible: One would be to park on an incline with the nose pointed down, or possibly use a vacuum to blow air into your system from the filler cap. The vacuum alowed me to get a few more ounces of coolant out, but not really that much. Secondly, to avoid guessing about your 50% mixture, which IS important, consider using the premixed 50/50 coolant to refill your engine. It will take two gallons, and you will have a little bit leftover to top off the reservoir after a week or so of driving if needed. It's the easiest method and takes all the guesswork out of the mixture issue. I will stay mum on the coolant tabs/golden seal other than stated below. I used them in my '99 without issue, but I'm not sure that the '02 even requires them. After many many years on this board and reading numerous posts about failed head gaskets, it is obvious to me that the sealant tabs MAY keep coolant from seeping down into the threads of the headbolts (nuisance leaks) which might later turn into a bigger problem, i.e. pulled headbolts. The tabs will not stop headgasket leaks in any other fashion than this, since the headgasket leak is a very high pressure leak. Use them according to factory recommendations and not excessively. You will be fine. Never underestimate the amount of a persons greed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 The lower radiator hose is no where near the bottom of the radiator if you look at it. I would use the drain plug on the bottom to get the maximum amount of coolant out. As far as the sealant tabs go, I've quit using them. The reverse flow from a shop vac works very well for lightly pressurizing the system and getting some additional coolant out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick7997 Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 That service bulletin, I believe, addresses possible DISCOLORATION of the coolant, which, from a service department perspective, could lead the customer to think that something is wrong, when it isn't. The coolant tabs (I think) did straighten out a leak I had in the Eldorado... I only drove the car in summer, and the first spring I got it out, there was a puddle. Driving it, I had a drip. After the back to back coolant changes (with sealant tabs) I never saw a drop of coolant again in the next 3 years... I change my radiator fluid once a year, with the Prestone Dexcool, mixed 50/50 with distilled water. Opening the petcock, as Ranger says, will get more coolant out. If your shop vac can be reversed, to blow air, blowing air in from the top will also force out more coolant. If you are really paranoid about getting every drop of old stuff out, you could try what I did on my ETC: do the collant change as described (drain and refill), drive the car for 2 weeks, and do it again. At that point, you will have changed out around 90% of whatever was in there.... Doing it yourself costs about $21. That's cheap insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.