ls1 coolant question
 

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hey guys i just drained my coolant system to install my new electric water pump and someone had previously changed it over to the green coolant. there isnt any sludge in the cooling system so it seems they did it correctly.

i think i am gonna stick with the green stuff but i am curious what brands everyone is using, and if you recomend the waterwetter or royal purple additives?

also the car sees a lot of track usage, what mixture of water and coolant do you recomend for use on the track (im in new jersey so it gets to the freezing level in the winter)

i want to run to the store today, so any help you can give me asap will be great...

thanks,
mike

I did mine last month. Didn't have any buildup or signs of rust as far as I could tell, so I stuck with the red/pink coolant. I put in the Prestone extended life that meets the Dex-cool requirements and just mixed it 50/50 with distilled water. However, I know there have been issues with Dex-cool, so if you have the green already in there and it's been running fine on that you might as well stick with it.

I switched over to the green stuff in the v6 w/ no problems.

I have always run 33% coolant and 66% water.

I never do the 50/50 mixture.

I've run the "water wetter" stuff before.

I plan on trying the royal purple "ice" stuff.

As for brand..... I've just gone w/ whatever brand is at the auto parts store.

I gotta do the coolant flush on the new beater.... so I'll be trying the royal purple "ice" stuff shortly.

I don’t know LS1 idiosyncrasies, so I can only speak in general term what I have read & done. I would stay with green stuff, a 50/50 mix (maybe a little light on the coolant), diluted it with distilled water. Risoldi’s sells it for like $1 a gallon or something. That is what I always do, and just did in my 77. I don’t have a mixture gauge to measure the coolant effectiveness. 50/50 is probably over kill, but better safe then sorry.

I wouldn’t bother with additives unless you have cooling issues that water wetter might help. I dilute it myself because I don’t trust what water they use. Plus I think it is cheaper. Continuing with paranoia, I only use name brands. I bought a case of Zerex or Peak at Sam’s for like $30 or so.

My $.02

i converted my GP over to the green stuff after i opened the cap and the orange stuff had made a nice slimy crusty blob under my cap...flushed it out multiple times and filled it up with 50/50 green/water and all was well

i ended up doing a full flush, and bought prestone "dexcool approved" 50/50. i was told it wont gum up like dexcool but will be a little better than the green stuff, it says dont add water but ill probably dilute it a little more and add the water wetter

Use distilled water to dillute it, not tap water. As I unserstand it, something in tap water (minerals, i dunno?) adds to the gel issues of that stuff.

Edit: Hey, are you home? Jeff gave me an air box part for you. I could run it over to you.

That's the same one I used, except I bought the one that wasn't premixed and just mixed it myself.

Just curious, how did you flush your system? Did you just drain and run water through the radiator? Or did you back flush as well?

i drained it, pulled the radiator and my dad took it to his shop for a flush and pressure test.

scott im home now.

I'm going to Jackson in about a half an hour, I can drop it off. PM your address.

when i did my motor, i had drained everything except the heater core. i filled it with green Prestone "all makes, all models, all colors". That is suppossed to mix fine with the dexcool, yet not be as corrosive. i have zero problems with it. And when i did the electric water pump, i filled it back up with the prestone, it looked brand new(2k miles only though) and showed no sludge at all at that time.