[dpal]

I'm doing my 30K mile fluid changes on Sunday. I've done so much reading on this board that my eyes are going crazy.

Just going to do a simple drain/fill on the radiator. Is the Prestone 50/50 ready-to-use extended life coolant fine to use?

Prestone :: Products : Antifreeze/Coolant

Just YES or NO is fine.

Thanks.

 

[Mylt1]

why would you want to spend that much on coolant? just mix your own.

 

[dpal]

yes or no?

 

[dubie2003]

Yes, it is perfectly okay to use if you have the green/yellow in there already. I think pre 09 or 08s have the green/yellow and the 09s and up have the new blue.

I suggest that you buy it at walmart. It is 8-9 a gallon and you will probably need just over 1. The 50/50 is the easiest to use but if you do the math on the full concentrate and a gallon of distilled water, it may be a little cheaper.

One thing to remember is to ensure no fluid gets on the serp belt and that you use some RTV on the drain plug when you re-install it to ensure it doesn't leak in the future.

Lastly, make sure you bleed/burp the system like crazy. You probably won't have the issue with the heater core that most end up having when they swap out Tstats but make sure you run the heat and get everything up to temp for a bit with the cap off and it probably won't hurt to fill the overflow to its max hot line and a little more to help push the air out. Also, squeezing the upper radiator hose helps push out bubbles so make sure you do that a little.