So, I was driving home to drop my girlfriend off after having picked her up from work and I noticed my temp gauge started climbing to the red and my hood had white smoke coming out from under it.

I parked the car, shut down the engine, and popped the hood. I noticed anti-freeze all over the front of the engine bay. I immediately started trying to diagnose the issue. I could find no leaks and the tubes looked good. I debated on calling a tow truck and decided instead to walk to Sears. I bought two new bottles of a different color anti-freeze and walked back to the car with a highly frustrated and annoyed girlfriend. Put both bottles in and tightened the cap. It turns out the cap was loose and sprayed the engine, once the coolant was out, the engine started overheating.

I'm waiting till tommorow morning to go down and look to see if any fluid is leaking out of the radiator, just to be on the safe side and rule out radiator damage. It will be easy to tell since my original fluid was green and the new fluid I put in is orange, but on the drive home my engine stayed nice and cool and before hopping in I checked under the car and it was bone dry

So I'm here crossing my fingers hoping it's ok!

I never could have imagined a simple loose cap would have caused such a big spill and problem.

 

A little pointer. My wifes new Silverado has a pinkish coolant/antifreeze. I was told, by the dealer, not to mix with the green stuff, or everything will turn to gel. Not good, since all circulation will stop. Just a thought.

 

Hey Starship,
Your reply is going to scare the crap out some people.

 

Just relayin' what the dealer told me. I ain't goin' to mix 'em to find out if he's right, or not.

 

FWIW I recall hearing/reading that when the orange came out. I believe the orange stuff is the new 100K mile stuff.

 

The HOAT ororange 'dexcool'(extended life antifreeze) will causemoisture in your cooling system, it runs on a nitrate system as opposed to the PH we are used to using that is compatable with water, dexcool will also form gel around you intake gasket and not allow proper flow causing a 'hotspot' and burrning through it causingcoolant to leak into your intake, (a great hint is if you are looing coolant and you dont have a leak.)
PLEASE do not use this type of coolant GM says it is good for 100,000 miles and it will gel in only about 45,000 and then your looking at a $500-600 repair billto replace your intake gasket, so please get rid of it and flush yourentire coolingsystem ASAP! It will also ruin radiators and heater cores aswell.

 

Ya, I'm dumpin' the pink stuff and goin' back to Prestone.
To be politically correct, "Go Green".

 

Anyone knowsomething about the additive stuff thats sopposed to lower coolant temp. by 40%.

 

Snake Oil. It'll cure yer diarrhea, arthritis, lack of virility and psoriasis, but won't help yer 'Vette much.
Describe your cooling problems and cooling system and we can get you straightened out. Products like water wetter do not work well in combination with anti-freeze and in my opinion provide little to no benefit.

 

The dex cool is NEEDED if you have aluminum radiator/heads. The main thing with the dexcool is that it does not get corosion in aluminum, and the green stuff can. I switched to the dex cool with aluminum heads, problem free. Similar to when synt. oil came out and everyone said, oh, don't use will blow your engine.

but I wouldn't mix the two.