The rumors of trouble mixing Dexcool came from problems with Dexcool sludge in the late 1990s. Some engines did fine; others had thick gooey layers of stuff that looked like peanut butter. It was eventually determined that other forces were at work but the speculation about the sludge being from mixing with other antifreeze persists today.
Your 2001 Grand Prix should use orange Dexcool. Conventional green is a bad choice - it is high silicate and will attack the shaft seal on the water pump... not drastically but the life of the pump is roughly cut in half. But Dexcool has demons of its own. All trims of the Grand Prix in 2001 used a V6, either the 3.1 or the 3.8L engines. Those have lower intake manifold gaskets that are incompatible with Dexcool... and GM knew it even as they insisted all GM engines must use Dexcool. Specifically, an additive called 2-EHA in Dexcool dissolves the plastic gaskets. GM settled a class action suit over this a few years ago and the window for claims has closed. Right about now most of the 1998-2002 engines are seeing failed intake manifold gaskets. The best solution for those V6 and V8 models from 1996-2005 with original gaskets (the gaskets were updated in 2005) is probably Prestone Extended Life coolant. For later GM V6 and V8 models, or for those with new gaskets, is still Dexcool.
Well, guess what... you need a complete coolant flush. You can't just "drain" it because only about 1/2 comes out. If you don't know how to fully drain and flush, get a maecanic to do it for you.
Sorry...
Yep. You're screwed. Your car is going to blow up any second now. You'd better run away before you get caught in the blast.
It will not hurt anything. The only difference is how long the antifreeze lasts.
I was looking online and saw that if you mix coolant its really bad unless it says like dex cool coolant but I'm sure its not. anyways i noticed that the coolant in my reservoir was low so i poured some new orange stuff in it. I did this when the car was cold and hadn't run for a while. I topped it off with orange coolant or antifreeze whatever you call it. I couldn't get my radiator cap off so i don't know if my coolant is green or orange. I'm going to guess green. but since i put orange fluid in the reservoir does that mean my coolant system is screwed? or is it different because i put it in the reservoir, not the radiator itself? help me please because i don't want to drain the system. i did this a while ago maybe at max 2 weeks ago. if it was bad would something already have happened? or does this little amount affect anything? please help me!
