Antifreeze - Green vs Yellow

Everything I own rides the thermostat, as do most vehicles. You should have a 190 thermostat in there. I'd suspect you are either hallucinating, or about to have other problems in the near future. Did you mess with anything, like cleaning the fins, when you did the change?

This time of year, if your cooling is marginal, you probably have a blockage or a failing thermostat. If the temp gauge doesn't hold steady and isn't consistent, change it out right away. If it overheats on you anytime soon, suspect it first. Unless of course your fluid looked crappy coming out.

What's happening is that the temp gauge stays at or near the bottom of the gauge. With the yellow it would move up farther on the guage. The truck has never run hot or had any problems with cooling. I'm just wondering if the green antifreeze keeps the engine cooler than the yellow?

My wife says I am almost obsessed with my truck... Oh well.

Sounds like you've had a bad thermostat for a long time. Change it. The computer doesn't set a code for running too cold.

Funny, my '88 S10 sets codes. I would guess (especially seeing as they are the same body style even) that his does too. It's either 13, 14 or

15, if I remember correctly... There are two codes for it, one is too high or short, one is too low or broken circuit... This code is set after I believe 5 minutes of driving if cleared.... My truck has had it forever and it will KILL gas milage. The truck will never enter closed loop operation / listen to O2 sensor. It will try to maintain an 14:1 air/gas ratio by 'best guess' so your cat will never work right (perfect 14:1 ratio is a must have for proper operation of the new cats, as well as operating temp), and will clog the cat and generally polute. IE if you care about your truck and the enviroment its best to fix this problem.

And by yellow do you mean the stuff that's safe for animals? Always wondered how well that stuff worked, I got a few around the house I'm rather attached too :-)

~TLGM

That's right, it sets a code for open or short on the coolant temp sensor circuit. But if your thermostat is stuck open, it won't set a code. Your truck will float in the 160 or less range, which is perfectly normal as far as the computer is concerned.

It's a common trick on used car lots to swap out thermostats to low temp units on vehicles that have the check engine light on. If that knocks out the light, great as far as their concerned.

There is no more difference between yellow and green antifreeze than there is between a yellow or green truck. Its just a matter of what color the manufacturer likes. But we all know there are lots of differences between manufacturers of trucks.

I have the "safe stuff" in my dirtbike. Brand name "Engine Ice". Is purple or deep blue.

DexCool is green but wildly different than other green coolants.

I agree with others, your thermostat is bad. Things like this have a tendency to rear their ugly head when something nearby is touched.

DexCool is orange or pinkish. Lose it if you have the opportunity. It crystallizes and turns into mud. Lost a water pump and heater core because of it.

My 2 cents worth.