I have a 1998 Honda civic CX,and I want to do a radiator flush, what coolant should I use? Honda?
would prestone 50/50 coolant work? what should the label say?

 

prestone is fine

 

I live in arizona. The only reason I don't use water for coolant is because coolant has corrosion resistance to internals lol. The coolant you use does not really matter..as long as its actual coolant and properly mixed.

 

i use honda type 2 coolant. i think with coolant it's more of a preference thing, i think they're all GENERALLY the same.

 

green type... avoid anything orange. blue is ok, but it costs more. i like to mix it myself 50/50, mostly to avoid buying a half gallon of water from autozone

(yes, this was oversimplified to make the point that it doesn't matter as long as you avoid dexcool-orange stuff)

 

is there really blue coolant? or was that a joke..damn the internet and its lack of a sense of sarcasm lol. But for real that would be jdm as **** lmao!

 

haha, there was a small amount of sarcasm.. but the Honda Type 2 i think is blue..

i've also seen red in some toyotas... but i figured it's close enough to orange and far enough from green to be avoided.

 

Well i see you live in seattle, so you should actually mix more coolant and less water because of the harsher winter weather. You should consider 60% coolant and 40% water so you should mix it yourself.

 

I like to use 80% water and 20% coolant and a bottle of water wetter. The summer is pretty hot in TX. In october i flush it again and use prestone 50/50. I have about twenty cases of that **** sitting in my shop. Along with other brands of coolant.

 

The water pump bearings of older (and newer?) Hondas are known to be vulnerable to non-OEM coolants, with some exceptions. I have been using the orange Havoline Dexcool in my Honda for almost seven years (changing every 2 years or so, which is probably too often) and have had no problems. I have had problems with early water pump failure before when using the green Prestone. I know other Honda veterans who swear by the orange Havoline Dexcool as well.

The only coolants I would use are OEM or the orange Havoline Dexcool. I buy the Dexcool undiluted, since this saves money, picking up a gallon of distilled water at the grocery for mixing.

 

I like to use the water wetter as well. It can drop the temp in the radiator a few degrees all by itself. But yes; as "koa", said I would use more coolant than water in the winter. I change mine out every spring with the Prestone and Water Wetter to help with the heat.