I finally did a little research.

Prestone has many different labels of anitfreeze/coolant.

Prestone AnyColor
Prestone Dex Compatible Long Life
Prestone Heavy Duty (Intended for Diesels..might explain why the other Bill picked up on it )

Those are only three...and have all been mentioned in this thread to this point. They all have a quick fill version that is essentially a 50/50 mix with water, making it a no brain top off or fill w/o mixing being required.

AnyColor is meant to replace the old style green and is forward and backward compatible.
Dex Compatible LL is a good replacement for Dex and mentions specifically formulated for the high aluminium content of today'* engines.
Heavy Duty is mentioned as their diesel engine coolant and should not be confused with the other two that are primarily meant for gasoline engines.

I don't disagree with that. What I asked is: what is the advantage of using orange Prestone over "mixes with anything" yellow Prestone?

According to what I just read it'* formulated to be better for the high aluminum concentration engines of today. Whereas the AnyColor is the idiotproof replacement for the old green stuff of days past. (Like when they only had black and white tv...or even before tv...lol)

Good work. But, where does it say that the orange Prestone Dex-compatible is different in any way from bad old orange Dex?

Compatible implies different, but able to use with.

Then we have the experience of Don, myself and a few others around the club. We have not seen the usual signs of crappiness exhibited by Dex original in the Dex compatible.

Like I said..I haven't sent it off to the lab yet...but it'* different in certain aspects that can be verified visually.

The Prestone "any color" is basically the G05 type coolant used by Ford and Chrysler when they didn't jump on the Dex bandwagon. I'm with Buttermore on this, and have switched to the "any color" some time ago...before my forum days, too!

I tored down an abused Ford 3.8 to replace the gaskets, and the pitting and other problems were not anywhere near what I've seen with the Dex on well cared for engines. I don't know for sure if the Prestone is Dex, or Dex compatible...or if it is just compatible, does the compatibility give it the same acidic qualities? I'm not sure, but it'* not worth it to me to find out.

BTW - if you go to Valvoline for a top off, or flush and fill, you'll get the "all color" G05. That'* likely both a business decision of not needing to stock both, but also as they are the major distrubutor of the G05 coolant.

I would not recommend the compatible stuff for any car that did not have have Dex to begin with. I had flushed out the green stuff in 3 cars that didn't have it originally (2 GMs 1 Chrysler) and then used the Prestone Long Life Dex Compatible. Within a year, all 3 needed water pumps. Coincidence, and would have needed them anyway? I don't know, but the odds would seem against it. Again, it wasn't worth it to me to find out, so they got the "any color" stuff.

I did a search a while ago, one of the other times that we discussed this, and found this article which had a good explanation regarding the two.

http://www.imcool.com/articles/antif...-Glysantin.htm

This also from the article/Zerek site

Using The Wrong Chemistry Could Be A Costly Mistake!

Using the correct chemistry is critical to the life of your cooling system and engine. Coolant specifications vary by vehicle make and model. Unfortunately, you will not likely know the mistake was made until it'* too late. The wrong chemistry can cause metal corrosion, gasket deterioration, and more.

There is no "one size fits all" chemistry that is approved for use in all vehicles. Don't take chances

jr's3800 will be pulling his top end apart within a couple months for an autopsy after running the Long-Life Prestone DEX compatible for a couple years to see what the effects are, and a final proof of whether it'* less damaging to our gaskets than the DEX.

Until then, it'* generally assumed here that it'* better. Not known as fact yet.

I can't wait to read what he finds, the way I read his prior posts he saw no problems with the Dex and knew of cars that had over 100,000 miles on them w/o issues. Sure would be good to know once and for all what we should use. I may still do the PLL even though I like JR never had any problems with GM dex either.
When JR said in his other posts that " I will continue to use the Dex" was that the Dex compatable or reg GM Dex ? I hope he posts a follow up and lets us know if he did change when and why.
I know if you ask the GM dealers they say " Keep the Dex but make sure it doesn't get low"
I sorta see why they would promote the Dex though being as they work for GM.

Well we shall wait and see I guess meanwhile the list seems like some have no problems with the Dex and others hate it. Again if the PLL is NOT really Dex then maybe thats part of the confusion.

Keep em' coming guys this is good material no matter how you look at it.

my 98 has always used the old standard green stuff and I am running on the original water pump. What'* wrong with that?
What else could it affect?