Would someone recommend what brand antifreeze to put in an '83 ZX Turbo.

There is an orange fluid in there now having been changed out from the green stuff years ago.

Thanks

 

I'd drain it out. fill with water. run the car on the road for a while to get things circulating. Get some prestone (ethylene glycol) 50/50 mix. when the car was built that is what they had and what was used. I'd probably flush with clear water a couple times.

 

The orange stuff is (more than likely) Global fluid, it's pretty much 50/50, but it's also recycled antifreeze. So, in a nutshell, it's more green than new antifreeze, being recycled and all...

As far as a brand? It's all antifreeze.

 

If it is truly orange in color, it's extended life coolant.
The name extended life is the ultimate oxymoron however.

The "Dexcool" brand from GM is the most prominent of these OAT (Organic Acid Technology) coolants, which just like so many other wonderful things brought to us consumers by huge corporations is not so great afterall.

The funny thing is, this stuff absolutely RULED in the controled environment of the laboratory! Enter the real world and it all falls apart, sometimes in as little as 60k miles (I've seen cars with absolute mud in the radiator from this stuff breaking down.

Here's the problem with Dexcool:
It does not cling to bare metal like the green or yellow will. Not a problem until such time as you have a leak. The car will puke a little bit to the overflow tank as it runs, then it gets drawn right back in when it cools off.
Many cars have plastic puke tanks which inevitably crack or break, allowing this puked coolant to drain right to the ground, lowering the level each cycle.

Because orange won't cling to bare metal in the radiator, it can't protect. Corrosion starts in immediately and after time will do it's nasty work, often times taking out a radiator from the inside, rusting right out, or clogging a heater core with the muck.
it can also go acidic on Ph and eat away at gaskets, an all too common issue w/ GM vehicles.

GM will NEVER admit a problem with Dexcool, because it worked so well in a controlled lab environment (!), and of course to do so would be equivalent to Corporate Suicide, which would require another bailout (Please, make it stop!)

Many times this problem is helped along by an ignorant human who will add green to the orange, which really screws up the Ph, which causes even more oxidation and the "mud" syndrome.

I really like the Global/Yellow mix which is compatible with everything; no harm from topping up with any color here.

As for your car with the orange, I'd have a local shop with the right equipment cange it to either the green it came with, or the new yellow/global.

If you do it yourself, please dispose of the used coolant properly. Most DIY'ers do not, and let it run right down the street into the storm drain, where it will contaminate groundwater or the nearest lake/stream/creek.

Full disclosure - For the past 16 years, I have worked for the Atlanta area distributor of BG Products, Automotive Deposit Control and Fluid Transfer Equipment and Lubes.