I purchased a 2010 Buick Lucerne 3 years ago with only 27,000 miles on it and now has 75,000. Love this car. So it still has the original Dex Cool and the oil shop checked it and it's good down to -32 degrees. Still nice a red in color. The owners manual says to change at 5 years or 100k whichever comes first, but the advice given to me us that since the car hasn't been driven a lot given its 14 years old, that I should just run it to 100k and then change the coolant. Do you think that's a good plan? Or would there be any benefit to changing it sooner?
2010 Buick Lucerne
- Thread starter Wardonkey
- Start date
Personally, I think that the age of the coolant takes precedent over mileage.
I would change it, yes.
Use the same spec'd coolant.
I would not chemical flush, I'd drain and refill with fresh coolant 2-3 times depending on what came out.
I would change it, yes.
Use the same spec'd coolant.
I would not chemical flush, I'd drain and refill with fresh coolant 2-3 times depending on what came out.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
GM doesn't say 5 years or 100k unless 27k miles, low ambient temps, etc etc right? Other than the cost why not change 14 YO coolant and know you're good?
Pretty sure the "oil shop" gave him the advice to wait, which is why he asked?
If that is the case, I'm absolutely blown away that the place didn't try to sell him a $500 emergency platinum level top tier coolant flush service.
My mom would have fell victim.
That's kinda my thought as well
Yes.. that's why I asked. Speed Lube told me I should wait. The manager is an older guy who knows all the mechanics in town so the last thing he needs is to be known for screwing people over. He thinks I should run it to 100k even though it's 14 year old coolant t. known
I’ve leaned more towards common sense and less towards “recommended” intervals as I’ve gotten older. 14 yr old coolant seems like a rather inexpensive piece of mind for me, just I’d just get it done. Unless your budget is tight, then I would schedule it accordingly as to when it would be most financially feasible. Piece of mind goes further than a buck these days.
I would at least do a couple radiator drain & fills with Dex. 14 years is pretty old for original Dexcool.
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- Aug 4, 2021
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past 5 years...............................Time to change it~!
you could check the electrolysis using a cheap Harbor Freight or similar multimeter as well as check the pH of the coolant already in the car (check youtube or Chris Fix website for how to do it) if that helps but at this age I'd probably just change it
Good luck with your choiuce
Bill
Good luck with your choiuce
Bill
Well...I did it. For peace of mind I had the system flushed. But I have the worst luck sometimes. The dingbats didn't burp the system and I drive away in 30 degree Temps and it feels like the dang AC is running. Idiots. Anyway, I drove it a while and put it through a couple cycles and then it must have burped really good and sucked all the coolant out of the reservoir. I drove it back and they filled the reservoir up more than half in case it takes in more but it seems to be holding steady and the heat gets hot. I hope nothing was harmed by this? Also, the temp gage was ways steady right in the middle at all times.
I have a 2008 Buick Lacrosse CXL. Lots of Dex-Cool problems.
First the coolant was dirty, so I had the shop flush it. Then my heater core stopped working. So I ended up taking it to a Chevy dealer and asking what was wrong. The first shop had pushed some of the gunk into the heater core so the thing plugged up and had to be Blue Devil-ed (GM made this a part number because 2-3 year old cars with Dex-Cool have the same problems with the heat not working due to Dex-Cool turning into jello or cement so they tell the dealer to get you out of the warranty the cheapest way possible, and put more Dex-Cool in it, apparently!).
My heater started working again. A year later, my engine started pinging and I suspected it was carboned up from the last owner put-put-puttering around town in it not putting many miles on it. So I had the shop take the intake off and the coolant passage on the passenger side was completely full of Dex-Cool "cement" and it had damaged the upper and lower intake gaskets.
So replaced those, carbon cleaned the engine, and drilled and dissolved through the sludge/cement, and replaced the thermostat since it was all open anyway, and had them refill it with Prestone Universal All Makes, All Models.
Dex-Cool is horrible. IIRC....
1. GM got sued and it turned into a class action, which they settled, because people's cars were being ruined.
2. They claim they fixed everything. Then this happens to me and the Service Advisor at Chevy told me about the Blue Devil procedure being a GM TSB because Dex-Cool sludges up in cars that are still under warranty sometimes and the heat stops working.
3. I understand Ford switched for a few years, then ran screaming to Prestone Yellow.
4. Honda apparently used a GM engine in some things, and when GM said put Dex-Cool in it they said "LOL! NO."
You can do what you want. It's your car. But don't be surprised when you go to mess with the cooling system and you find out what's really going on in there. If it's "nothing bad", then congratulations. But most honest mechanics that aren't being paid by GM somehow admit Dex-Cool is bad news and suggest flushing it all out real good and switching to something else to avoid Dex-Crap or because they just finished cleaning out the Dex-Crap and handing you a bill.
Most mechanics can't seem to be bothered to bleed the radiator even if a bleeder valve is right there staring at them.
I'd be insanely pissed.
That's the only part of a flush that actually requires skill. The most important part.
(Other than using the appropriate coolant)
Some vehicles are more tolerant than others, but I've known someone that destroyed his engine from improper bleeding (older BMW).
Sorry that you had to deal with that bs. Had it been my shop, and my integrity hadn't been compromised yet, I'd have returned an amount equal to your inconvenience.
I was (basically) given a retired '97 camaro police package from a dealer friend. Specialized in resorting GM law enforcement vehicles.
He agreed to let me use the shop/lift to change all the fluids and service items.
It was 7 years old, had 100k on it, less than 500 hours, and the coolant was flushed and replaced every year at the dealership. The radiator, hoses, everything but the heater core was replaced at 5 years.
It literally took me three 9 hour days to get the crap out. After more than 10 chemical flushes in 2 days I just gave up and disassembled the system and doing them individually.
Funny thing is apparently ever duty vehicle he gets is basically the same issue.
I still cannot believe the negligence that GM got away with.
They're still getting away with it. If I had a new GM car I won in a contest or something (only way I'll get another one), I'd wait until three seconds after the warranty was up and flush it out and switch it over to Prestone Yellow.
About $800 worth of shop work later my coolant system works in the car and the heat turns on again. Thanks GM.
They'll never admit what they did. They just designed around some of the worst problems with their coolant. Probably if you flush it every two or three years and give it a Blue Devil chaser just to be sure you could use Dex without ever destroying everything, but is it really worth it when you can just change to a coolant that wasn't designed by a company that wants another check on the customer driving the car after the payments?
I swear this is the end of my soap box rambling about Dex. I just had to "get it out of the system".
Just if anyone reads this, and you've been told they worked around the problems years ago don't believe it. It's "easier on the water pump" you know, when your entire coolant system turns into one giant obstruction.
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