5 yr old dexcool, lookin' good

[eljefino]

From a Saturn SL1 built in May '05. Suspect it's never been changed. Photo doesn't really show you can see the bottom of the pan through about 5 inches of the stuff.

Refilled with Walmart supertech universal mixed 50/50 with delicious Maine residential well water not far from a Poland Spring bottling plant.

 

[427Z06]

quote:

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Originally posted by eljefino:
From a Saturn SL1 built in May '05.

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I assume you mean May '00?

quote:

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Originally posted by eljefino:
Refilled with Walmart supertech universal mixed 50/50 with delicious Maine residential well water not far from a Poland Spring bottling plant.

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I believe it's better to use distilled water, even to top off.

 

[eljefino]

Right... may '00

 

[Cutehumor]

I think this photo shows alot. when all of these coolant leaks happened in GM models, they blamed it on deathcool. It's got to be a design issue and not the coolant. I had factory dexcool was run for 93k miles and 6 years in 96 Sunfire 2.2L. It looked just like the pic above.

 

[wizzells]

The problems with the dexcool seem to occur when air is introduced into the system. With the older green stuff you never got the nasty gooey buildup that happens with dexcool when there is a leak. So, people are quick to blame the dexcool.

 

[T-Keith]

Every DEXCOOL that's 5 years old I've seen has looked much worse then that. Not that looks mean anything. I've seen DEXCOOL destroy gaskets on many cars, so it's not a specific design issue.

Are you sure that's even DEXCOOL, or if it's the same formulation. I believe DEXCOOL has changed over the years.

-T

 

[FowVay]

Personally I'd be more interested in how the aluminum parts of the engine look rather than how the coolant itself looks. If you have any aluminum sensors pull them out and see if they have any scale or corrosion on them.

I've seen many GM engine parts corrode completely through due to lack of corrosion inhibitors in the DEXCOOL.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

quote:

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Originally posted by Cutehumor:
I think this photo shows alot. when all of these coolant leaks happened in GM models, they blamed it on deathcool. It's got to be a design issue and not the coolant. I had factory dexcool was run for 93k miles and 6 years in 96 Sunfire 2.2L. It looked just like the pic above.

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I agree. How many GM engines leak coolant? Hard to find an apples-to-apples comparison when it leaks into the crankcase.

Wow! Looks great! I replaced the Green dexcool in my Saturn and it had some sort of near-yellowish crud on the bottom of the drain pan. Yuck. Replaced it with the Saturn OEM green coolant 18 months ago and it still looks brand new. Perhaps the original owner never changed it?

 

[The Critic]

I've got DexCool in mine right now, TNS. Mechanic who did the 60K service most likely used the new Prestone Extended Life DexCool stuff. No leaks.

BTW, on all data, it says specifically DO NOT use DexCool on Saturn vehicles that did not come factory filled with it. Dunno why, perhaps DexCool equipped vehicles have a cooling system made with a more robust material???

Michael