dex cool

[2slick]

I changed the oil a few days ago in my 06 lacrosse cxs (3.6l)
and checked the coolant level. It's low and even when warmed up the overflow tank has hardly anything in it.
When it cools down, all I see is some goop the same color as the antifreeze in the bottom of the tank. Almost a fist full worth of it and a little bit stuck on the sides of the tank.
The car only has 18k miles on it! There is a TSB for a coolant leak at the rear of the engine, but I haven't seen anything on the garage floor.

I was worried about the headgasket going or something causing contamination, but after reading this thread and the "mud" description I'm wondering if it's just the Dex that's the problem?

 

[mazduh30]

My understanding is that Dex-cool is a great product...it just doesn't like air (gasket leakes, etc). I did a complete flush on my wife's Saturn using a flush machine with s dex-cool flush kit. I now use Amsoil coolant in both of my vehicles.

 

[Mike_dup1]

Dexcool has been in every GM product since 1996. Sure you are going to see more problems with it because there are tens of millions of cars and trucks using it. You might not remember problems with the old green coolants but they did exist. I can recall back to the 1960's and there were always cooling system problems and mostly because its a part of the vehicle that the owners neglect the most.

Dexcool is an excellent product. Like anything, it can be misused and misrepresented and blamed for things that are not it's fault. The world is a better place because of DexCool.

I have never had an issue with any of my vehicles using it. If its the problem, why doesn't every vehicle have problems? It must be pretty smart stuff to only fail on certain vehicles and for certain owners. I wonder how the were able to design that into the coolant?

fyi - Everyone blames GM for Dexcool but its a product of Texaco.

 

[onion]

Quote:

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I changed the oil a few days ago in my 06 lacrosse cxs (3.6l)
and checked the coolant level. It's low and even when warmed up the overflow tank has hardly anything in it.
When it cools down, all I see is some goop the same color as the antifreeze in the bottom of the tank. Almost a fist full worth of it and a little bit stuck on the sides of the tank.
The car only has 18k miles on it! There is a TSB for a coolant leak at the rear of the engine, but I haven't seen anything on the garage floor.

I was worried about the headgasket going or something causing contamination, but after reading this thread and the "mud" description I'm wondering if it's just the Dex that's the problem?

---

This never happened- and it has never happened to anybody. It's all in your imagination. In fact, thousands of people have imagined pretty much the same thing- for no good reason!

----, I even imagined that Texaco paid me to replace dozens of Cummins N14 head gaskets in the late 90's when Dexcool first came out and made otherwise perfectly good gaskets leaked. I imagined several paychecks paid almost exclusively by these Ryder trucks running dexcool.

I've also imagined more fantasies similar to your own Dex-sludge day-dream than I care to remember... I even imagined that that gunk will hardly budge even with a steam cleaner. I've imagined clogged radiators, clogged heatercores, and chronic overheating issues with multiple GM vehicles.

But to be fair- there are many thousands of heavy trucks running Dexcool- and I've never imagined a single case of Dex-sludge in those diesel engines. Can't say why... but I've imagined that it works quite well in them (except for those leaky N14 head gaskets in the late 90's).

I imagine that you could just top off that tank with more Dexcool and it'll all go away. Just a bad dream.

 

[Big Jim]

And I guess that I only imagined all the clogged cooling systems, crusty coolant hoses, split hoses, overheating engines, corroded Volvo V6 heads and blocks that was caused by good old green snot of death conventional green coolant.

Maybe I need to go look back at all those paychecks, working in the heat of summer, taking care of cars with neglected cooling systems with problems that have become non-existent with OAT based coolant additives.

I have seen FAR fewer problems with Dexcool than I did before it was introduced. But maybe that is just my imagination.

 

[anneis]

Dexcool allegedly was terrible for a number of lower intake manifold gaskets causing them to fatigue over many years, resulting loss of preload on the IM bolts and eventually dumping into the pan. From what I read GM never formally recalled and some dealers dealt with it out of goodwill to keep customers. I know owners, including myself, that had this problem with vehicles and some are not on the list. Sometimes the IM bolts were so loose they could tighten them with their fingers, and only discovered it when they found coolant on the floor.

Check out this link www.gmclassaction.ca,
and http://www.gmcanadianclassaction.ca/gm list of vehicles.pdf
for the list of vehicles (your Alero is in it). Apparently the class action in Canada exceeds $1 billion.

US courts threw it out citing it was "too complex" if I remember correctly. Perhaps politics and economics of America's #1 manufacturer under distress from the UAW pension, health care, and $25/hr differential to imports had something to do with it.

Or google "GM intake manifold gasket" and you will learn a lot about Dexcool.

 

[Big Jim]

That was a gasket problem, not a Dexcool problem. It would have happened with any coolant.

Do we blame Dexcool for similar problems Ford had with blowing out plastic intake manifolds on 4.6 engines in the mid 90's? Ford was using conventional green at the time.

 

[anneis]

Quote:

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Quote:

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I changed the oil a few days ago in my 06 lacrosse cxs (3.6l)
and checked the coolant level. It's low and even when warmed up the overflow tank has hardly anything in it.
When it cools down, all I see is some goop the same color as the antifreeze in the bottom of the tank. Almost a fist full worth of it and a little bit stuck on the sides of the tank.
The car only has 18k miles on it! There is a TSB for a coolant leak at the rear of the engine, but I haven't seen anything on the garage floor.

I was worried about the headgasket going or something causing contamination, but after reading this thread and the "mud" description I'm wondering if it's just the Dex that's the problem?

---

This never happened- and it has never happened to anybody. It's all in your imagination. In fact, thousands of people have imagined pretty much the same thing- for no good reason!

----, I even imagined that Texaco paid me to replace dozens of Cummins N14 head gaskets in the late 90's when Dexcool first came out and made otherwise perfectly good gaskets leaked. I imagined several paychecks paid almost exclusively by these Ryder trucks running dexcool.

I've also imagined more fantasies similar to your own Dex-sludge day-dream than I care to remember... I even imagined that that gunk will hardly budge even with a steam cleaner. I've imagined clogged radiators, clogged heatercores, and chronic overheating issues with multiple GM vehicles.

But to be fair- there are many thousands of heavy trucks running Dexcool- and I've never imagined a single case of Dex-sludge in those diesel engines. Can't say why... but I've imagined that it works quite well in them (except for those leaky N14 head gaskets in the late 90's).

I imagine that you could just top off that tank with more Dexcool and it'll all go away. Just a bad dream.

---

AC Delco sells Cooling System Sealant Tablets made out of vegetable matter, apparently ground up ginger root, tumeric (printed on the card!), walnet shells and stuff. Most times the parts guys have it hanging next to their cash register. I read GM also used it in the factory to seal minor leaks. I found plenty of this gelly goop that had to be scrubbed out of the rad cap spring, overflow outlet, etc. and you can't tell me it is silicone deposits because I know what those look like. On my leaking IMG I was told throw 2 in and the problem goes away long enough to dump the vehicle

 

[anneis]

For the cooling system tabs go to
http://www.acdelco.com/html/pi_vehcare_adh.htm
and select "cooling system radiator seal tabs" from the pull down.

 

[anneis]

Quote:

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That was a gasket problem, not a Dexcool problem. It would have happened with any coolant.

Do we blame Dexcool for similar problems Ford had with blowing out plastic intake manifolds on 4.6 engines in the mid 90's? Ford was using conventional green at the time.

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GM apparently changed the bolts for the IM, increased the torque spec, and made no change to the plastic gasket so all they do is compress it more to compensate for fatigue. A service manager told me this solves it "19 times out of 20". They also give no warranty if you want an aftermarket high performance gasket.

I don't know much about Ford so no comment.

 

[Camu Mahubah]

When I worked at a quickie lube I saw a lot of GM V6 engines come in and the oil was overfull on the dipstick...coolant was low...a lot of GM cars with Dexcool have this problem...eventually they will die if problem not fixed...I dunno if was gasket or coolant...but I will not buy a GM car from 95 to 04 if it came with Dexcool...I just don't have the funds to fix this problem if it occurs...

 

[2slick]

Found a few links about this problem: http://www.autoblog.com/2006/05/23/gm-dexcool-lawsuit-may-soon-gain-class-action-status/

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/08/gm_dexcool.html

We've been thinking about trading the car in for a non GM product. The overflow tank cap doesn't fit very tight, so maybe that's part of it.

 

[2slick]

I feel like I'm talking to myself here a little bit haha.. but for anyone that's interested:

I took the car in today and the mechanic said it's normal for dexcool to sludge up like this in the coolant overflow tank because it's exposed to air.
He said because the coolant system is pressurized it would be clean in there though.
He ended up taking the overflow tank out and cleaning the sludge out of it, then just topped it off.

I still feel that because the level in the overflow tank rises when the car warms up and lowers (gets sucked from the dirty tank back into the "pressurized system") when it cools off, that there's still a chance it's not all squeaky clean inside the rest of it like he seems to believe.

Not to mention I also took the cap off the coolant line to see if there was any sludge in there. So there's a little air introduced to the pressurized system. Plus he did a pressure test on it to make sure there wasn't a leak. Not sure where they hook that up but probably some more air for the internals of it to get sludged up nicely...

 

[G-MAN]

Quote:

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I took the car in today and the mechanic said it's normal for dexcool to sludge up like this in the coolant overflow tank because it's exposed to air.

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He's full of baloney.

 

[anneis]

Quote:

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I still feel that because the level in the overflow tank rises when the car warms up and lowers (gets sucked from the dirty tank back into the "pressurized system") when it cools off, that there's still a chance it's not all squeaky clean inside the rest of it like he seems to believe.

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You are right, what is in the reservoir gets sucked back in. He is full of baloney.

 

[artificialist]

Toyota has been using OAT coolant since the 1980s, and yet their engines have held up well.

I'm convinced that poor engineering was what doomed so many GM 3.4 engines, and other engines.