Marty, your experience pretty much mirrors my own with Dex-Cool - two '86 "Mitsubishi" Precises (bolt-for-bolt, a Hyundai Excel), an '89 Toyota truck (22R), and a '96 Honda Accord (I-4). Nary a problem with any of 'em and the radiator cores remained as clean as the proverbial whistle with Dex-Cool and tap water. My current driver is a 2003 Hyundai Sonata (V-6). Hyundai gives no specifics about the brand of antifreeze/coolant concentrate to use, and as far as I'm aware, there isn't a Hyundai-branded antifreeze/coolant available in the U.S. either. The owner's manual merely advises to use "a high quality ethylene-glycol coolant in a 50/50 mix with water. The engine coolant should be compatible with aluminum engine parts." My crystal ball suggests my Hyundai's cooling system is gonna see Dex-Cool, too (since I already have 3 gallons of the stuff on hand...), though I've laid in 12 gallons of "Wal-Mart's finest" 58 cent distilled water for a thorough mineral-free flush before introducing Dex-Cool into the car's cooling system. Perhaps someone who feels qualified can answer a question which continues nagging me in the ongoing Dex-Cool saga: if Dex-Cool is such a villain, how come the horror stories seem to center most often on certain GM pushrod V-6 and V8 motors - which had known issues with new technology cylinder head and intake manifold gaskets that allowed outward coolant seepage when hot, and sucking air during the cool-down phase? While of no immediate concern, over time, enough air is introduced that, even at running temps, certain internal components were no longer immersed in and protected by the corrosion inhibitors.
Dexcool No Longer GM Factory Fill!!!
- Thread starter Ojustracing
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My experience with DexCool:
-- 1994 Subaru switched at 55k miles. 5 years later @ 94k -- no problems.
-- 1994 Mercury Tracer switched at 160k miles. 4 years later @ 211k -- no problems.
-- 1998 Subaru switched at 30k miles. 4 years later @ 94k -- no problems.
Knock on wood. Havoline DexCool in all.
1986 SAAB -- flushed and filled with regular green Prestone and the water pump failed 3 days later. I have been avoiding Prestone products...
-- 1994 Subaru switched at 55k miles. 5 years later @ 94k -- no problems.
-- 1994 Mercury Tracer switched at 160k miles. 4 years later @ 211k -- no problems.
-- 1998 Subaru switched at 30k miles. 4 years later @ 94k -- no problems.
Knock on wood. Havoline DexCool in all.
1986 SAAB -- flushed and filled with regular green Prestone and the water pump failed 3 days later. I have been avoiding Prestone products...
I forgot to mention that I change radiator caps every other cooland change as a matter of course. The $7 part can sure cause a lot of trouble when it craps out.
Amen to that. A source of air (and a failed cap can often be just that) can cause serious trouble with DexCool's organic acid technology inhibitors. Leaking intake manifold gaskets and cylinder head gaskets have been an ongoing problem in G.M. pushrod V6s, too. Curiously, GM models with those engines have "enjoyed" the most frequent "DexCool" problems. I ran DexCool in my '96 Accord with no problems whatsoever. My better half's 2000 Cavalier (2.2 pushrod I4) is still on its original fill of DexCool from the factory. No problems. BTW, your Saab's water pump was probably about to tank anyway for whatever reason. I doubt you'd had different results with any common or boutique antifreeze/coolant at that point. "Stuff" happens...
I dont understand why peopel bash Dexcool as much as they do. Everyone in my family drives GM vehicles, and all run on Dexcool. So that is about 15 cars/trucks. One has had a gelling problem only because the owner, my cousin, thought all the "cant mix them crap" was propaganda so you had to buy their coolant. Anyways, it gelled, put a few holes in the rad, and bombed the headgaskets and water pump (3.4 gm engine). The place that repaired it said it was all because he mixed the two. The car in general was neglected however, and he rant he collant like that for ell over a year. He still sais its all propaganda, but only fills his new 3.4 with dex-cool
.
If I've had 3 incidents related to Dexcool, and I'm pretty anal about maintenence, then there are issues with it. Like I said earlier, on the other hand, I have a car that does great with it, and I will continue to use it in that car.
Yeah, here too, but with the Toyota Coolant, there is nothing going to last near that long... and either buy in volume (have 2 gallons shy of a Case here at the house) or on sale or at a discount or combo of a sale plus promotion
like their Target discount cards.
Hey, I like that Target card, just bought wife some stuff she needed.
I firmly believe GM factory fill DexCool caused my 1200$ intake manifold gasket failure.
I promptly switched to Zerex G-05 afterwards.
It is clearly superior to DexCool and it does not surprise why Daimler Chrysler chooses it as factory fill.
I promptly switched to Zerex G-05 afterwards.
It is clearly superior to DexCool and it does not surprise why Daimler Chrysler chooses it as factory fill.
G-05 ("HOAT") may well turn out to be merely a transitional brew to cash in on the hysterics that DEX-COOL was to blame for GM's faulty new intake manifold and cylinder head gasket technology from several years back. I notice that good ol' Prestone and SuperTech standard brews are now 5yr./150,000 mile fluids ("OAT") with no silicates, borates, nitrates, phosphates, or amines. (essentially the Prestone "DEX-COOL Approved" without the GM license adding a couple o' bucks to the price.) The Japanese have been using "OAT" antifreeze/coolants as factory fill at least as far back as 1996. Even Zerex has a similar brew in their "ExtremeLife" antifreeze/coolant. I ran Havoline DEX-COOL in my 96 Accord without a hitch for over three years. It was still clear and bright right up to the end. Our 2000 Cavalier is still (120,000+ miles) on its factory fill of DEX-COOL, and still clean. (It'll get the el cheapo, $5.64 SuperTech version in the spring. My Sonata will in December.
) Have a good one!
my cousin has been using dexcool in his 2000 honda accord ex for quite some time and theres the imfamous "brown crud" inside the coolant overflow tank. can anyone suggest a quality coolant flush either from a machine or otc bottle?
RMI-25
I had this thought before, and recently heard a mechanic echo it on the radio: if you took a purely statistical look at "cooling system-related problems" in both DexCool and non-DexCool cars, plotted those points on a graph, the curves would be identical. It's an urban legend gone out of control. For every instance you can name of a cooling system that has "been destroyed by" DexCool, I can easily find you at least a dozen that haven't. And guess what? For every instance I can name of a cooling system that has had trouble on the "green stuff," I'll bet you can easily find me at least a dozen that haven't. It's simply a tempest in a teapot. Anecdotal evidence? Of the ... let's see here ... 6 people I know who've driven with DexCool for over 150,000 miles, none of them have had a single cooling system related problem, with the exception of my water pump which I replaced in my Saturn at 156,000 miles because of a bad bearing. I would never leave any coolant in my system for over 100,000 miles, but people do - both DexCool and the green stuff - usually without any undue trouble.
I am with Kev. This is also what i thought
my g/f 96 sunfire 2.2L had dexcool in car from new 8/96 till 7/03 about 93k miles. no failures yet. but there was some sludge with the new fluid (pink ball) and the coolant gauge reads a little cooler with the new fluid. now at 111k miles, no problems. I did a uoa to see if anything was up. no coolant or potassium found in UOA
INTERESTING!!!
BTJustice
Yeah you would think the light would come on in a Dex-Cool or any other cooling system if it got low enough. I guess, at least in Dex-Cool systems that develop the 'mud', that it doesn't get low enough to trigger the light.
BTJustice
Don't most cars these days come with a low coolant sensor and associated idiot light?
My wife just bought a 2005 Cobalt - build date Feb. 2, 2005. Factory-filled with DEX-COOL. So much for ojustoutracing's totally unsubstantiated myth about GM going to G-05! (Whatever was he thinking - that we're all dumb hicks without three functional neurons among the lot of us!?) At the end of three years, I'll flush and refill with Prestone-made ST universal extended life "green". (After >5 months, changed Sept 5, of the new ST juice in my 2003 Sonata, 50/50 coolant/distilled water solution still perfectly clear green and cooling system performance perfectly normal. The factory fill of silicated green-snot-of-death had clouded slightly, but no damage.) Prestone/ST rules!
[ March 01, 2005, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: Ray H ]
[ March 01, 2005, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: Ray H ]
Nice bit of selective editing, brian. You've left the false impression that I advocate not checking the coolant level routinely when what I said was just the opposite:
"They got caught up by the company bean counters putting too much reliance on a new, cost saving, but perhaps not fully explored gasket technology. (that and underestimating the American consumer's penchant for making unwarranted leaps of faith -- namely in this case that the presence of extended life coolant equates to not having to bother checking the coolant level for five years...)"
Next time you get a sudden brainstorm to quote me, brian, either quote the entire context or don't bother at all!!! (Jeesh!)
[ March 01, 2005, 10:14 AM: Message edited by: Ray H ]
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