I am in the livery business and own multiple vehicles. I usually buy Lincoln and Ford but am being forced back into General Motors. Back years ago I had Suburbans and there were two things which I took note of. #1. The coolant bottle after 2 years leaked and looked like it went through an acid bath. Not the case with LIncolns and #2 pinhole leaks in the radiator causing me a nice bill for $750+. How else could this have happened except for Dex-Cool?
Should I flush out the Dexcool?
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Personally I run Prestone All Vehicles in my Chevy's, with that being said if you properly maintain your cooling system and change the coolant regularly on a Chevy then you should not have a problem with modern Dexcool, it has been reformulated years ago.
The reason I switched from Dexcool to Prestone is because it ate up my lower intake gasket on my 03 S10 of which I then upgraded to the Fel-Pro metal reinforced gasket set.
Whatever you do, do not mix conventional green coolant into Dexcool, you will very much regret it.
The reason I switched from Dexcool to Prestone is because it ate up my lower intake gasket on my 03 S10 of which I then upgraded to the Fel-Pro metal reinforced gasket set.
Whatever you do, do not mix conventional green coolant into Dexcool, you will very much regret it.
There is nothing wrong with Dexcool, unless you get a Leak! 1 of my family members ran this Coolant 2 long!
It is a 5 Year or 150.000 mile Coolant, meaning whichever comes 1st, which means you cannot leave it in for 20 years when you reach 150K, At 100K which I am sure was more than 5 years, the Water Pump was replaced because it was leaking for this family Member.
I flushed the Dexcool out 7 years ago and everything is fine. So if you buy a vehicle with this Coolant in it and it is not leaking and looks good. I would still flush it out. JMO
I had a 2016 Chevrolet Suburban in my stable...I had to change the radiator twice and there were other Suburbans I saw operated by various for-hire vehicle guys like me and they too developed pinhole radiator leaks. The other issue was the coolant reservoir literally falling apart going from a clear plastic to all white and then finally leaking all over the place. This happened over the course of 1 to 2 years of heavy daily use.
Now Im seeing the radiators for the GMC are backordered and not available anywhere and if you do find one its going to be $500+. Hmmmm...what can I take away from this? Why is there such a demand for radiators? Its because the radiators from the 2021 year are starting to pinhole leak. I see both sides of the radiator are made of plastic.
When it gets in Im going to have a huddle with a local mechanic and going to drain the deathcool out of this vehicle. Dont need to relearn lessons of the past.
Now Im seeing the radiators for the GMC are backordered and not available anywhere and if you do find one its going to be $500+. Hmmmm...what can I take away from this? Why is there such a demand for radiators? Its because the radiators from the 2021 year are starting to pinhole leak. I see both sides of the radiator are made of plastic.
When it gets in Im going to have a huddle with a local mechanic and going to drain the deathcool out of this vehicle. Dont need to relearn lessons of the past.
That's how they've been since they stopped making them out of copper/brass years ago.
We have 3 vehicles that get orange Dexcool. 2012 Lincoln MKX, 2007 GMC Yukon Denali, and 2002 Chevy Corvette. No issues with any of them. I change the coolant every 4+ yrs are so. I use the concentrate and distilled water. Never had a problem with past vehicles either.
I'm running Dexcool with the new steel shimmed Fel-Pro intake gaskets. I'll let everyone know how well they did when I pull the engine.
Yes and they last 3 years before one of the sides crack.
For me it was like 12 to 18 months
I have yet to see a set of Fel-Pro's fail.
I've never had that happen on any of the several vehicles I've owned with plastic radiator end caps.
I use Peak coolant in everything, and never had a problem.
Don't have any experience with dexcool.
Don't have any experience with dexcool.
I have a 2007 Chevy truck with the 6.0 I got in 2012 and have never changed the Dexcool. Runs fine with no leaks. Also have a 1992 Chevy truck with the 6.5 turbo diesel bought in 2010 that had a reman engine put in before I got it and has Dexcool which I have never changed either. It's an excellent coolant as long as you don't mix it with anything else.
23 years and 190k miles on my Honda, 22 years 160k on my F150 with Original Plastic radiator. It's not the plastic tanks design it's poor construction or maybe your onto something with dexcool. My 2000 Cadillac radiator failed along with the expansion tank somewhere around 6-8 years. Had a ridiculous amount of failures in our fleet with Napa radiators for Chevy Express vans. Finally just gave up even with the warranty exchange it wasn't worth it.
Looking at my RockAuto purchase history, I bought a radiator two separate times on:
02/09/2016
11/29/2021
I flushed whatever orange crap was in my chevy 6.0 about 10 years ago and its been regular green supertech concentrate ever since.
Given it springs a leak every few years, but I patch it up and keep on trucking. The last one was heater core bypass oreillys parking lot patch, and March of this year I made the bypass more permanent with replacement hoses and an actual bypass fitting vs whatever i cobbled together the year before.
Given it springs a leak every few years, but I patch it up and keep on trucking. The last one was heater core bypass oreillys parking lot patch, and March of this year I made the bypass more permanent with replacement hoses and an actual bypass fitting vs whatever i cobbled together the year before.
And you don't see a connection here?
I neglected to mention the engine were mostly OG hoses. The heater core firewall fittings lasted 22 years. I get a personal enjoyment cobbling it along. You should see the oil and trans cooler lines.
3.8L ?
