Still afraid of that pink dexcool.

[JustinH]

I gave up today, and changed the coolant in my 03 saturn ion, with 34k miles, and the factory pink dexcool coolant.

After all the horror stories, I ended up picking up a bottle of Supertech All Makes all Models Coolant. This stuff has to be made by Prestone, it has the exact same slogan right on the bottle.

After emptying the radiator, the coolant looked excellent. No rust, no gel, nothing.

I refilled with half a gallon of walmart distilled water, and half a gallon of the coolant.

The coolant is a yellow color, and my friend and I are convinced that its the exact same as the new yellow prestone.

 

[Brett Miller]

When changing from Dexcool you need to to a complete flush and get nearly all of the Dexcool out of the system. It doesn't play nice with other coolant types.

 

[JustinH]

The new coolant says on it that it mixes with any kind of coolant including dexcool.

Its not the old green coolant.

 

[Cutehumor]

dexcool is pink now? I thought the pink coolant in my 06 vibe was toyota pink. hmmm

 

[Merkava_4]

I'm still using the dexcool and changing it at 6 month intervals. The last time I changed it, it still looked like new. I like the dexcool; it keeps my engine running cool.

 

[Thermo1223]

6 months? What a waste!

34k? another waste...

The least your could do is wait till 50k then change it out.

I not saying it will last till 100k but 34k is just too early and then to use that Prestone junk.

Good Luck is all I can say.

 

[onion]

I become physicaly ill when I even THINK about Dexcool... Trashing the stuff makes helps alleviate the nausea.

I can't yet stomach a switch back to Dexcool in either of my own vehicles... but I'm told that time wounds all heels. Were I in your shoes, with a relatively new car that still has Dexcool in it... I MIGHT muster my courage, leave it in there, and change it out every two years/30k miles.

FYI, my understanding is that most all-makes/all-models antifreeze uses an OAT corrosion inhibitor quite similar to Dexool. IMO, you haven't upgraged... you've simply changed the coolant nice and early- which is a GOOD thing. I'd also reccomd that you keep a close eye on any (even the slightest) leak in your cooling system, and make sure that it NEVER overheats. My experience with Dexcrap indicates that it can provide excellent (and possibly unsurpassed) corrosion protection, provided that all cooling system conditions are PERFECT. Should any condition deviate from absolute perfection, though (such as a tiny leak, marginal overheating, or leaving that evil red substance in there for one week longer than the reccomended drain interval) then you'll be left with a nasty, sticky, and impossibly tenacious layer of sludge in the cooling system.

I applaud you for your foresight (and unwitting courage). Good luck and GawdSpeed.

 

[onion]

Um... yeah- I thought dexcool was kinda orange.

Yota coolant is pink, I think.

Are 'we' sure that Saturns even use Dexcool? I wouldn't know...

 

[Steve S]

Look at the ingredients on the package the coolant may be the same as dexcool.

 

[-Clayton-]

I think the stuff you used is still dexcool if I'm not mistaken

 

[TallPaul]

I just drained my entire system (23 quart) of DexCool and refilled it with same. The drained off fluid looked perfectly good and not the slightest dirty. A little bit of metal (casting debris most likely) came out with it and the amazing thing was it was shiny metal, not rusty at all. This Dexcool may have been in there for 8 years as it is a '99, but I just bought it and there is no record of it ever being changed. Only had 14,000 miles on it though. Anyway, I will keep this fill in for 5 years unless it starts looking bad.

I am not worried about the DexCool horror stories. I suspect these were related to the manifold gasket problems GM had o some engines. Once the gasket is bad, oil would leak into the coolant and likely make a mess of it. People blamed DexCool for the gaskets going bad, but it makes no sense. GM did have some funky plastic gaskets that were very bad. Hope my engine doesn't have one of those.

 

[Shelby]

Quote:

---

Should any condition deviate from absolute perfection, though (such as a tiny leak, marginal overheating, or leaving that evil red substance in there for one week longer than the reccomended drain interval) then you'll be left with a nasty, sticky, and impossibly tenacious layer of sludge in the cooling system.

---

RMI25 Onion, it will cure any Dex issues "if" the come up. It's better just to run it from day one when buying a Dex machine. First thing I did with my 07 was empty a few ounces of Dex and filled it with RMI25.

 

[onion]

I did a search the stuff looks interesting, but I couldn't find any detail as to exactly what it IS. Got any link or specific info?

 

[Vaca]

Wow, 23 quarts! That's a huge cooling system. What vehicle is that?

Quote:

---

I just drained my entire system (23 quart) of DexCool and refilled it with same. The drained off fluid looked perfectly good and not the slightest dirty. A little bit of metal (casting debris most likely) came out with it and the amazing thing was it was shiny metal, not rusty at all. This Dexcool may have been in there for 8 years as it is a '99, but I just bought it and there is no record of it ever being changed. Only had 14,000 miles on it though. Anyway, I will keep this fill in for 5 years unless it starts looking bad.

I am not worried about the DexCool horror stories. I suspect these were related to the manifold gasket problems GM had o some engines. Once the gasket is bad, oil would leak into the coolant and likely make a mess of it. People blamed DexCool for the gaskets going bad, but it makes no sense. GM did have some funky plastic gaskets that were very bad. Hope my engine doesn't have one of those.

---

 

[TallPaul]

Quote:

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Wow, 23 quarts! That's a huge cooling system. What vehicle is that?

---

It's a 28' motorhome on a one ton van chassis with a 454 V8. It's a 1999 model year chassis.

 

[Vaca]

It must have a huge radiator and/or lots of long hoses...

 

[TallPaul]

Quote:

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It must have a huge radiator and/or lots of long hoses...

---

I think the engine block holds a lot. I syphoned out the rad and got 1.5 gallons. Now maybe I wasn't to the bottom, but the rest came out the two engine block drain plugs.

I don't have a lot of long hoses. Everything is right up front in the Van chassis. I don't have a rear heater or a heater on the hot water tank either.

My previous motorhome had about 26 feet of heater hose going back, looping around the hot water tank, and then to a rear heater. It was a nice setup because anytime I drove I could heat the whole motorhome without running the furnace and would have hot water without lighting the burnier on the hot water tank.