What do you think of this Saturn dealer/dexcool

[mechanicx]

So my younger brother works at an AZ. Some woman came in wanting coolant for her Saturn, an '01 I think. He looked at it and saw the cooling system was really gummed up.

He told her Dexcool did that and suggested she add some Prestone All Makes/All Models (I don't think he knew that the Prestone AM/AM is really just Dexcool without paying extra for the licenses). So she adds some of it in. She comes back a short time later with an invoice from Saturn.

Saturn told her $120 to flush the cooling system and that the Prestone AM/AM ran for a few minutes caused the gumming, so AZ should pay for it! My brother is just an assistant manager, and the female manager there at AZ payed for the customers flush!

Is this Saturn dealer lairs/ignorant or both? They have to know Decxool can sludge. And even if they are ignorant enough to not know Prestone AM/AM is Dexcool, to say another anitfreeze would cause sludge that fast and to blame AZ when it's reccommend by Prestone still seems beyond ignorance.

 

[caravanmike]

he was in the wrong place at the wrong time! but he should of recommended dexcool equivilant. mike

 

[SaturnIonVue]

No good deed goes unpunished. What if she had been a neighbor and he had helped her out in a similar way...and the Saturn dealer later said the same thing? Ouch!

 

[Herz]

thats why you dont try to help and just sell what the manufacturer recomends.

Sorry for your bro its [censored]

 

[The Critic]

If AZ had called Prestone, the tech line would have told the AZ manager that the All Makes/All Models fluid is fully compatible with DexCool. That would have been the correct thing to do, not immediately reimburse the customer.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: defektes
thats why you dont try to help and just sell what the manufacturer recomends.

Sorry for your bro its [censored]


Yeah true, he should just tell them to use Dexcool licensed antifreeze even though Prestone Extended (I called it all makes and models earlier but I think that's Peak's nomeclature)is a Dexclone and the same thing as Dexcool. The funny thing is, really all AZ sells is Dexcool.

The manager shouldn't have paid for the flush. It would've been Prestone's fault anyway really since they recommend it for Dexcool and everything else too. We all know it couldn't have caused the sludging anyway. Besides the woman knew the sludging was already there. Who needs customers like that?

My thinking is the Saturn dealer knew better, but they didn't want to have to fix it without being paid and they knew this woman didn't want to pay for it, so they concocted the story that AZ should pay for it. Sort of like rob Paul to pay Peter lol. My brother isn't really in any trouble for this or anything.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: caravanmike
he was in the wrong place at the wrong time! but he should of recommended dexcool equivilant. mike


He did. Prestone Extended is basically Dexcool. And it will cause the same sludge the old Dexcool did eventually too.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: SaturnIonVue
No good deed goes unpunished. What if she had been a neighbor and he had helped her out in a similar way...and the Saturn dealer later said the same thing? Ouch!


So true. I've ran into this before with fixing some people's cars. You do them right and they try to blame and scam you.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
If AZ had called Prestone, the tech line would have told the AZ manager that the All Makes/All Models fluid is fully compatible with DexCool. That would have been the correct thing to do, not immediately reimburse the customer.


Exactly right. The manager should have referred her to Prestone.

 

[ls1mike]

He suggested Preston all makes all models, that does not go well with Dex Cool. That is what gummed up the Buick when I got it. That is what the pervious owner was using, the thermostat was leaking and the guy (in his 70's) was just topping it off with that. Prestone actually makes a Dex Cool that is what is in my Buick now.

Not Autozones fault though. It takes a long time for it to Gum up unless you have a big leak and are putting a lot in.
She should have been responsible as it was most likely gummed up before. It takes at a good 10,000 to 20,000 miles of running a lot of it in there.

Dex Cool with Dex Cool unless you drain it all out.
The all makes and all models stuff, not so hot with Dex Cool

 

[Chris142]

No coolant not even Dexcool mixed with green turns into mud, slime or whatever in just a few days or weeks.

 

[mechanicx]

I still say Preston AM/AM (I guess I got the mane right after all) is Dexcool and fully compatible with Dexcool. That is the consensus on here. Also Dexcool is what can sludge in a system that is leaking or neglected, not any others. That was probably the problem with that Buick. Now if you mixed a non-Dexcool with Dexcool I don't really think it would cause it to gum up. I haven't really seen any solid evidence that other Anti-freezes additives truley aren't compatible with Dexcool. Prestone AM/AM is claimed to be compatible and I don't see any reason that it is not.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
No coolant not even Dexcool mixed with green turns into mud, slime or whatever in just a few days or weeks.


True, and I'm not sure G-05 or whatever else would even over time. In this case her coolant was already sludged and on top of that she only ran the Prestone in it for maybe 15 mins or so.

 

[ls1mike]

When we did the Cam in my Buddies 06 GTO, we put the AM/AM in it 12,000 miles later you should have seen his over flow tank, full of [censored] as was the Radiator.No leaks pressurized tank. Drained it, flushed it, added Dex cool, 45,000 miles later as clean as day we filled.

AM/AM has been the only thing I have seen gum up an LSX motor.
That stuff is not GM licesned for a reason. They don't want you to use it. That is why is says Dex Cool only.
I am not going to use anything but to save a few bucks.

 

[mechanicx]

Personally, if I'm going to use Dexcool coolant, then I get the licensized product. If I'm not going to use Dexcool, then I sure wouldn't use most of the AMs/AMs since I consider them all to be Dexclones anyway. I never sen AM/PM gum up but if you say it happened, I don't know. It seems like if it did Prestone would be on the hook a lot and so they wouldn't market it as an AM/AM.

 

[artificialist]

My Saturn is full of Dexclone right now and I'm having no problems at all.

I think what happened is that the cooling system fill broke some deposits loose, deposits that were there before coolant was added.

 

[ls1mike]

That is the only thing I can attribute it too, in the few LS1 F-bodies and various GTO's I have seen guys mix it with. Over on the LSX boards it seems to be the only way the stuff gums up. Even if a guy has had a leak, just don't seem to get the gum up. It seems normal green stuff and AM/AM when heated with the dex cool has caused these problems over time.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
My Saturn is full of Dexclone right now and I'm having no problems at all.

I think what happened is that the cooling system fill broke some deposits loose, deposits that were there before coolant was added.


Actually this person's Saturn was all ready gummed up presumely on Dexcool and being low and she knew it before she added the Prestone AM. It was just a ruse by the Saturn dealer to blame the coolant that was just added to get someone else to pay for the flush, and the customer went along with it to get out of paying for the flush too.

I was just wondering what year is your Saturn, which dexclone are you using, and did you flush the Dexcool out before adding the dexclone or what?

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike
That is the only thing I can attribute it too, in the few LS1 F-bodies and various GTO's I have seen guys mix it with. Over on the LSX boards it seems to be the only way the stuff gums up. Even if a guy has had a leak, just don't seem to get the gum up. [


A leak alone won't cause Dexcool to gum up, but if you have a leak and the cap on the radiator (or a fualty radiator cap for that matter), it will get air in it and Dexcool will gum up. Or if the coolant gets too low due to a leak and gets air in it even with a cap on the reservior it will gum up. It seems to gum worse if you have an iron block too.

Quote:
It seems normal green stuff and AM/AM when heated with the dex cool has caused these problems over time.


This is the big question. I've switched Dexcool cars to Green with no problems, but I did flush the Dexcool out first. If AM/AM is a dexclone then it makes no sense it would cause Dexcool to gum, so I'm not so sure about that. Like I said, if AM/AM gummed up Dexcool or any other antifreezes, Prestone would be on the hook for a lot of problems for marketing it as an AM/AM, so I have my doubts.

 

[EricF]

it's AZ's policy to make the customer happy at all costs. the store manager obviously had no knowledge of really how to deal with this. She should have entered a claim form and let AZ corporate HQ decide.
the saturn dealer jumped on this quickly and used their "We're the dealership, we are the Gods of Saturn cars" routine on her.
That doesn't sound like a good saturn dealer either.
the sludge I'll bet was due to the customer simply NOT doing any maintenance to the cooling system whatsoever. the dexcool wore out or air got into the system. adding the prestone simply did nothing.