Dex-Cool

To Dex-Cool or not to Dex-Cool? That is the question.

My kid's 2001 Alero 2.4 has had this stuff in it from the start. The car has only 48k miles on it so I think that the coolant change that I had done yesterday may have been the first. Not sure.

Anyway, the shop put orange 'extended life' in it. I'm assuming this is dex-cool. I asked for regular coolant but they apparently forgot.

I've read so many conflicting opinions on this stuff. But it seems to me that once dex-cool is in it it's pretty tough to flush all of it out. And bad things can happen when mixing dex-cool with regular coolant. So it might be best to stick with the dex-cool and change it every 2 or 3 years like the regular stuff.

Any other opinions on this?

There is nothing wrong with running Dex-cool as long as the maintenance replacement interval is followed. 5 years or 150K miles, whichever comes first. We still use Dex-cool in our 3.4L Alero with no issues and it was replaced before 5 years since hitting the mileage was impossible based on our driving habits. Even the regular aftermarket extended life coolants are now 5/150.

Dex-cool is orange in color out of the bottle. And do not mix the green anti-freeze with it or it turns to sludge.

The 2.4 doesn't have nearly to cooling system problems that the other GM engines have so whatever you put in it will be more than fine.

Its not a good idea to mix them but flushing a dexcool system to regular coolant with a flush machine will get almost a 100 percent of the coolant changed if done correctly.

Since your cooling system is pretty solid for the most part stick with the dexcool and service again in another 5 years (appears it doesn't see a lot of miles) if its still around.

same thing in my son's 03 alero 2.2. just did a flush and add new dexcool. dexcool does not play well when air,the green stuff or other stuff is introduced into the cooling system.