Dex Cool

[wilbs999]

I have a 2500 HD Duramax Diesel. I have 25,000 miles on it. I am getting a driver information message that says I'm low on coolant. I checked the levels, they're okay right now.

Fact is, I've owned 4 brand new cars in my life, and I have NEVER had to add coolant.

I have a husband who is in business for himself, and has owned 4 GM vans (1 ton vans) in the last 10 years, that were losing coolant. The short of the story is, they all lost their cooling systems, had water pumps, radiators, etc., etc., replaced.

My daughter owned a 99 Jimmy. She had a transmission that overheated, and she had to rebuild that (cooling system problem). Then a water pump, then a heater core, and then the head gasket was leaking . . . She unloaded the car, traded it in on a Jetta, AFTER it cost her $6,000 to keep it running for the last two years. She swears she'll never again buy a GM product. It was actually her second loser, after a Pontiac Sunfire GT (she bought new) that lost an "oil backflow preventer" valve at 50,000 miles (GM's story).

I paid a lot of money for this truck, and I want to know if anybody has experienced problems in their trucks with coolant. I know the Duramax is only a couple of years old, but how about you guys with the 98, 99 Silverados?

I plan to call the garage tomorrow and make an appointment for THEM to add the coolant. God knows I want to be able to go after GM if something happens.

[jeverett]

When my truck only had like 73K on it, the passenger side head gasket blew, filling my engine with water....ever since I've had the top end rebuilt, the valves have rattled like hell, and I cannot find a fix for it. Other than that, I've really had no problems with the coolant.

[Redneck_Cadillac]

Originally Posted by wilbs999

I have a 2500 HD Duramax Diesel. I have 25,000 miles on it. I am getting a driver information message that says I'm low on coolant. I checked the levels, they're okay right now.

Fact is, I've owned 4 brand new cars in my life, and I have NEVER had to add coolant.

I have a husband who is in business for himself, and has owned 4 GM vans (1 ton vans) in the last 10 years, that were losing coolant. The short of the story is, they all lost their cooling systems, had water pumps, radiators, etc., etc., replaced.

My daughter owned a 99 Jimmy. She had a transmission that overheated, and she had to rebuild that (cooling system problem). Then a water pump, then a heater core, and then the head gasket was leaking . . . She unloaded the car, traded it in on a Jetta, AFTER it cost her $6,000 to keep it running for the last two years. She swears she'll never again buy a GM product. It was actually her second loser, after a Pontiac Sunfire GT (she bought new) that lost an "oil backflow preventer" valve at 50,000 miles (GM's story).

I paid a lot of money for this truck, and I want to know if anybody has experienced problems in their trucks with coolant. I know the Duramax is only a couple of years old, but how about you guys with the 98, 99 Silverados?

I plan to call the garage tomorrow and make an appointment for THEM to add the coolant. God knows I want to be able to go after GM if something happens.

i ran it through the recall and TSB database as a 2003 and a 2004 and found nothing...............sorry.

[Vortec327]

Not sure if the rad in the trucks are the same as my Camaro because it is common (myself included) for the low coolant sensor to get gummed up and throw on the "low coolant" light. So either you cleaned the sensor or installed a new one. In my Camaro its installed in one of the side tanks of the rad....After work I'm gonna check the truck.

[simple_country_guy]

When ever I sit for more than 5 minutes in one spot my low coolant light comes on. I know the levels are fine, so it must be the sensor. I have just not had the energy to to replace it yet. I am almost sure that will fix it.

[broughy84]

This wonderful shit they call dex-cool eats away at the seals and gaskets. I have gone through 3 sets of intake gaskets on my venture. The sensor is probably gummed up and needs cleaned. IMHO, when this car warranty runs out flush the system and put the good ole green stuff in. That's what I did with my Venture, haven't had a problem since.

[TxNitro]

Service manager warned me about how DexCool is a good product <yeah right> but he did say watch it, because it does eat away at seals and will knock out that sensor on a regular basis....if its under warranty, get it replaced....if not, just eye your levels...and keep driving.

[Thunderbolt]

As soon as it is ut of warranty get rid of the DEATH COOL!! Have the system flushed and run the green antifreeze. The death cool eats at everything , Water pump, radiator, heater core sensors and gaskets and seals. It is even worse once oxygen gets in the system from a leak or from something as simple as removing the radiator cap. Death Cool is garbage as far as I am concerned and everyone I know or talked to has had problems with it and converted to green.

[silveradoman]

I have a 1999 Chevy Silverado with a 5.7 Liter engine. At 40,000km the coolant level started to go down, after I spent 30 dollars in dexcool I decide to take to the dealer at 60,000km, problem was the gaskets were all torn up, I had just changed the oil and it was clan as a whistle so I know it wasn´t leaking coolant into the engine. Water pump was dying so i spent 300 dollars getting new head gaskets, unfortunately they put back dex-cool in the truck and that is going to eat away the seals again, I recommend that if you really really really want to use dex-col, replace it every year, but if you like to keep the money you make, well switch to the ol´green stuff (that way you´re not replacing seals every year). By they way, before they replaced the head gaskets and the thermostat, they gage read 1/4 of the way every day even in 100 degree weather, now it is at half way even in cool days.

[vnotaro]

Just replaced the intake manifold gasket on my 01' Impala. It was split and was leaking the Dexcool onto the outside of the block. I never could find it while the engine was running because it was such a small leak that it was steaming away as soon as it hit the air. I finally noticed it after it got a little worse and the engine had cooled down. Then I noticed the trail down the side of the engine. Hopefully your problem is similar and not a head gasket. Turns out it's fairly common on the Impalas.

[prtygood]

dex-cool will ruin gaskets. On my wife's 99 blazer, I was flushing it every year. I flushed the pink out and put the green in. Everytrhing has been fine since.