DexCool

[derblazer]

What exactly is DexCool Coolant? I had a mechanic tell it was garbage. He's related so I don't think he is trying to pick my pocket. He says I should flush the system and put the green stuff in.

[swalt]

Its supposed to be the long life coolant. You will find many opinions on it. I do a pretty good job of taking care of my truck and at 75,000km's, my heater core was almost plugged. Dealer told me the coolant was good until 150,000km's, but I insisted they flush it as it looked like it was turning to sludge (Dexcrap). They agreed after they flushed it that it needed to be done. If you switch to green you will probably eliminate any future clogging problems. You just need to flush the green every two years or so.

[Alexxn 00 Si]

If your vehicle has Dexcool in it keep it like that. The problem is that it isn't as long life as first thought. It has better qualities than the Green stuff for our vehicles and just like Green it needs to be properly maintained. If you flush and add fresh Dexcool along with a Stant (non GM) radiator cap you will have no problems. There is a great article on this:

http://www.imcool.com/articles/antif...l-macs2001.htm

BlazerLT can fill you in on the rest.....

[TonyMazz]

I too agree that DexCool takes on alot of crap and misinformation. The key to success with DexCool in not allowing air into the system. Keep your 'puke-tank' at the proper level, and if possible, replace the GM radiator cap with a new on or better aftermarket of the proper size/PSI.

It's easy to say DexCool is crap but again as it has been expressed before, they (GM) continue to put it in $70,000+ cars/trucks etc and why would they do that ? So they could loose money on warranty work ? I doubt it....

The real crux of the problem is that people think that when the "manual" says extended life that it means I don't have to do anything, raise the hood, check anything..I just run it for 150,000 and then whine when something goes bad.

Come on we come for the 'old-school' nothing is perfect, and check your systems routinely, keep your system up to the proper level all the time and you will be fine.

I have a 99 blazer and when cold I pop the cap and look in the radiator and it's just prestine and clean at 153,000 miles...I flushed at 100K and will flush again soon, but have had zero problems, leaks, have great heat, matter-of-fact I have to turn down the head setting as it is VERY hot....

Just my 3.5 cents...

[BlazerLT]

Nothing wrong with dexcool, the problems are caused by the poor rad caps on GM vehicles.

Mine too had the same issues and a non AC Delco rad cap fixed everything.

No Sludge
No gurgling heater core.
Engine runs cooler.

[derblazer]

I have pretty much decided to stay with what's in the engine. There are a few websites that have information on class action suites involving DexCool. As of this time they, the parties involved, still haven't proven that they haven't mixed DexCool with the green stuff which would cause the problems they describe.

[mike2004tct]

Originally Posted by derblazer

I have pretty much decided to stay with what's in the engine. There are a few websites that have information on class action suites involving DexCool. As of this time they, the parties involved, still haven't proven that they haven't mixed DexCool with the green stuff which would cause the problems they describe.

Perhaps the class action suits are just ambulance chasers. If you go to the Havoline website, they have a technical doc about how you can mix Dexcool with green stuff. I posted a link to the page in a previous thread about this same subject. (I wouldn't mix them myself, I've had no major problems with Dexcool, I'm on my second batch of it at 35k miles on a '97)

[chcknugget]

I've also read that the factory dexcool in a number of vehicles from 1996 had bad dexcool in them. The new halvoline doesn't have the defect.

[BlazerLT]

True, the new dexcool is different from the factory fill fluid.

The old stuff is just really sensitive to air exposure which is usually from a bad cap.