Posted: 4/24/2006 10:23:56 AM EDT
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Whats the general concensus on leaving it in you vehicle or replacing it with regular green coolant?? I hear some people say its corosive others say its what was ment to be used. I have it in my 00 GMC with 63k miles. Now that the weather broke, I am going to go over everything I havent done on it yet in addition to my normal maint that I do every year. If it is decided that I should get rid of it, what the best way to flush it out, run distilled water through it for a couple days? |
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The pros of dex cool are that it's designed to last 5 yrs before it needs replaced. Cons are that once air is introduced to the system, it does become corrosive to aluminum. If you're thinking of flushing the system anyway, do it and replace with green. Make sure you use a flushing kit, it's a mild detergent that will get all the residue off or the metal parts in your cooling system. You must make sure that you get the radiator and engine block absolutely drained of the pink/orange stuff or when you add the green back to the system, it has a habit of turning into jello. |
Exactly........ Most of the local shops in my area dump it, flush it, and replace it with regular ol' green stuff. You wanna make sure to thoroughly backflush the system though, the two types of coolant do not mix. |
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Some engines you don't have to worry about getting air into the system. If the radiator fill neck is higher than the thermostat housing, don't worry about getting air into the system when refilling. And Dexcool sucks. I've lost count of how many radiators I've replaced and heater cores I've replaced or flushed and backflushed because of that junk. |
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Some funny stuff here. Okay, from the top (as I am qualified to comment here), H.O.A.T (or red stuff) coolant does NOT become corrosive to aluminium when "exposed to air". The coolant is still based on ethylene glycol, same as the old green stuff. The difference is the additive package. The idea is to make the coolant more "environmentally friendly", (whatever that means, as it is still poison). What the red stuff is, is far more stable than the green stuff, and the additive package FAR more robust , so it can go five years/100,000 miles. Ethylene glycol remains good, the additives break down, same as always. If you want to go to the green stuff, make sure the red stuff is thoroughly gone as the additives don't get along and WILL damage the cooling system. Bottom line: we wouldn't warrant the motor and pour destruction into it at the same time. (Yup, there are alot of idiot engineers out there. Also quite a few sharp one, too.) As to the '03 chevy, it sounds like rust . The system may have been run with mostly water for too long. I've also seen oil mixing with the coolant from failing headgaskets as well. Only a guess as I can't see and check out the vehicle and the fluids. Josh (Engineering rat at a large auto Co. for a long time.) |
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Dex Cool is fine as long as you don't mix it. Sadly, most people do mix it, then they blame the Dex-Cool for turning into sludge. They then take it to the dealer, who knows exactly what happened as soon as the owner opens his mouth about how shitty it is. He expects warranty, they say no, and he pays to have his syetm flushed. The owner from there on out never mixes it again, and never has another problem. 
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That could be a bad head gasket, or if you are lucky just an intake manifold gasket. Intakes leak on these motors are an epidemic. |