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dex cool coolant


garyhmb

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i got my coolant flushed out of my 2002 silverado at a local shop and they replaced it with the green type of coolant instead of the the dex cool coolant that it came with from the factory. by the way it had 60,000 miles when this service was done. will using the green coolant damage my truck in any way or should i replace it with the dex cool coolant asap.

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my previous truck was a s10 with a 4.3. people on the message board were all complaining about the dex gelling up. and sure enough around 25k miles my heater core stopped working. i was lucky and cought it early. fluched the core out with a garden hose. i did see the gel come out and flushed the engine for another hour. put the green in and never had another problem and i traded it in with 80k.

 

now i have a 06 Sierra and am thinking of fluching that stuff out and switching to the green. i dont want any problems and dont mine fluching every 3 years.

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Well my dexcool on my 04' Sierra has 30k on it and the sludge is building up in the tank!  :D

 

 

 

You should get that checked out. The coolant sludging up is supposed to be an indication of an air leak somewhere; air is coming in contact with the coolant like through a gasket.

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Can you read ?

Is 20,000 miles routine maintenance on this stuff ?

Didn't think so  :nopity:

 

 

 

Absolutely not. And it shall not be ony any car. You and I agree. I was only trying to point DexCools corrosive nature under certain circumstances in addition.

 

What makes me most angry is that it seems like the official stand of GM is that people who are likely to have problems are those who neglect their cooling system and don't keep it topped off. GM says that the corrosion is due to that. Like I said that was absolutely not the case with me. The opposite was true, I religiously checked cooland level and despite following all maintenance schedule I had problems.

 

So Mr. Smith you said in your earlier response "People are always quck to blame dex for lack of proper maintenance." Please, that definately does not apply to me. And never the less I had problems with DexCool.

 

Of course you should not have any problems at 20.000 miles eighter. That car is just broken in.

 

At work we have a fleet of about 100 Lincoln Towncar (4.6 Liter Ford V8 Engine). On avarage every one of these vehicles drives 200.000 miles in three years before sold. We NEVER had any engine problems in 9 years. We only do regular maintenance and pump gas. GM has some homework to catch up.

 

Don't take me wrong. I love Chevy and I'm a Chevy fan. But Chevy has to get it's act together if they are serious about staying in the market. Being in denial, Chevy is falling behind and nobody does anything about it. Customers won't go along with that for too long.

 

 

 

 

 

You are free to spend your money how you like thats true but you aren't going to bring folks over to your side on this. Your conclusions are just like all the bs on the net. Dex=bad Green=good

 

I wish people would use the search for this instead of starting new old topics. :confused:

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i got my coolant flushed out of my 2002 silverado at a local shop and they replaced it with the green type of coolant instead of the the dex cool coolant that it came with from the factory. by the way it had 60,000 miles when this service was done. will using the green coolant damage my truck in any way or should i replace it with the dex cool coolant  asap.

 

 

 

Did you get your answer? :)

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RE: ...you aren't going to bring folks over to your side on this. Your conclusions are just like all the bs on the net ...

 

:confused: I think YOU are the one who is jumping to conclusions. I doubt that you have read my ENTIRE story and I doubt that you have checked out my vehicles.

 

As far as I'm concerned this old new topic (that I'm just responding to by the way) has cost me quite of my time and money for the repair and parts.

 

As far as I'm concerned I have excercised constructive criticism. You might be familiar with the term free speach. :D

 

And who's side am I anyway? What kind of remark of yours is that? If you believe that silence is the way to solve problems then you just might have to stick your head in the sand and hope that no one will take advantage of your situation :nopity:

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I agree...you all say what you will. The green stuff keeps it cleaner and I'd just soon change it out every couple of years.

Your gonna have intake leaks on GM's REGARDLESS of what type antifreeze your using...PERIOD!

It's a piss poor design on the gaskets and the materials used.

They even have newer updated gaskets for the 88-98 5.7's that have always been an issue...been there and done it!

The small amount of sludge in the tank was considered "normal" by the dealer...which is BS!

I'm a dedicated GM man but, gotta' admit since they farm all their work out....quality ahs taken a beack seat and I've been told that just about everything that's wrong with this POS is considered "normal".

And I mean everything from a tranny that shifts like crap and has been back to the dealer twice for reflashing, 4 wheel disc brakes that are the pits, twitches and idles like crap, steering shaft TSB, one COMPLETE bolt that holds the A arm broke and fell out at 10K, both door hinges replaced, electric windows are junk, General JUNK tires are the pits, and on and on :D

04' GMC Sierra 5.3

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I still cannot understand the comments on the DexCool. I have used it in the past 3 Dodge Caravans that I drive for work with no issues at all. I would flush the factory AF at 50K and run the vans to approx 130K with no sludge and no issues. I also ran it in my Wife's Intrepid from 30K to 125K before selling it with no problems. It is now in my 02 Yukon and when I flushed it a couple of months ago the factory AF looked great. I do not doubt there has been issues but I am just asking were they really caused by the Dexcool or some other reason?

 

By the way, I work in the Auto Parts Industy and sell thousands of gallons of Dexcool each year through our Distribution Centers and stores and I know of not even one complaint or issue that we have ever had.

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Almost every Dex-cool problem people talk about are coincidental. Dex-cool gets blamed for many things that are unrelated, but happened about the same time. For example, intake gasket leaks. People blame Dex-cool, but the fact is GM started switching away from the cardboard intake gaskets to plastic & rubber intake gaskets sometime in the mid-90's close to the time GM switched to Dex-cool. Dex gets blamed for that a LOT, but most people don't realize that engines with that type gasket had leaks even with green coolant.

A lot of the brown sludge people found in the cooling systems happened to be residue from factory-installed sealing tabs (there are TSBs on this).

 

There are several other things as well. IMO, Dex is just as safe as the green stuff.

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Well..... I have read on other forums where it IS ok to put the green stuff in and some people have even recommended doing it. At the same time there are those that will say "GM designed it to use brand X and thats all you should use".

 

My question is what did the shop say their reasoning was for putting the green stuff in and not the pink stuff like they took out. They are supposed to return it to you with whatever is factory recomended, for warrenty purposes. You wouldnt put 85w-140 lube in the rearend if it calls for 85w-90. Or non synthetic if it specifies synthetic.

 

Anyway, I'd call them back and ask WTF? Maybe even call the dealer. If there is a good reason for the green being installed, then fine. The new guy must have done it isnt a good reason. Otherwise, they need to change it again at NO CHARGE!

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C & A s Dad and GnatGoSplat are right. This silliness is like a virus all over the net on how evil Dexcool is. One day someone might actually post facts instead of conjecture.

 

 

 

 

http://www.noln.net/features/feature3.html

 

 

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/gm_dexcool.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMO, those articles prove my point. People are blaming Dex-cool for problems that are not related, and only seem to be related because GM made 2 changes at close to the same time.

 

Plus, some lawsuits are claiming that Dex-Cool is at least partially responsible for the string of intake manifold gasket failures on GM vehicles equipped with 3.1L or 3.4L V6 engines. For its part, GM has issued a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB 03-06-01-010) that entitles some owners of affected vehicles to a free gasket repair. The service bulletin blames the gasket material, not Dex-Cool, for the problem.

 

These are exactly the engines I was talking about. They were used in limited number in 94-95 in the W-cars with green coolant and they have the exact same problems with the exact same frequency. Dex-cool is most certainly not to blame for that.

 

The 2nd link has many car owners suspecting intake gasket leaks as being caused by Dex-cool, but they are not.

 

If Dex-cool's long change interval is a problem, then there's nothing stopping you from flushing it every 2-3yrs.

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20K is not long term for coolant to go bad and that exactly what the Dexcool does.

How come there are no "air" problems with the green stuff...how come the green stuff doesn't gel after 20K?

And for your own info...the intake manifold gasket problem is with alsmost every GM motor ever made including all small blocks and the 4.3's

Dexcool serves no better purpose tha the green stuff other than "supposedly" lasts longer but, I don't see it.

The reason the Dexcool was blamed for on those motors is because GM redesigned the gaskets when they changed to Dexcool and most mechanics figured the coolant for the leaks but, again like I said, "It's pisspoor design on gaskets"!

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