Engine Coolant

[Barndog8341]

I need to drain, flush, and refill my engine coolant.

 

I was talking to the local mechanic and he suggested instead of Dexcool, I use a different type of engine coolant (It's green, but I"m not sure what it is called).

 

He said that dexcool is famous for eating gaskets like crazy, and the green stuff wont eat them near as bad.

 

Funny enough, I just disovered that I have a leak on the intake manifold, so the intake gaskets need to be changed.

 

Any thoughts on this?

[rodram]

... your 97 Vortec engine is inherently prone to intake manifold gasket failure ... it was built-in by GM ... (just like mine was)

 

... when you get it replaced get the newest FelPro brand gasket for the engine (ie., don't buy a GM gasket kit ... or you will be doing the replacement again some day)

 

... the key to long term maintaining of head gaskets and intake manifold gaskets is to monitor the acidity of the coolant by measuring the pH .... normal coolant pH in your truck will likely be 8.5 to 9 ... I forget the critical level but as it drops below 8 and going toward 7 the coolant will become acidic and start to eat gaskets and cause other damage....

 

... there is NOTHING wrong with Dexcool .... use Dexcool or the older conventional green stuff, whatever you choose .... but check the pH of the coolant at oil change interval times.

[nubuilder]

Isn't the Dex-Cool supposed to be formulated to work better with aluminum (since the heads are)? That's why I stuck with it when I changed mine.

[Mike G]

You can also use the over the counter "Orange" coolant. It will be cheaper than Dexcool and you can buy it at any auto parts store. The jist of the deal is, don't mix green with orange.