I Hate Dexcool Aka Deathcool!

[mattjulien]

Well i start smelling antifreeze outside of my truck (98 5.7 Vortec) for a couple of weeks and then one day when i was about to put it in my garage the damn thing is spurting antifreeze all over the place in the back of the engine . It was the infamous intake manifold gasket that had been destroyed by GM's wonderful "Deathcool"

It is torn down right now...i have the manifold back in place now all I have to do is put everything else back.

Anybody else have this problem happen to them??? Share your horror stories....

[dlstewart01]

I don't have any horror stories. Haven't had a problem since Dex-cool came out and several hundred thousand miles on it.

 

Don

[Zembonez]

It has been proven over and over that Dexcool was not the problem. Inferior gasket materials caused the intake gasket failures.

 

It sucks that you had to have it happen but at least place the blame where it goes.

[lvlagnum]

Hello 98Vortec.

I didn't / haven't had any problems on any of MY vehicles (2002 GMC Sierra 5.3, 2003 Chevy Silverado 5.3, 2009 GMC Sierra 5.3 Flex Fuel) but my father has had to replace the intake manifold gasket twice now on his 1995 Chevy 5.7 full size G Van. I don't know about in the US but up here in Canada, there is a class action lawsuit going on about it right now. I'm sure there must be a class action going on down there about it too.

 

Cheers, lvlagnum.

 

PS: I believe that Zembones is either correct or that there might have been some kind of incompatability between the OEM gasket material and the Dexcool. Ether way, the mistake my father made was in going back to the dealer to have the work done and not insisting that they use a quality aftermarket gasket. I have heard that folks who have used an aftermarket gasket and or used a different coolant, have had no further problems. Can anyone confirm this?

[superjim]

I don't have any horror stories. Haven't had a problem since Dex-cool came out and several hundred thousand miles on it.

 

Don

 

 

Same here...no problems with Dexcool.

Probably in excess of 700,000 miles on various vehicles.

[jon_883]

No problems here, 9 years and 157,000 miles

[Zembonez]

Matt... we aren't roughing you up. Those damn gaskets were poorly designed. Many have failed. I had to replace an engine on one of my trucks because of it. Replace it with a good quality gasket and refill with Dexcool. You'll probably never have any problem again.

 

Good luck with it.

[MarkD]

The only problem I have ever had was using well water, and it was the water, not the coolant. We replaced the heater core twice on a 2000 blazer that was gummed up. It looked like cottage cheese floating in the Dex-cool. On a tip from an ASE mechanic, we added distilled bottled water to the Dex-cool and didn't have any more problems.

[CHEVIN]

i used felpro gaskets on a few trucks and never had a prop since

[dlstewart01]

If you get air in the system, mix green coolant with dex-cool or leave it in too long, it will flub-up. Other wise it was the poor gasket material GM used for a long time that was not compatable with Dex-cool.

 

Don

[handsomerob]

Well some basics here, remember to use distilled water with the Dexcool, and if you don't monitor the acidity of your coolant you should do a cooling system flush atleast every 5 years/100,000 miles (160,000Km) it's the corrosive effects of the acidity levels in the coolant that starts messing things up. They have simple test strips you can buy to check the PH etc. of the coolant.

[mattgob86]

I perfer using the green coolant because its been proven over many many years and not had problems

[redvett]

Dex cool is not the problem its the gaskets, do a search. Newer vehicles do not have the problem. Easy to blame the coolant but most people do not keep the coolant full and any leak or failure to flush & replace is the owners problem.

[ZZ327]

Never had a problem with any dexcool. That crap about it turning the underside of your radiator cap a different color is a myth

[Spurshot]

Having been part of product litigation recieving end, it really doesn't matter whether it's the gasket or the coolant to blame. It's the combination GM chose for their design. That makes it GMs problem.