Should I replace Dex-Cool ?
 

Hey All.....
I had my radiator flushed out for my 96 S-10 yesterday. I knew that the fluid was muddy looking but the mechanic from a very good garage said that Dex-Cool is the worse stuff out there. They replaced it with a extended life anti-freeze and he recommended that I flush the MC's radiator also and replace it as well.
I just checked it and it is muddy looking.
I looked at some other dex-cool issues on the internet and it's all the same. Dex-Cool causes gaskets to go out and heater cores to leak. I did, have to replace the heater core for the S-10 a few years ago.
What's everyone's opinion ?

I have had the Dex cool changed out on both of my Montes. When I bought the Silver car used in 09, that was the first "mod" I did. When my fiance bought the 2004 Impala SS around Dec that was the first thing he did too. If I ever buy another GM car - that's the first to go.

Just be careful with that if you buy it new because according to the owners manual; if you don't use Dex-Cool it voids your warranty. I don't know if that's just on the coolant system or on the whole car.

I really need to change mine, but I just don't know where it get it done the right way?

At a little over 43,000 miles I had a coolant leak and the cylinder head gaskets had to be replaced. The dealer flushed out the system and refilled it (with Dex Cool again). I haven't had any more coolant leaks since then (got 87K miles on the car now). Don't know if it was related to the Dex Cool, but I did have to replace the thermostat last November.



What did you and your fiance replace the Dex Cool in your cars with?

Just the regular Prestone and mix it with water. Neither of my cars are under warranty anymore anyway so I'm not too worried about it. I don't think it would hurt anything if you flush your system out really good before you put the Prestone in.

dex cool
 

Thanks for the info. everyone. The garage that worked on my S-10 used extened life Global antifreeze. I will probaly schedule a service in two weeks.

FYI - My honest opinion if Dex cool being blamed on destroying the LIM gaskets is crap. I've done 3100 v6 LIMs and gaskets on cars to my knowledge never ran Dex. My 3100 powered Grand Am has had two different sets of nylon LIM gaskets (Fel Pro ones) within my ownership. They break down because the nylon/plastic gaskets were BAD idea from the very beginning.

I flushed the coolant on the Monte and re-filled it with the Prestone Long Like Dex Cool.

Dex has been revised over the years. The formula of today's Dex is different from the original Dex. It was found that original Dex years ago was promoting damage to gaskets. But again, the nylon gaskets go bad because they can only with stand hot coolant of any kind for so long before breaking down.

Better answer is get rid of the nylon gaskets and install Fel Pro's new aluminum ones. I have a set of those on the Monte (wish I knew about them the last time I did the LIM gaskets on the Grand Am).

hey The_Maniac I was just wondering if you had any pics of your 84 Z28, love those old Camaros, I restored an 86 Iroc Z, but then the engine went bad and thats how I ended up with my Monte, it would just be cool to see how far you are on yours, just wondered.

Click any of the bold words in his sig and you should see his website with his cars ;)