I have a 2003 Monte Carlo SS. 3.8L

The other day I topped up my rad with some dexcool fluid (as it says in the manual) but now I heard that there was a big lawsuit over the stuff?

What do you guys use?


(bought it used a few months ago so I have no idea what's in there)

 

if it is orange then it is dex cool. i use dex cool but i think i might get a flush and get it out of my monte

 

I didn't think to check.. It was low and the resivoir was empty.

Hopefully I didn't mix dexcool with something else. Probably not good.

My heat cut out on me tonight (fan completely turned off) I doubt it's a coincidence. I ran out of daylight so I didn't bleed it. Just poured some in and closed the cap.

 

The Dex Cool lawsuits are old news.
1. - Early formulas of Dex were acidic.
2. - Like any fluid in the car (even the good ol' green Anti-Freeze), the coolant should be flushed.
3. - Today's Dex is fine. Recommend you buy the Prestone with Dex (I flushed my Monte and my wife's Impala, refilled with Prestone with Dex).
4. - People believe Dex is why the lower intake gaskets break apart. I got news for all those who feel Dex is to blame, it's NOT Dex. I've done enough lower intake gaskets on a couple of car that NEVER ran Dex (my 3100 powered Grand Am never had Dex in it and the gaskets went bad twice, roughly 80,000-100,000 miles). I can tell you what IS the cause of LIM gaskets braking, they are nylon and the nylon cannot tolerate the high fluid temps. Fel-Pro makes an aluminum replacement gasket. So far, from what I hear, THAT is the fix.

Give the cooling system a proper flush, and I think you will be fine. If you plan to flush it, that would be the time to switch to the green stuff if you are more comfortable with that over Dex (the green anti-freeze will not harm these engines either).

 

Dex is fine now? Why would you give this garbage another chance. It has cost me easily over a thousand dollars thanks to that genius design.

 

From experience and word of mouth dex cool is perfectly fine, as long as its maintained properly, also if air gets into the system you could see problems it gets thick n very nasty looking.

 

If you problems with Dex are in relation to nylon gaskets, then your problem is with the nylon gaskets.

Here are the reasons I am willing to "chance" it:
1. - I've done my reading on it to my satisfaction of what I need to know.
2. - Not that EVERYTHING the manufacturer recommends is 100%, but they recommend it.
3. - Look at the "green stuff" bottles. All the ones I see in the stores now state they work with "any color anti-freeze". Odds are there is not much difference in the chemical composition of DEX vs the current green stuff.
4. - I know a LOT of cars running DEX (some poorly maintained), zero issues related to DEX. One WELL maintained car is a single owner '94 Formula Firebird (ran DEX from the factory WITH the crappy formula, routine flushes, no problems, currently about 70,000 miles).
5. - The claims of destroying nylon gaskets, I have seen the SAME gasket failure in cars that NEVER ran DEX. Nylon + ANY Coolant = BAD idea.

From what I understand GM struggled with the gasket failure issues, they went between a couple gasket manufacturers (Fel Pro and Mr Gasket) to make the nylon gaskets. Both manufacturers had the same problems.
I speculate DEX was more of a scape goat at that point. Again, I've seen the same gasket failures at the same mileage on cars with the green stuff.

I'm curious, outside of gasket failure, what has DEX done to cause thousands of dollars of damage? If there is something I missed in my knowledge of the topic, I'm all ears (well, I guess in this case eyes). I've had a bunch of experiences, but there's plenty I have not first hand messed with.

 

Over a thousand, not thousands . Multiple flushes. If I had known there were issues like that I would have gone straight a specialist but instead had a few flushes at various mechanics before our regular and honest one said it wasn't worth paying him to do, to take it to a radiator shop for more than just a regular flush. That did the trick for years until recent problems (though I think unrelated just an unlucky leak). Will go in to the radiator shop again once it is warm enough that I can rely on my motorcycle while the monte carlo is in the shop.

 

Well, keep in mind, no matter what coolant you run, it should be flushed regularly. I've had a radiator clog in my '84 Camaro and that never ran DEX.

 

We run dex in my girls cavi An never had a problem.She's got a lot of time an money in to her engine I wouldn't let her run any thing that could harm the car.You'll be fine if it's maintained properly.