Hi. I've been told at various places dexcool can only be mixed to 50/50 ratio with distilled water...but my shop handed me some they'd mixed (kindly) and said nobody does that anymore.
If they don't, fine. If they do, I'm thinking I should offer to purchase pre-mix for them to fill it with when they replace my radiator once again this week. Is tap water ok or not? Ours isn't too bad up here, has a lot of minerals in it, however.

 

Mixing with tap water is fine , most repair shops are not going to buy distilled water to add too coolant. And I can bet that the pre mixed doesn't contain it either. I believe you are reading to far into the matter , but that's a opinion.

 

Thank you! I think you are absolutely correct, I read too much into all sorts of things..but this car in particular. I don't want to be stranded again, I'm 8 miles out with no mass transit or even Uber. It sounds like someone in an auto parts store filled my head with nonsense and convinced me to buy pre-mixed.

 

Totally agree. I've never seen a shop used distilled, it's always hose water.

Also, most shops aren't precision measuring 50/50 either. They're just eyeballing roughly equal amounts as they dump them in. They probably spend a bit more effort the further north you live though.

 

Well I use both the premixed stuff and the full strength stuff and I dilute it down. Walmart has both available.
If you want something very close to distilled water you can get the water from a Dehumidifier but some places don't use them.
I have never been to Idaho but you might want to look at getting something with 4 wheel drive as a back up. That way when you go hunting you can haul it home in the back instead of the Trunk.
I don't blame you for following up on these fixes I do every time I get something done because I have been ripped off to many times by poor workmanship and afterwards everyone is stupid?

These fellows at this shop are gonna post a photo of you to throw darts at you know that right!!?!?! Lol But seriously if you need some advice we are always happy to help out, the more info you give use the better.
I found the head gasket photo so you can see what it looks like. I could do it but I don't have all the tools I need so I let the garage do the work on that.


Here is what the new Head gaskets look like. This is the 3400 motor.

 

That's a further relief. Thank you.

 

LMAO! I love to shoot, but I won't be killing things unless there's some kind of apocalyse or something, I'm in survivalists' heaven. 9 miles from Ruby Ridge, too. It's an interesting area, the geology is fantastic! Nice photo, that's cool to see. The last time I looked at a head gasket it was for an ancient Honda prelude. I got to buy a new cam shaft for that one, and have the head planed. 6 cylinders are way more cool! I'd love to get to watch that process. I am grateful for the help, very much so. I've done the meek and humble thing with these guys, and that will continue, I even "thought positive and found them a leak" as instructed. Thank God it's not actually a head gasket, I was mortified. Oh no! What if it is? I haven't seen it overheat, but as the radiator began to leak more my gauge was reading lower...I think there were air pockets in there and I surely wish I'd asked for help sooner and bled it myself...Willis said head gasket based on not seeing an immediate leak, though. There is definitely an immediate leak now.

You're right, though...the process of begging them to bleed it and insisting I was still losing coolant was beginnig to annoy them...until I brought them the proof and now I'm getting a second radiator R&R and not having to pay. The brothers who own the place aren't annoyed with me anymore. I'm grateful.. Nonetheless when I ask/plead with them to follow the fill procedure I'll be dart board material for sure....especially if they don't and I bleed it myself on their lot.

Thank you for cheering me up! Thanks for understanding why I'm following up on these fixes. (the poor kid they gave the replacement to the first time took all day, I felt so bad for him. He only has a couple years experience.) Nobody knew how got get the radiator out...I saw Willis looking in Chilton's at one point. I told him I couldn't pay for the extra hours later in the day (mostly I stayed in the convenience store part and walked around town) and I was worried, he said that sometimes they beat the shop time in their estimates and sometimes it takes longer..but there wasn't an extra charge.

I'm really grateful you guys are willing to help out, it means the world to me. "The more info you give us, the better." also cheers me up a great deal. I tend to type so many details it's just a nightmare to read through it. Still giggling over elk in the trunk... I actually get moose in my yard in the Winter, they are like majestic snow camels. A lot of them get mowed down on the hwy. They come down as what they've got to forage at the higher elevations is covered in snow, the creek is usually iced over solid so they are trying to get to one of the two nearest lakes...and they're attracted to the salt IDT puts on the hwy to keep it open.

Yikes, what if it is a head gasket? He only said that because he didn't see an immediate leak, though....I need to calm down. It's going to be ok. I've bought two jugs of pre-mixed since I got the car...Wal-mart and Napa said it had to be distilled water if I wanted to mix my own...live and learn, I just went with the safest option.
Thank you again for all your patience, help, and humor.

 

I tend to be cheap on this topic. I will buy the non-premixed stuff and mix it myself with tap water (then I have double the amount for a lower cost). As mentioned, I too never measure exact 50/50, it's done by eye ball. I have done this with my cars that use Dex and old green anti-freeze. I have also flushed a car with water, drained, not sure how much water was in the car so I did not have a quick method to go 50/50, as a result, I ball parked how much non-mixed anti-freeze to put in (when I was done, I was confident I had a heavier mix of anti-freeze vs water).

I am also running my own Dex vs green anti-freeze experiment. I have zero problem with Dex (I'll spare that discussion/debate). Anycase, people make claims you need to completely purge a system of Dex if you want to switch to green coolant. From a functional stance, I don't believe that. If you look at almost every green coolant, they are compatible with all coolants. A couple months ago, I had to drain coolant from my Grand Am before I changed the lower intake gaskets. When I got the car back together, I am using the generic store brand anti-freeze. So far, the coolant in the car just looks a little brownish. I bet if I were to drain it and refill again, it would be fine, but at the moment, I have no reason to do so. Temps are great, no signs of issues, all good.

 

I flush out the dexkill and mix my own 50/50 universal coolant.

 

Compatible, and meeting OEM specs are 2 different things. I have read that those "universal" coolants, are pretty much 96% ethylene glycol and just 2 to 5% inhibitors.

I would honestly only ever buy and use pure dex in my cars.