Is dexcool safe? Will it harm the intake manifold gaskets?
2002 Cavalier
Should it be changed?
2002 Cavalier
our cars actually reccomend dexcool over standard coolant so yes it is safe
I've run Dex-Cool all the way .
189,000 miles, boosted.
The reason I am concerned is because I've heard of dexcool eating into intake gaskets causing them to melt/wearout and leaking antifreeze into the engines of some GM cars (Bonnevilles, Lesabres, Malibus, Montanas).
2002 Cavalier
... they have the 3400 engine, which has very poor quality lower intake manifold gaskets, leading to a lawsuit involving GM and Dex-Cool.
On the 4 cly motor for J body's you do not have to worry about intake manifold gaskets and coolant mixing (unless there is a issue). Yes it should be changed. GM will say 100k, but I would change like you would any other coolant.
FU Tuning
if youre going to change it like any other coolant, you might as well go with old fashioned green stuff. in my opinion, you should flush the dex-crap out and replace it with green. dex cool plugged up my heater core because for some reason it gets sludgy and dirty real fast. hope this helps
Did I mention I drive a 2000 Lumina now?-----wigm-tuners.org member
I had the legendary Dex-sludge in my Tahoe. It happened after replacing the water pump and topping it off with the green stuff. I didn't get around to doing a complete flush until it was too late!
As for intake gaskets, I believe the issue was due to the original design gasket crushing. It was redesigned with metal inserts at the bolt holes. At least that's how it was with the old Vortec gaskets.
The Ecotec is probably different, but on my 2.2 the coolant doesn't circulate through the intake.
2.2 97 Cavalier......the "Crapalier"
Dex-Cool sludges up generally only if there's air in the system. That's why it's important to purge the air in engine applications where that's stipulated during cooling system maintenance. I've never had any trouble with it and I've used it since it was introduced in the '90's (only in GM applications, however). - Mark
