So I'm to the point of needing a coolant flush and fill and was wondering if anyone had gone from the dex cool crap back to traditional green antifreeze or even the peak global lifetime antifreeze that's suppose to be compatible with any coolant. I have heard that dex cool eats away your engine seals and causes leakes. My main question is will the green stuff hurt any engine components like the radiator or heater core?
not if you flush it good but if they mix it turns to mud
my kill list:a geo metro and a mac semi wow did i kill that thing
If you switch to green, you gotta flush the living hell out of the system before you do.
its a hit and miss run what you want really i have only had issues with the green stuff everyone says the dexcool eats gaskets but the only car i had to replace gasket was a 95 2.2 with the green stuff
my 3800 had a bad intake manifold gasket but that wasn't cause of coolant
but your gonna get mixed infomation so just run whatever you wish
PS stay away from anything that says lifetime its bull
green or dexcool good enough
JBO since July 30, 2001
just switch, dex-cool has a pending lawsuit in cali b/c of it eating away at the motors. all leading manufactuerers have switched their formulas to be good to use in all cars.
also, i switched almost 6 months ago to the orange prestone and havnt had any problems.
^^Just so you know the orange Prestone is Dex-Cool. I have seen the exact same gaskets fail with the green coolant. It is not a problem with the coolant, but rather a problem with the gaskets.
I've been using Dex Cool (in the GM vehicles that I've owned that came with it as a factory fill) since GM started using it in the mid-90's. I've never had a problem with it. Yes, I've read all the horror stories and about all the lawsuits. I've maintained my systems, kept the air out, checked the pressure caps and changed the coolant on my schedule. And, GM still uses it. Your method may vary but I wouldn't be quick to blame the coolant or jump on the lawsuit wagon.
green is cheaper
my kill list:a geo metro and a mac semi wow did i kill that thing
Green also has to be replace more often. From what I recall in a 10 year span Dex-Cool would need replaced twice and teh green would need replaced five times. I use Dex-Cool in all 3 of my GM vehicles. The 96 K1500 didnt get its first change till about 4 years ago. The intake gaskets (4.3L one of the engines listed in several lawsuits) are just now starting to leak. My 98 didnt get its first fluid change till fall 07. I have been very laxed on maintenance yet have not had a huge problem.
mitdr774 wrote:Green also has to be replace more often. From what I recall in a 10 year span Dex-Cool would need replaced twice and teh green would need replaced five times. I use Dex-Cool in all 3 of my GM vehicles. The 96 K1500 didnt get its first change till about 4 years ago. The intake gaskets (4.3L one of the engines listed in several lawsuits) are just now starting to leak. My 98 didnt get its first fluid change till fall 07. I have been very laxed on maintenance yet have not had a huge problem.
that sucks i sold my truck because of that gasket. if i would of know that i would of just fixed it.
Im going to just go ahead and do the head gaskets when I do the intake gaskets in the spring. May also put in a different cam while im at it. Dex-Cool is going back in though.
i heard they reformulated it. you here the same at the dealer. or is it a public services bs.
Or just grab the "universal" stuff (typically yellow).
Flush the dexcool decently and fill as usual and don't worry about it.
And Dex lasting 10 years/100k miles? Not really true or recommended if you ask me. Flush and refill at 5 years is not a bad idea.
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Sleeper style, they don't see it coming that way.
I see no reason it would have been reformulated. Like I said 96 K1500 didnt get its first coolant change till after about 10 years and 100K. I always refill with Dex-Cool. Now if I had a vehicle that came with the green stuff then I would refill with that.
90% of all cars I work on get the universal stuff from advanced auto. . The only reason for dexcool is if the car is still under factory warranty. Not that the dexcool is any better, Its just that dealers try to find any route to prevent a warranty claim and I dont want to foot the bill. Personally I think dexcool is junk but thats just my opinion.
If you flush it with a garden hose like most do, be sure to put the first gallon in straight, second gallon mixed. If you dont do this it will be too diluted to work correctly. The alternative is to take it to a shop that has a flush/ fill machine, If they dont have one , you would be just as well do it yourself with a garden hose.
01 cav w/01 3400 gam gt 4t45e
Sooo can anyone actually prove that a properly maintained Dex-Cool system will have more corrosion in it that any other system? I have seen all the same gasket and seal failures with the green stuff as I have with Dex-Cool.
i don't think anyone can prove it
i just know that the only car i had an issue with was green coolent and thats technically was a design issue cause every 2.2 has head gasket failures
my 3800 in the cav needed an intake gasket but at 180 000km and the previous owner never maintained it what do you expect not to mention GM switch from the plastic with rubber gaskets to the aluminum with rubber because the plastic was cracking and that was my issue
i accually converted my 95 2.2 over to dexcool when i rebuilt the motor reason all my other cars use it so i wasn't buying green stuff for 1 car
JBO since July 30, 2001
I have been a mechanic since before dexcool came out, I have put alot of coolant in over the years and had my hands in both standard green and dexcool engines. As far as corrosion goes I would say neither has a problem there. A corrosion problem starts to be a factor when the any coolant becomes too diluted and the water starts to make all the steel parts rust away. I have seen water pump inpellers rust away to a flat disc. Owner neglect to properly check the coolant with a tester is what causes corrosion.
As far as gasket failures, I think the reason why people say that dexcool causes gaskets to fail is , when dexcool was introduced the intake gaskets were redesigned to be plastic with O ring lined, I dont believe its the coolant that is the problem, the gasket design is the problem. From O ring material that wont stand up to engine oil to plastic that wont take the heat cycles. Both together equals leaks.
Head gaskets have been a problem for years, even way back in the green years, several engines like the ford tempo hsc engines to the gm tech4 2.5, the v8's werent prone to this either. It was no biggie to pull a set of plugs for a tune up and have at least 2 with green film on them and have a little miss at start up. 99cents a plug back then it was cheaper to just put a set of plugs in with every oil change than to fix the gasket. As far as the cavy heads goes, green was used in the first gen years 95 for sure and an occasional 96, now 95 was the first year that gm covered the headgaskets under what I believe was sort of extended type warranty. Before that the head gaskets had the same problem, I use to buy up pre 95's with bad gaskets, fix them and resell them. Now some of those had cracked heads also, but that continued into the third gens too. Any way 95's had green for sure, and had a gasket problem obviously, so did 96 and up to what I believe 97 was the cut off year. I dont recall having any head gasket failures from at least 99 up , and all of those had the same coolant that 96-98 had. That tells me that it was again a gasket failure that plagued much of the second gens and the earlier third gens.
What I have noticed is in dexcool systems its common to find particles or gunk on the coolant cap on radiators(not j's), and in coolant tanks like on the J's. It appears to be the coolant crystalizing which most say is from running the coolant low .No one can say for sure that this is caused by owner neglect, we're not chemist and the chemist's that designed dexcool would more than likely say its owner neglect. In some cases it will plug up heater cores and in severe cases radiators. Running low on coolant is bad with dex.
So I would like to point out that green doesnt have this type of problem. which would make green win in my book but now you have to take in account also that now , universal coolant is offered, and In the 7 or so years its been out I have seen it perforn as well as green. now since it still tends to have a greenish cast to it and if you add dexcool or green it apears to make no difference in performance. Thats why I use the universal stuff in customers cars, often they dont know what they are doing when they add coolant and add anything to it, If I fill it with universal and they add dexcool they are still fine. There still is some question on what happens in the long run when you mix the two, or 3 for that matter. Some cars appear to have dexcool colored rust water in them have come in with an orange sludge in the coolant tanks, whether its from mixing green and dex I dont know, by the time it gets to me it could be anything, although it looks like a big orange lump of snot. I know I never ran into that before the universal came out.. So maybe people are seeing green and assuming its universal(which appears to be slightly green also) and add dex, making orange snot. Too many questions when you introduce all 3 being used.
So My experienced advice is telling you that green or universal would be top notch although dexcool performs well too when not neglected.
Dont mix all 3!!!!!
Always check your coolant efficiency with a tester at least every year cause watered down coolant causes problems too.
If your car is under gm warranty keep dexcool in it, and keep it full. Not because the coolant is better, but because gm will blame coolant change on a problem that you want to be covered under warranty.
This is my opinion, yours or others may differ of course.
01 cav w/01 3400 gam gt 4t45e
Excellent advice man and the best, most intelligent, most experienced note I've heard about the argument.
I've been using Dexcool for 196,000 miles now and have only changed it once when I got the car in 2000 with 77,000 miles on it.
I've neglected in changing it and really, right now, it doesn't matter since I'm in the process of building another engine to go into the bay of the car.
But I've had no issues or problems with the Dexcool product and even though there's supposed problems with the water pumps too, I changed that also at 77,000 miles with it still going strong on that pump at 196k along with the same coolant.
That speaks tons that the Dexcool is something that won't ruin the engine, gaskets, or anything else on the car.
No leaks or anything associated with the DexCool and I've driven the car extremely hard since I got it.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO! 
Misnblu wrote:...I've neglected in changing it and really, right now, it doesn't matter since I'm in the process of building another engine to go into the bay of the car...
This isn't specific to any particular coolant, but all coolant that's been neglected. It does matter. You may replace your engine with another with fresh gaskets, freeze plugs and even hoses, but you'll likely be using the same radiator and heater core. Nothing makes you feel worse about neglecting your coolant than having that miserable heater core start leaking. Trust me, you'll never neglect your coolant again.
I agree Mark.
Believe me, the car has been maintained immaculately with the exception of the coolant.
It's also driven very little too and there are times that I don't have that time to do so.
Funny how that works though. Everything on the car is new with the exception for the coolant.
Anyway, when I get back from California, I'm putting the rear axle back on with the new bushings, new Neon rear discs, and then finally going to change out that coolant, radiator hoses, and take if from there.
Thanks for the chastise man.
Misnblu.com
Newbie member since 1999
Thank you Dave and JBO!
Has anyone else notice dexcool is real slimy like a oil base? Because it is all when i did my swap i ran straight water for 2 days and low a behold the water pump started leaking. Flush it and put dexcool in. And around the weep hole you can see where is leaked a little bit a quit. That was 5 months ago and the motor now has about 142,000 and at the time it was at 128xxx something.
Then just the other day i was putting my control arms on and decided to check my header bolts. And notices i was leaking coolant at the heater hoses by that plastic thing in the middle. Now i've used green,yellow, and dexcool the others are real hard to tell where a leak is. In which dexcool drys to a orange syrup like pine tree sap and it real noticeable. Thats a plus in my book.
Also as for the yellow universal junk i put in the t/a after i spent 6grand on a motor rebuild. A week later both head gaskets were leaking. Drained it and put dexcool in and never leaked after that till the valve seat busted the head
And here is another one the 99 sunfire that the 2.4 went into had 120,000miles on the original dexcool so i decided to flush it and put green in it ( grabbed wrong jugs). Yes i even flushed it 4 times to be a matter of fact with a flush kit with the thermostat removed. And week later the water pump puked its guts in walmart parking lot when i parked.
So take it how ever you want but dexcool seems to have better property's than the others.
