WHO'S HAD GOOD LUCK WITH DEX-COOL - Page 2

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5 yrs/150,000 miles ONLY if DexCool is used in the system! That does not negate the need for you to maintain your coolant system i.e. check levels, top it off, flush if necessary.

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Also, when servicing a cooling system, I would recommend a new thermostat and a new radiator cap. For the price of them, it is cheap insurance.

I think the post is slowing down because it is like beating a dead horse LOL

My personal feelings on the DEXCOOL issue is its a hit or miss. Ive had my 98 blazer from 2001 to now. I had no problems out of the motor/coolent regarding DEXCOOL. However in 2004 the motor blew and I purchased a used motor from another vehicle and ive had sooooo many problems with this GUNK. So how come i never had problems out of it before the newused motor?? Weve flushed the system soooo many times and have quit using DEXCOOL but my radiator looks EXACTLY like the ones in the pic now.

I HATE DEXCOOL!!!!!!!

I read this thread a while ago and then had to come back to it after more overheating, leaking, corroding issues. You pro Death-Cool guys crack me up. Are you all GM techs? Because it seems to me that you are using the, "it's not our fault" excuse right out of the Mr. Goodwrench hand book. The warranty say's it's good for 5/150,000 right? Well even a non GM certified mechanic can tell you that if you own the vehicle for 2-3 years and you know it had orange/reddish coolant in it, that when you look at the overflow bottle to check the level, and it is orange/reddish color through the bottle, then all is well. Right? Well, even when the Dex-Cool breaks down and turns to mud, it still looks kind of orange/reddish. So why would the perfect customer that is doing his proper level checks be responsible for 2-3 year old coolant breaking down before it's time. You guys crack me up, "it's not our fault". No the fault lies with GM. Ford and Chrysler figured it out in the R+D phase, and they won't put that crap in their vehicles. I'm done venting now, I'm going to go shoot my Blazer now, I've had enough.

hahahah!!!! sorry just had to laugh right there... shoot the blazer? is that like shooting the wounded horse!??!?!

How many times do I have to say this. NO WHERE does it say that DEXCOOL is 'warrantied' to be used for 5years/150,000 miles. Show me in your owners manual or any official website/literature that states that Dexcool is warrantied at all. Its best case scenario service interval is 5years or 100,000 miles for the vehicles which first came equiped with it and 5years or 150,000 miles for later vehicles.

The recommended service intervals on most fluids is much shorter than the best case scenario service intervals simply due to different conditions a vehicle is used in. Drive in dusty conditions a lot, you have to change your air filter and oil more often. Tow a lot, you have to change your transmission fluid more often. Varying conditions alone can cause excessive stress on these things, shortening their life. If you ignored the level of your oil over 15,000 miles using Mobil 1 Extended Life Synthetic, would you sue Mobil 1 when you seized your engine due to lack of oil?

I just did a cooling system service on my Bravada last weekend. It's a 2000 Bravada with ~80k miles on it. NEVER has the cooling system been serviced in the life of the vehicle. NO sludge, NO buildup, NO problems of ANY kind. I guess I just have a fluke vehicle. Or is it that any vehicle with problems is a fluke vehicle (given the miniscule percentage of vehicles that actually have problems).

Please...

And no, I'm not an GM Tech. I just choose to take the proponent side of this discussion because of the number of people willing to blindly bash a product based solely on their opinion and little to no facts.

Who want's the Death Cool from my wife's 2005 chevy, I'm giving it away free. Just pay the shipping and I'll send it to ya, Only 12,000 Babied miles on the stuff. You Death Cool lovers will easily get another 20k to 30k on this wonderful stuff. I will even strain the red sand pebbles out of it before It's sent out to you.

Babied or not, a simple failed gasket or radiator cap can cause this. Manufacturing defects do exist. But no, you blame it on the coolant. You, ONE in HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of owners of dexcool equiped vehicles. I love it...

*EDIT* - let me clarify that last sentance. I don't love the fact that some of you are having troubles, I love how insignificant (statistically speaking) your troubles are.

The simple truth of the matter is that something as simple as a defective 'out of the box' radiator cap can cause the sludge problem due to the allowance of air to enter the system. Air that should not be there. Can happen to new or old vehicles. The fact that such a low occurance has been noted (less than one tenth of a percent of the total number of dexcool equiped vehicles) goes along with the manufacturing defect train of thought. Sucks that you got dinged by so many of them, but the facts don't lie. Change to whatever you like. Crap happens and that's life.

Now your wife's car is covered under a warranty and by all rights, should be fixed completely under the terms of the warranty. And you get to drive around in a nice loaner for the week (or whatever).

You don't have to defend your beloved DexCool to me, I truely belive that you love it. And that's your opinion. However you have to ask your self one question,

When was the last time GREEN ANTIFREEZE had a CLASS ACTION LAW SUITE AGAINST IT ???
Ask or call any radiator shop about Death Cool, I'll bet it's making them all rich............

Where has that class action lawsuit gone? All I've read was that it was being compiled, but that information is 2+ years old. That was all I could find... Was there a settlement? Was there anything done with this? Did it actually make class action status? I think I asked about this earlier in this thread with NO answer. Please fill in the blanks...

I don't love anything. Let me say it again, I'm playing the advocate for Dexcool in this discussion. You're the one that so vehemently HATES the stuff.

Dino55, I had a flush done by a shop and they got alot of crap out from the heater core. (around 80,xxx miles.) If there were any sign of core failure, rad failure, or any thing like that, I would be be right with ya on being displeased w/ dexcool.

I've read other folks misfortunes on the web as well. I went ahead and had them dump Dexcool/deathkill back in there. On the way home I picked up a new T stat, & rad cap. At home I installed them and purged the cooling system. heater blows like a hooker on a sailer on R &R. It's too bad it didn't work out for ya.

cheers

ive never heard anything good about dexcool...

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ORIGINAL: lunatic_magnet

ive never heard anything good about dexcool...

Did you read anything in this thread?

The simple fact is you will ALWAYS here the bad things and very rarely do you hear someone speak about something if it hasn't caused a problem. Hence my stance in this discussion. Someone has to do it.

Well, I look at this way. For a class action lawsuit to have any merit.... they would need to have independant labratory testing to back up their claims.

the truth will come out. It could be dex-cool interacts with a certain element, or not. Is the entire product bad...... I look at it this way. I have never owned a vehicle with it, but, if it was as bad as it was, and caused as much havoc as everyone claims it does, GM would not have continued to use the product for as long as they have. The damage caused and repairs would have put a huge dent in there profit, and as we all know, Corporations hate not making tons and tons of money.

this link is a little old, may of this year

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/BUSINESS01/605230333/1014

OK people having finally read all of this thread I feel it's time for my 2 cents. I have worked for a Chevy dealer since 1997. I have also owned several G.M. vehicles equipped with dex-cool engine coolant,(96 Corsica, 96 Grand-Prix, 97 Cavalier, 98 K-1500 pickup) and still own one (97 T-Blazer). ALL of these vehicles were also equipped with an ENGINE COOLANT TEMPERATURE GAUGE, which is intended to warn the operator of malfunctions with the cooling system, and they tend to do a good job of this. I change the oil and filter every 3000 miles on all my vehicles and when I do I lube the chassis, (where applicable) check and correct the tire pressures, air filter, lube all of the door hinges and latches and check and TOP-OFF all fluid levels. I NEVER open my hood any other time unless one of my gauges indicates a problem or there is some driveability concern, which never happens on G.M. vehicles, that's why I love-em'. Notice that I did not state that I flush my cooling systems.

My 96 Corsica I bought new at Zanesville Chevrolet in June of 1996 it was a 3100 V6 with a 4t60E transaxle. In December 2001 the car had accumulated 120,000 miles and the water pump started leaking. The car still had the factory filled dex-cool and I never had to add a drop to it. When I drained the radiator that day to replace the water pump the dex-cool still looked like orange kool-aid and there was absolutely no other concerns with the cooling system. That's 5.5 years and 120,000 miles and absolutely no problems!!
I have also personally had NO concerns with any dex-cool filled system on my own vehicles. I have to say that I have seen MANY MANY problems with dex-cool where I work, but here is a very interesting fact; Of all of the litterally thousands of G.M. cars and trucks that we service day-in and day-out, I have ONLY seen the MUD/SLUGE problem in the 4.3 equipped S and T trucks (blazer,s-10,sonoma,jimmy,bravada etc.) I have never seen any kind of sediment build up in ANY other type of vehicle including the 2.2 s trucks. Therefor I believe (and this is only one man's opinion) that it is a problem with heat disipation or something along those lines with the S and T trucks with a 4.3 engine. We all know how tight things are under these hoods. But that being said and as far as the maintenance thing goes, my brother bought my 97 blazer new and I have serviced it for him and myself ever since. The dex-cool in it was NEVER changed (I did top it off a couple of times at service intervals) until my sister-in-law rear-ended someone in late 2003 when it had 99,112 miles on it, this is when I bought it from my brother and replaced the front sheet-metal,radiator, condenser etc.. The dex-cool still looked like new just like my Corsica did.

Now that you have read the long story, (sorry) here's the short one, Dex-cool is no worse than the old stuff! I mean honestly guys how many times have you opened the cooling system on an ethelyne-glycol (green) equipped vehicle and saw a dirty, rust-brown colored liquid that used to be bright green? The supposed law-suits are just a result of EXPECTED LIFE of the coolant. I say keep em' full and watch those gauges!

Now that you have read the long story, (sorry) here's the short one, Dex-cool is no worse than the old stuff! I mean honestly guys how many times have you opened the cooling system on an ethelyne-glycol (green) equipped vehicle and saw a dirty, rust-brown colored liquid that used to be bright green? The supposed law-suits are just a result of EXPECTED LIFE of the coolant. I say keep em' full and watch those gauges!



Does the green stuff turn into acid and then start eating all the cooling system metal and intake gaskets when air get's into it like Deathcool does?
Also, I don't think that the "supposed law-suits are just a result of EXPECTED LIFE of the coolant" People don't file class action law-suites because their deathcool did'nt last the whole 5 years. But this is only my Opinion, and 20,000 other people's too.

Ok, I've read through this post and kept up with it and I guess I'll throw my 1 cent in..lol. I have had moderate problems with the fluid in the overflow container becoming brownish, and a heater core that is partially plugged with hardened dexcool, but I dont completely blame GM, I'm sure there has been air in the system at one point, it happens, no matter how good you keep your maintenance. I had to replace my radiator recently because of a small leak, it also had a brown film, but I'm not going to sue or complain to the dealership for the $200. With as many miles I have put on my Blazer, I consider that relatively normal wear and tear. I probably contributed to it by converting to green without having a complete 5 min. chemical flush, who knows. The simple fact is air will get into the system at some point - consider that your 50/50 mix is half water. Water + Air + Steel or Iron = Rust. If you top off your radiator with the garden hose your are adding the metals in your tap water to the system also.

On the other hand, those owners with cars with only say 20,000 miles that are filled with brown sludge or sand have every right to complain. 20,000 is an awfully short useful life span of any coolant, that is a sign of a defect with the cooling system in that specific vehicle. Those owners should get compensation. But if it turns to sludge at 99,900 miles and you report it at the end of the usefull life and expect full compensation, thats asking an awful lot, a lot can happen in 99,900 miles, including bad maintenance.

These problems dont just happen overnight, the film builds up over time, giving you time to notice it before you need a new engine. Typically the first places for buildup are in the overflow tank, and at the cap, the two places that most people check, you have several thousand miles to catch it in most cases. And for those that dont do your own maintenance, most oil change places check your coolant levels and air filter and let you know if it needs topped up or changed.

And 20,000 divided by the total number of vehicles produced with dexcool is... Exactly.

And please do-tell where you got the information that Dexcool turns into acid when in the presence of air... The problem stems from the fact that dexcool does not coat the internal metals like ethelyne-glycol (which reduces said coolants cooling capacity I might add - I can elaborate if necessary). As a result, there is not a protective film if air is allowed into the system. If air is allowed to remain in the system, corrosion will set in.

Dexcool does not eat gaskets. That is completely false. Do not blame a poor gasket design on a coolant. GM has had a problem with intake manifold gaskets LONG before they switched to Dexcool. And it is quite possible that a blown intake gasket has caused air to be introduced into the cooling system, yada-yada-yada.

It really is simple, water and steel need air before the oxidation process begins. My dad had a 96 C2500 that blew an intake manifold gasket at 75K, it only had Dexcool for 30 miles of its life, it was almost instantly changed to the Prestone environmentally-friendly stuff that was being produced at the time, I agree with Kyle on the intake manifold gasket debate, it was a poor design, not a very precise fitment at the location where most fail.

Customers have complained of problems ranging from small coolant leaks to complete radiator and engine failure. Court documents show that GM has received tens of thousands of repair requests related to Dex-Cool and engine gaskets in the affected models and considered recalls for some models.

The company has issued several technical bulletins to its dealers about cooling-related problems in the engines, but says it prefers to handle customer complaints on a case-by-case basis.
The troubles blamed on Dex-Cool range from leaking coolant to blown engines, and often include failed intake manifold gaskets, pieces that rest between the engine block and the air intake to prevent coolant and oil from leaking. Replacing a gasket usually runs about $700, but a bad gasket can cause enough damage that the engine has to be replaced.

Mark Reynolds, a radiator repair shop owner in San Carlos, Calif., says he sees one or two GM vehicles a week with Dex-Cool problems. A typical repair requires flushing the cooling system and in some cases taking the radiator apart.

"It's a shame -- vehicles in their fourth or fifth year with this awful, gooey mud attacking the top of the radiator cap and fouling up the radiator,"

And you can quote from the article linked to above... What's the point?

The intake manifold gasket is a problem of not enough material around where the water neck enters the top/front of the engine, the gasket breaks out on its side and floods the closest cylinder, and its a chain reaction from there. This is what the head tech told us at the local dealership, and showed us the gasket that came out of my dad's truck. This problem has been present in the 262 (4.3), 305, and 350 for years now.

I didn't take time to read all the posts here, but i figured I'd chime in as well. I bought my 99 4wd blazer from my sister who got it new from gm. I bought it in 2001 and it had 32000 miles on it. I had all the fluids changed at the local dealer and the service advisor pointed out some "abnormal" corrosion in my radiator. The trans cooler, the part visible when you take the cap off, was RED and fuzzy looking. YEP, it was rust. They said they'd powerflush blah, blah, blah ad nauseum.....but no warranty replacement. Anyway, I've had the system flushed a half dozen times since then, and if it wasn't for the fact that my 94 Toyota p/u was sooooooo dependable, I'd have driven the blazer more and probably flushed the system a dozen more times. Anyway, i've replaced every cooling system part except the radiator a time or two because I was just too lazy or stupid to do it all at once, maybe I should have said too poor??? Well, i just installed a Visteon and a new heater core and new hoses and the water pump is awaiting. I guess the fault may have been my sisters for not taking the time to monitor the coolant properly, but then again, I've been taking care of my cars for years, for better or worse and I've never seen the Green do this kind of damage to a relatively new, low mileage vehicle. I personally will never put dexcool in anything I own.