Anyone else hear that Dexcool is corrosive?

[Bone]

Anyone else hear that our coolant Dexcool is corrosive? Found some junk in coolant and multiple mechanics have told me that it is corrosive.

 

[Roz]

Yup, heard it too. Shit gums up like a mofo. Here soon I am swapping mine to the green stuff. BEFORE it starts that crap.

On my LS1 it did that, BAD. It got the point where I couldn't swap it, I had to live with it. A friend of mine changed his early to the green stuff and he pulled his engine to do a cam swap, and all was good. LS1's are all aluminum.

 

[Bone]

I am thinking of switching to the green stuff too. The shop I am at won't even put the Dexcool in vehicles.

 

[HOT RAM]

Hmmmmmmmm,very interesting.I went to the dealer just to be sure to get the exact right coolant and paid a premium price for it.Now plain old Prestone is actually better ?????????????

 

[Azmotorhead]

Yep Green stuff is better.
Original Dexcool = Orange stuff from GM would start to plug up the system after less than a year. Turns out in a vacumme the stuff works great but once air was introduced into the system the stuff would start to crystalize and clog the system.
As far as I know Havoline and Prestone brands of the Orange stuff didn't have this problem only DEXCOOL in GM vehicles. Honda and Toyota vehicles have had the orange coolant for years without problems.

 

[Bone]

I'll pulled out a couple of small tablespoons of metallic crud from the cooling system pocket on the engine below the heads. I should have taken of picture of it. I was cleaning the oil and coolant off and noticed it. Then several mechanics came over and gave their opinion of the stuff. Several of them switched back to the green stuff in the LS1 engines and not have had any problems.

BTW, the shop that I am at does the warranty work for the local dodge dealer and all of their problem vehicles that dodge mechanics can't handle. They said they see it alot in DC vehicles.

 

[Stingray]

Funny, I've been working on GM's for the last 10 years and I really haven't seen a problem that makes me want to remove it from my vehicles :dontknow:

 

[Hotrodmike]

The only time I have ever Seen a problem is when the two types are mixed . Now if you mix the two it will turn to gel after a while . Most think a drain is the same as a flush and it's not so if you want to switch out fine but completely flush all of the old out before swapping(this means presure flushing ) .
Have A Kind Day
Mike

 

[mopower1958]

Funny, I've been working on GM's for the last 10 years and I really haven't seen a problem that makes me want to remove it from my vehicles :dontknow:

How about all the Vortech and 3.8L intake gasket leaks? I never ever put dexcool back in an engine. I use Advanced auto parts # AF1100 coolant. It mixes with any color, offers protection for aluminum, and since I work on Cummins and Pwrstrokes you don't have to add the cooling system additive. I buy 6 to 8 gallons a week.

 

[DRamSrt10]

what is the green stuff??

 

[mopower1958]

The original type antifreeze, but I don't thnk it has inhibitors for aluminum.

 

[DRamSrt10]

ohh so y'all are talking about ethylene glycol antifreeze?

 

[mopower1958]

Yep,that's the one.

 

[DRamSrt10]

ahhhh i get it! green stuff! i did switch mine to "green stuff" last week because i found that mine is not green but i reading the manual book it said it have to be green so i switch it and it worked much better before my temp was 200 degree now it is down to 190 - 195

 

[AWDisuzu]

the problem happens when you mix dexcool with other types of coolant. you can't just "switch" to the green kind because that's actually what causes the problem in the first place. unless you take major steps to completely clean out the old coolant (WHICH IS REALLY HARD TO DO) the coolant will gel up in the block and cause hot spots. it may actually clog up the heater core also.

the reason people have problems is because places like quick lube will top you off with the wrong kind of coolant.

 

[DRamSrt10]

actually i did drain, flush and refill the coolant which pretty clean whole pink/orange and dirt coolant out then refill it with green and it is much better than before

 

[Stingray]

How about all the Vortech and 3.8L intake gasket leaks? I never ever put dexcool back in an engine. I use Advanced auto parts # AF1100 coolant. It mixes with any color, offers protection for aluminum, and since I work on Cummins and Pwrstrokes you don't have to add the cooling system additive. I buy 6 to 8 gallons a week.

Don't forget the 3.1-3.4L too. I've done a crap load of all those intakes. But those intake leaks are not caused by the coolant. It's poorly designed gaskets. They don't like all the heat cycling and the plastic deteriorates and breaks. Also incorrectly torqued intake bolts will damage them too. Some of those gaskets have been redesigned and the new 3.5L has smaller coolant ports in the intake.

 

[speedaddict]

Where do you get the green stuff?? any autopart store?

 

[Sharpimage]

alright, so let me get this. The anti-freeze in our trucks is this DEXCOOL crap.
in order for me to not totally get pissed off down the road is to get the engine
flushed and refilled with the prestone or something along the same lines?

Sharpi

 

[Bone]

alright, so let me get this. The anti-freeze in our trucks is this DEXCOOL crap.
in order for me to not totally get pissed off down the road is to get the engine
flushed and refilled with the prestone or something along the same lines?

Sharpi

That's what we are debating not stating right now.