Is Dex-Cool bad?

[Phoenyx]

The Cavalier I'm using now has a leak. I hate to say, but I was just to cheap to buy the DEXCOOL and just bought regular stuff. This has been going on about a year (the leak). I have to put in a good 5-10 liters a week. And I have used nothing but tap water and the cheapest coolant I can get.

Absolutely nothing has gone wrong yet. The coolant hasn't thickened or changed color at all.

I am not recommending this to anyone else, because everywhere I have read on the subject says it's bad. But I haven't had any problems.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Another good read.http://www.dex-cool.net/ And here's my own experience. I had a '95 LeSabre, 3800, 176,000 miles when I got rid of it. Always had orange (not GM) coolant and never had an intake fail or any other coolant issue, but I was on it. My Daughter had a '94 Firebird, 3.4, erratic coolant history, not well maintained, suffered a blown head gasket. No other damage or fouling noted. My buddy's Mom has a '93 GrandAm, 3.1, erratic coolant history, plastic intake, gasket leaked into motor. Upon replacing, we noted that the intake gasket was replaced prior, and had been damaged upon installation, leading to failure again. Still had the original plastic intake. And finally, when I got my '99 Sunfire, 2.2, same mechanic buddy said they "all blow head gaskets". Going on 80,000 miles and as far as I know, never flushed but always filled to the brim with the orange stuff.

 

[hurst1979olds]

I HAD dex cool in my 2000 S10 v6. I always heard stories of it getting crusty and hard in the heater clogging the heater core. Which it ended up doing to my truck. I get about 20-50,000 miles out of it then it cloggs up again. I usually flush just the heater core and it fixed it. Then when it clogged again i changed the fluid. Still clogged up after 20-50,000 miles. After doing that a couple times I flushed it again and put green stuff in. Never a problem again and still have the original heater core.

 

[Blake442]

The whole point of Dex-Cool when GM first started using it was that it was supposed to last 100+k miles.
When they started discovering the problems that were showing up, we got a service bulletin from GM saying it was still just fine to use, but should be serviced at regular 60k mile intervals like the conventional green coolant.
With Dex-Cool about twice the price of green coolant, it just doesn't make sense to use it...

 

[richp85elco]

The whole point of Dex-Cool when GM first started using it was that it was supposed to last 100+k miles.
When they started discovering the problems that were showing up, we got a service bulletin from GM saying it was still just fine to use, but should be serviced at regular 60k mile intervals like the conventional green coolant.
With Dex-Cool about twice the price of green coolant, it just doesn't make sense to use it...

Yea I read somewhere that GM misinterpreted Havoline saying it had a 5 year shelf life and thats where the 5 year service interval 100k+ came from or something like that..

 

[megaladon6]

one of the other problems was bad radiator caps. this allowed air in and didn't hold proper pressure. that's why it was so hit and miss. GM hasn't gone back to regular coolant FWIW. they still use the same basic type as the dex--so do most companies.

 

[megaladon6]

found a major mistake in that article--he got the coolant types backwards. "standard" coolant is ethylene glycol, dex cool and many other "new" coolants are propylyn glycol.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Just get the new universal long life green coolant. The mud isn't pretty. Why pay more for something that isn't worth the extra cost?

 

[tc1959]

Been using it for twenty years haven't had a problem, See no reason to change now.
I Just do proper maintence, test it twice a year with the test strips. When it gets weak I change it .

 

[Bonnewagon]

I opened and flushed the system today. The coolant was clear/orange- not cloudy at all, a bit of mud in places it could settle like the thermostat housing and recovery tank, otherwise the system was clean and it flushed out nicely. It tested at 0º for freezing, so it was weak. I noticed no corrosion anywhere and I must say for 80,000 miles and 13 years I can't complain. I've only had it 4 years/20,000 miles and I don't see where it's ever been serviced but I could be wrong. AZ had the Prestone version on sale so that's what I will use. You guys that had problems I feel bad for you, but it's working for me so I'll stick with it. Thank's for all the replies.