CRZY747

Okay a friend of mine, his car started to over heat, or did over heat to the point that the car turned off. Well he went down and put in regular coolant, about 4-5 days ago. How much will this effect the car, I know your not suppose to use the "green stuff" , only suppose to use DEXCOL. So how much damage you think 4-5 day will do to his motor, and what things to look out for.

JET

Brandon Boomhauer

iTrader: (10)

Just flush it and put dexcool in it. shouldnt hurt anything over that short of time...

CRZY747

That is what I was thinking, get a good flush and put dexcool in. I just know that it is very bad to put the wrong coolant in these cars, it will eat the gaskets in the car, and create a white paste that will clog things up. SO hopefully since it has been a couple of days, it wont hurt anything.

Anyone else have similar experiences, or ideas what to watch out for ???



JET

camarossdn

iTrader: (1)

I don't think you have to worry about 4-5 days. I would be worried about it shut down when it overheated.

CRZY747

Ya that is what I was thinking, overheating an aluminum block, can cause problems for sure. So I guess time will tell, what is going to happen for sure. Not sure what happened to all the coolant, must have gone thru the overflow and my friend must not have noticed it, not sure on that, since I was not there. Well hopefully it will all be okay. I know the car is running fine now, no problems at this time, but the coolant if left in there can cause major problems from what I know, eating your engine and doing catastrophic damage beyond repair. Hopefully it wont, but anything at this point is possible

JET

platniumta

A good flush and some new coolant and it will be fine. I would be more scared about it overheating. Good luck.

Greed4Speed

iTrader: (7)

Mixing them is fine. They are both Ethylene Glycol based. Dexcool just has extra lubes and corrsion inhibitor additives. The only thing mixing the 2 will do is cause the Dexcool to not last the supposed 150k miles, but I wouldn't leave it in anywhere near that long anyway.
The regular stuff isn't that bad. GM is the only manufacturer using Dexcool, and sure isn't the only one running aluminum engines.

This is straight off the Havoline Dexcool website:
"Compatible with conventional anti-freeze coolants; however, dilution with conventional anti-freeze/coolants will reduce extrended life benefits."

So much for all the "don't mix dexcool and regular antifreeze" myths I've read and heard.

99ZEOD

iTrader: (5)

Wrong! I've seen the damage first hand ($400 for a new radiator in my GF's Yukon because some dick mixed them). Mixing them WILL make it sludge up and you WILL have problems. If you're lucky you will get away with only a damaged radiator. It won't happen over night but it WILL happen.

I've seen it in LS1's as well.

8-Pack

Go ahead and mix them both in your radiator, then dont change your fluid for a couple of months and let us know how it works out for you. Dude the two dont mix well its a known fact. Dex-cool dosent mix well with anything pretty much anything except distilled water. True mixing them wont cause instant problems but it will cause problems.

Greed4Speed

iTrader: (7)

Hmm, I guess my wife's 01 GrandAm with 148k and at least 30k miles on mixed fluid is messed up? Funny, the stock radiator is still in it w/out a prob. Granted its back to pure Dexcool since the LIM gaskets decided to fail and were replaced. Typical for a 3400. I saw all the brown sludge drain out of that radiator the first time I flushed it at 60k miles, and that was all the factory installed Dexcool, but didn't see any after the mix. I've even ran stop leak in the Dexcool since ~90k miles to prolong the time before I had to do the LIM gaskets.

I've read other complaints about this on other boards w/engines running only Dexcool. Look inside your reservoir and see the nice brown sludge from Dexcool for yourself. Dexcool sludges all on its own. People have even blaimed Dexcool for the LIM gasket failure (eventhough GM has redesigned them a few times), and for water pump failures. There is even a class action lawsuit about Dexcool sludging and causing these problems in cars that have only ran, you guessed it, Dexcool. People like to place blame w/out doing much (if any) research on a product.

Guess all the chemist and chemical engineers that work for the manufacturer don't know what they're talking about either, since it clearly states they are compatible.

8-Pack

Didnt those same chemist's and chemical engineers that said its compatible design dex-cool, that you just spent a paragraph bashing?

8-Pack

Also I dont know why but I my coolant is clean and looks brand new, its only been drained once in 37,000 miles when I swapped oil pumps and it looked clean when I drained it. I am not a big fan of dex-cool, but I just make sure to check my radiator fluid as much as my oil and havent had any problems yet.

Greed4Speed

iTrader: (7)

Wasn't actually bashing Dexcool. I was just showing that there are the same complaints as above on Dexcool alone w/out it being mixed.

I personally don't mind the stuff. If I, did it wouldn't be in either car.

spy2520

iTrader: (3)

my dexcool is slowly sludging up. It has only had dexcool.

Var

iTrader: (1)

I run a shop in Northern Cali. A customer of mine brought a bunch of research she did about Dex Cool. She had a 99 Firebird V-6 with only 19k Miles on it. The coolant had already clogged up the heater core and looked like rust water. She told me there have been lawsuits or at least complaints on high levels. GM endorsed Dex Cool and that's why there are misleading stickers all over the car telling you to not use anything else. We flushed it out and put regular coolant in it. She didnt want any Dex Cool in her car.

Another customer with a 2001 Blazer V-6. Same thing happened to her. We flushed it out and put green stuff.

I just bought a '01 Z06 and it had some of that crap in it. I literally(5 minutes ago) finished flushing it out and i put one quart of regular green coolant, one bottle of Water Wetter, and filled the rest with tap water. This was only after completely flushing the entire system and making sure everything, inlcuding the heater core was flowing clear fluid. It looked like rustwater before in my car too.

Mr Incredible

I think the problem is not the color, but whether the coolant is Dex-Cool safe. You can find many coolants on the shelf now that state they are Dex-Cool safe and I'm sure they come in different colors. You can also find many that aren't. The real problem is if you mix one that isn't specifically designed to be compatible.

Dex-Cool is good stuff when used properly. Its formulation prevents silicates that can form over the metal in the cooling system and seriously degrade your cooling capability.


From an article in HotRod Online:
Texaco’s Dex-Cool adds a brand-new blend of elements to the basic ethylene-glycol base. Existing antifreeze technology uses silicates and a series of additives to create the anticorrosion properties. These silicates form a chalky, white, anticorrosion barrier layer on aluminum components. Unfortunately, this coating also creates a mild thermal barrier that prevents coolant from pulling heat away from such critical areas as the combustion chamber. In addition, these silicates are highly abrasive, leading to the erosion of water pump seals.
Dex-Cool is a completely different formula of organic acid compounds that does not use silicates. This not only extends the life of water pump seals, but these additives also last much longer than previous ones. Moreover, because silicates are not used, thermal heat transfer is also improved. All of these benefits led GM to specify this coolant for all ’96-and-newer GM cars and offer a five-year, 100,000-mile service life compared to two or three-year, 36,000-mile service intervals for conventional coolants. According to Lindholm, Dex-Cool is specifically formulated to provide excellent corrosion protection for aluminum cooling system components.


The big problems are air infiltration, contaminants (tap water, unapproved additives, improper coolants), and leaving it in too long. The advertised 5 years is a crock when you consider how many of the above mentioned items can creep in and do damage. Sure, some folks get away with it, but a large population does not.

The misery Dex-Cool has caused is legendary. Google "Dex-Cool Problems" and see what you find. However, keeping contaminants out , using compatible coolants, and changing it regularly (and before 5 yrs) and there shouldn't be a problem.

The key is to be an informed buyer and user.

Mr Incredible

Hope your buddy is still concerned about why is car overheated. I know it's hot in Texas and all, but that only means it may happen again if he doesn't figure it out.

He can only do that so many times before it flops over and curls up its wheels...

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

I had my system flushed at 5 years and 47,500 miles. The tech didn't report any sludge or anything unusual. He said he runs Dex-cool in his GM truck but changes it every two years, and that air contamination is the biggest threat to the stuff. I had him refill it with Dex-cool and it's been good to go ... Kansas is pretty much Texas during the summer.