Antifreeze
05-25-2009, 10:36 PM
#21
Staging Lane
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Location: Appomattox, VA
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It was purchased new, serviced by the GM dealer. ALWAYS. Used to drive me crazy because they were ripping her off. So I started taking care of it after we met.
I don't think the coolant had ever been flushed (if it was, it was done by the dealer) and the reason she always took the vehicle to the dealer was that she simply had no idea how to maintain it. So I can guarantee that nobody had added any coolant/water to it. My first thoughts were that someone had added the green to the DEX-COOL, but she said no one had been under the hood except the dealer on her scheduled oil changes.
I got a sick feeling in my stomach when I saw this stuff coating EVERYTHING. I had never seen it before. That's when I started searching. Google, different GM forums, etc. Then I realized that I wasn't the only one that was dealing with it.
I pulled all hoses, water pump, thermostat, reservoir tank, and radiator.
It's a daily driver, so I didn't want to delve into removing the intake. Especially since I have no garage and I'm not very familiar with the 4.3 Vortec. I just shot water down the thermostat hole and the goo started draining from the lower radiator hose fitting.
I left the heater core in for the same reasons.
Money was a little tight, so I just replaced the hoses, water pump, thermostat, and cap (since the old plastic unit looked pretty rough). I cleaned/flushed everything out that I removed. It took awhile to get the radiator clean, and when I first started flushing it out I couldn't even get water from the outlet. This may explain why the orange goo started blowing out of the overflow in the first place.
It was warm weather, so I ran tap water/flushing agent through it until I saw no more orange. This took around 200 miles, and 5 or 6 flushes. Then I completely drained the system and filled with distilled water and green antifreeze.
To each his own. I know a lot of people have used this stuff and had nothing but good results. Maybe the key is very frequent cooling system flushes (which is a good idea anyway as far as I'm concerned). But my LS-1 was switched over prior to me buying it, and I can guarantee it will never see DEX-COOL as long as I own it.
I don't think the coolant had ever been flushed (if it was, it was done by the dealer) and the reason she always took the vehicle to the dealer was that she simply had no idea how to maintain it. So I can guarantee that nobody had added any coolant/water to it. My first thoughts were that someone had added the green to the DEX-COOL, but she said no one had been under the hood except the dealer on her scheduled oil changes.
I got a sick feeling in my stomach when I saw this stuff coating EVERYTHING. I had never seen it before. That's when I started searching. Google, different GM forums, etc. Then I realized that I wasn't the only one that was dealing with it.
I pulled all hoses, water pump, thermostat, reservoir tank, and radiator.
It's a daily driver, so I didn't want to delve into removing the intake. Especially since I have no garage and I'm not very familiar with the 4.3 Vortec. I just shot water down the thermostat hole and the goo started draining from the lower radiator hose fitting.
I left the heater core in for the same reasons.
Money was a little tight, so I just replaced the hoses, water pump, thermostat, and cap (since the old plastic unit looked pretty rough). I cleaned/flushed everything out that I removed. It took awhile to get the radiator clean, and when I first started flushing it out I couldn't even get water from the outlet. This may explain why the orange goo started blowing out of the overflow in the first place.
It was warm weather, so I ran tap water/flushing agent through it until I saw no more orange. This took around 200 miles, and 5 or 6 flushes. Then I completely drained the system and filled with distilled water and green antifreeze.
To each his own. I know a lot of people have used this stuff and had nothing but good results. Maybe the key is very frequent cooling system flushes (which is a good idea anyway as far as I'm concerned). But my LS-1 was switched over prior to me buying it, and I can guarantee it will never see DEX-COOL as long as I own it.
05-26-2009, 12:00 AM
#24
It was purchased new, serviced by the GM dealer. ALWAYS. Used to drive me crazy because they were ripping her off. So I started taking care of it after we met.
I don't think the coolant had ever been flushed (if it was, it was done by the dealer) and the reason she always took the vehicle to the dealer was that she simply had no idea how to maintain it. So I can guarantee that nobody had added any coolant/water to it. My first thoughts were that someone had added the green to the DEX-COOL, but she said no one had been under the hood except the dealer on her scheduled oil changes.
I got a sick feeling in my stomach when I saw this stuff coating EVERYTHING. I had never seen it before. That's when I started searching. Google, different GM forums, etc. Then I realized that I wasn't the only one that was dealing with it.
I pulled all hoses, water pump, thermostat, reservoir tank, and radiator.
It's a daily driver, so I didn't want to delve into removing the intake. Especially since I have no garage and I'm not very familiar with the 4.3 Vortec. I just shot water down the thermostat hole and the goo started draining from the lower radiator hose fitting.
I left the heater core in for the same reasons.
Money was a little tight, so I just replaced the hoses, water pump, thermostat, and cap (since the old plastic unit looked pretty rough). I cleaned/flushed everything out that I removed. It took awhile to get the radiator clean, and when I first started flushing it out I couldn't even get water from the outlet. This may explain why the orange goo started blowing out of the overflow in the first place.
It was warm weather, so I ran tap water/flushing agent through it until I saw no more orange. This took around 200 miles, and 5 or 6 flushes. Then I completely drained the system and filled with distilled water and green antifreeze.
To each his own. I know a lot of people have used this stuff and had nothing but good results. Maybe the key is very frequent cooling system flushes (which is a good idea anyway as far as I'm concerned). But my LS-1 was switched over prior to me buying it, and I can guarantee it will never see DEX-COOL as long as I own it.
I don't think the coolant had ever been flushed (if it was, it was done by the dealer) and the reason she always took the vehicle to the dealer was that she simply had no idea how to maintain it. So I can guarantee that nobody had added any coolant/water to it. My first thoughts were that someone had added the green to the DEX-COOL, but she said no one had been under the hood except the dealer on her scheduled oil changes.
I got a sick feeling in my stomach when I saw this stuff coating EVERYTHING. I had never seen it before. That's when I started searching. Google, different GM forums, etc. Then I realized that I wasn't the only one that was dealing with it.
I pulled all hoses, water pump, thermostat, reservoir tank, and radiator.
It's a daily driver, so I didn't want to delve into removing the intake. Especially since I have no garage and I'm not very familiar with the 4.3 Vortec. I just shot water down the thermostat hole and the goo started draining from the lower radiator hose fitting.
I left the heater core in for the same reasons.
Money was a little tight, so I just replaced the hoses, water pump, thermostat, and cap (since the old plastic unit looked pretty rough). I cleaned/flushed everything out that I removed. It took awhile to get the radiator clean, and when I first started flushing it out I couldn't even get water from the outlet. This may explain why the orange goo started blowing out of the overflow in the first place.
It was warm weather, so I ran tap water/flushing agent through it until I saw no more orange. This took around 200 miles, and 5 or 6 flushes. Then I completely drained the system and filled with distilled water and green antifreeze.
To each his own. I know a lot of people have used this stuff and had nothing but good results. Maybe the key is very frequent cooling system flushes (which is a good idea anyway as far as I'm concerned). But my LS-1 was switched over prior to me buying it, and I can guarantee it will never see DEX-COOL as long as I own it.
But this doesn't mean I'm about to head to the shop and start draining the radiator fluid outta the LS1 cars that reside in there. There is know way to know what the vehicle went threw before you started to maintain it. The fact that it was serviced by the dealership means little. Like you stated, some "stealerships" are as crooked as the government.
I myself have a 99 Sonoma that had the Dexcool replaced with the Green Antifreeze prior to me owning it. While trying to pinpoint a problem, I replaced my intake gaskets on the 4.3L V6 and got a good look at what can happen when you change from orange to green. There was pitting all over the coolant passages on the parts of the heads that were exposed. I think this may be from not being able to flush 100% of the orange out, then adding the green. The mixture of the two turned acidic and ate some of my head. Just my opinion.
Maybe I am wrong, but I believe if it came with the orange, stay with it. If it has green, stay with that. What ever you do, don't mix them. And of course every vehicle needs proper maintainence. So you should never wait 150,000 miles before a coolant flush. Again this is just my opinion.
05-26-2009, 08:01 AM
#25
On The Tree
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i read the first article u posted formula and thats why i brought this whole thing up. I just bought texaco dexcool antifreeze 15 min ago thinking of returning it and getting normal prestone and running that.
