The extended life part was basically an addition to Dexcool itself. Dexcool itself was created to better prevent corrosion in certain aluminum blocks. The fact that the "extended life" can go for 150000 miles is a bit beside the point. What's being argued is whether or not dexcool is better or worse for our engines than the regular green stuff. Everyone should just run whatever they feel comfortable with as long as they check it regularly and maintain their cooling system. However, in no way does anything imply that dexcool is worse for our engines.

 

Dex-cool eats rubber seals in water pumps. Ford proved that with the 99 couger and thats why they use silicate/phosphorous based instead of OAT based coolant. Dexcool also takes a LONG time to provide protection from corrosion while phosphorous based coolants offer protection almost immediately.

 

i had the same problem on my 99 SS, but i had to add some coolant every few days. i had no visible leaks or anything. i took a gamble and just spent the money on a new radiator because i figured it was original. anyways that solved my problem. you probably have tiny hairline cracks on the plastic tanks of your radiator that only leak under pressure. same thing happened to my old 3.8 camaro. i hope that helped you out.

-Mike

 

I don't understand what Ford engines have to do with using Dexcool in ours. It doesn't eat water pumps in ours, it eats them in Fords, like you said. I understand your point in green vs. dexcool. But, like I said, everyone should just use what they feel comfortable with. I have yet to see any corrosion in a dexcool engine that was maintained properly. Then again, I'm not the type to buy into things unless I see it personally or hear enough about it with consistent results.

 

Interesting...I'll have to keep an eye on it. It'd be nice if it wasn't so damn cold out right now...I'd go dig around some more.

 

If you are so sure that dexcool is bad, then why even start a thread asking if you should use it? Seems to me that you've already made up your mind regardless of others' opinions or experiances. So just use the green stuff if you want.

The cooling systems in all my current GM cars are using Dexcool without any sludge build-up. I would never let any coolant go 150K miles though. I will continue to use dexcool because that's what this car's cooling system was designed to use.

 

haha yea, orlando has had some high 20's to lower 30's weather latly. thats a big change for us here. good luck with whatever you end up doing.

 

I have already purchased 3 gallons of the stuff and am going to install it this weekend. I am just throwing facts out there that I have come across. I am curious. If it's BS, I wanna know.

Basically what I learned is this:

Keep the cap on the radiator
Bleed the system WELL!
change it like normal coolant
keep a CLOSE EYE on the resivor bottle

 

I had a similar issue. Turn out to be a vacuum leak. It eventually caused the car to overheat and spew fluid out. BTW the little shop off the highway I took it to to diagnose the problem added green to the car to top it off. I flushed the car 3 times to make sure I wouldn't have any issues. Now at 115000 miles still have the original water pump and still run dexcool. no issuses whatsoever.

 

Vacuum leak where?

 

Thats what I wanna know!!! My car loses coolant everyday and I don't have any visible leaks!!!

 

I thought our radiators where all metel? You mean the plastic overflow resivor?

 

no, they have plastic tanks in them.

 

any problem with adding distilled water to dexcool?

 

i had the same problem with the radiator in my 95... the sides of the radiator are plastic, the core is aluminum/copper... the little tanks on the SIDES of the radiator are what crack, they crack down the little fin lookin ridges. look for dried up coolant down the sides of your radiator... i replaced mine and never had a problem ever again.

 

I'll replace mine...its got a lot of miles. I can't find the SLP radiator that was $300! Where'd it go? All I see is the really expensive ones!

 

I checked for that today as well...doesn't look like they make them anymore. I think they were just LT-1 radiators with the right fittings to hook up to the LS1s, so they might have had the plastic tanks as well. Not sure, but oh well. I'll have to get up under my car once it gets warmer out.

 

I just got something in the mail today that said im part of a lawsuit against gm for all this dexcool crap. i have no idea how i got involved in it. i had a 00 tahoe limited and a 00 z28, but i didn't buy either of them from a dealership, so how did i get involved in this? i also get letters from time to time sying my extended warranty is almost up, i never applied for any warranty, i don't know what that ***** about

 

dexcool ate up my water pump in less than 35,000 miles. switched to green coolant. we'll see how this goes. dexcool FTL. anyone that says dexcool doesn't cause any problems is just ignorant. it CAN work well, but it has a much more negative history than the green.

 

being a driveability mechanic and working at a chevrolet dealership i havent seen too many problems other than people dont get their coolant flushed at a set time. the intake gaskets and water pumps i have had to put on are the ones that have never done a coolant flush or poured the "mix with every coolant" ****.i used different coolants for a little experiment (i guess you could say) and when i put my motor in my truck i went through 2 lower intake gasket within 2 months and that was only puttin 5k on the motor. i changed to dex-cool and i got 40k on my motor and havent had a problem yet, i even put an ls6 in my buddies camaro and thats what he uses and no problems from him either. i guess im really not a lot of help... wow well that was pointless haha if yall got any questions feel free to pm me.

jdime20
I just got something in the mail today that said im part of a lawsuit against gm for all this dexcool crap. i have no idea how i got involved in it. i had a 00 tahoe limited and a 00 z28, but i didn't buy either of them from a dealership, so how did i get involved in this? i also get letters from time to time sying my extended warranty is almost up, i never applied for any warranty, i don't know what that ***** about

as for you maybe when you bought the car the warranty was transferred to you and you just didnt know it. and even if you didnt buy your cars from a gm dealership they still look for people that own cars for whatever lawsuit is pending. as a matter of fact my dads car got a crack in the windshield and he got a letter in the mail from honda saying that he needed a receipt for his windshield if it was messed up. i think maybe they even do it by vin. hell i dont know just throwin some **** out there.