Will dex-cool blow my car up?

[brucealmighty744]

Hey guys. Been a while. On my car there is a sticker under the hood where a guy(I am guessing the previous owner) wrote "Dex-cool COOLANT ONLY."

I got a low coolant light today and I have never changed the coolant so I googled dex-cool and saw countless (by countless I mean a lot a lot)horror stories about Dex-cool screwing up GM cars.

Is it true, does Dex-cool hurt the lt1? Does my car have to use that coolant? If not, what coolant is better?

As always, thanks a bunch guys.

Bruce

[SexyTransAm]

good ol green stuff

[Formula 350]

I've had many cars that GM has required to run dex-cool and I have had no problems. I have seen people have problems when they run regular green antifreeze in vehicles that call for dex-cool. The regular antifreeze will corrode the coolant passages and usually the motor will pop the head gaskets. But I'm no expert this just what I have ran into in my experiences and most GM cars since 1993 use dex-cool. It will be easy to tell if your car has dex-cool. Dex-cool is a orange color unlike the standard antifreeze is green. I hope this helps

[hempkat94z]

If the guy that owned it before you had flushed the system completely and then put in Dex-cool then yes that is all you can use. You can't mix the two they will gel and then harden. Pop the radiator cap and see if the coolant is red/orange or green!

[Tarheel'Z']

all my vehicles are running dexcool,,,no problems

[LT1Blackbird]

My car has had Dex-cool in it for 166k miles. Every time the system was flushed and refilled with dex-cool.

[CamaroGirl]

i run dexcool, not one problem
although i should note years back my low coolant light went off-i had the coolant filled to spec, but the light won't go off. 3 years later, runnin strong with the low coolant light still on. oh well.

[Z28pr0jekt]

As long as you run dex cool all the time it'll be okay. It can be mixed with the yellow high mileage stuff but NEVER the green stuff, because as stated, it will gunk up and possibly overheat the car.

[warnerTA]

i run dexcool, not one problem
although i should note years back my low coolant light went off-i had the coolant filled to spec, but the light won't go off. 3 years later, runnin strong with the low coolant light still on. oh well.

there is a sensor right underneith the radiator cap that you can unplug and it will shut that little basturd light off. mine popped on after the head gasket went and i just unplugged that. :)

[YZF]

Dexcool is perfectly fine until it gets low and air gets into the system. Then it gets chunky and starts plugging up the system.

If you flush out the Dexcool completely, you can run all the green AF you want.

IMO, I would probably switch over any car to green. It worked for many many years, so why go and change it up?

[brucealmighty744]

I tried to unscrew the radiator cap and either it got stuck and I just need to really muscle it open or there is some trick to opening it. I tried checking the levels and all I saw was what looked like orange residue on the plastic walls and water.

Like I said, I could not get the actual top to the radiator off...I don't want to break it...any ideas?

Thanks guys.

[YZF]

I tried to unscrew the radiator cap and either it got stuck and I just need to really muscle it open or there is some trick to opening it. I tried checking the levels and all I saw was what looked like orange residue on the plastic walls and water.

Like I said, I could not get the actual top to the radiator off...I don't want to break it...any ideas?

Thanks guys.

Are you familiar with how they come off? You twist it counter clockwise until it stops, then push the entire cap down (because of the springs inside the cap) and turn it out some more. Then it should come right off.

[AChotrod]

Dex cool is great as long as it hasnt been contaminated. Contaminated dex cool has been known to eat through gaskets and gel up.
There are tons of coolants on the market that can be mixed with any color coolant. When refilling just look for something that is compatible.

[brucealmighty744]

Are you familiar with how they come off? You twist it counter clockwise until it stops, then push the entire cap down (because of the springs inside the cap) and turn it out some more. Then it should come right off.

No, I was not familiar. Thanks a ton.

So I unscrewed it and look in and saw what looked to be dirty water. It smells like a chemical, but it is not thick any solid color...just a dirty clear with a little rust colored tint.

Any ideas? Maybe it was just water in there...IDK.

[CamaroGirl]

there is a sensor right underneith the radiator cap that you can unplug and it will shut that little basturd light off. mine popped on after the head gasket went and i just unplugged that. :)
hai!! thanks for that!

[warnerTA]

hai!! thanks for that!


lol took me a couple years to find it but once i did i called myself a retard haha

[Tarheel'Z']

No, I was not familiar. Thanks a ton.

So I unscrewed it and look in and saw what looked to be dirty water. It smells like a chemical, but it is not thick any solid color...just a dirty clear with a little rust colored tint.

Any ideas? Maybe it was just water in there...IDK.

sounds like a mix of dexcool and water

[LT1Blackbird]

i run dexcool, not one problem
although i should note years back my low coolant light went off-i had the coolant filled to spec, but the light won't go off. 3 years later, runnin strong with the low coolant light still on. oh well.


the low coolant sensor is easy to replace after you pull the battery out. this is one that I wouldn't just unplug as mentioned above. I like the fact that this gives you some warning before you start to overheat because your coolant gets too low if you've sprung a leak.

[warnerTA]

the low coolant sensor is easy to replace after you pull the battery out. this is one that I wouldn't just unplug as mentioned above. I like the fact that this gives you some warning before you start to overheat because your coolant gets too low if you've sprung a leak.

well i unplugged mine because i watch my engine temp like a hawk. if i spring a leak i will know.