Thinking of changing over to the green stuff...is this OK? Have heard so many horror stories about Dex-Cool.

If I do infact do this, do I have to flush the system twice to ensure all the Dex-Cool is out?

I have a 2000 LS 4X4 blazer with the 4.3 litre.

 

If you do a search for this subject you will find loads of information on this. There was a tread before that was very extencive on the colors and all.

It really falls down to a personal choice: Green, Orange, Pink, Yellow, Redish(lord knows what color they will come out with next)

Same goes with the brand name

If you do change it out, do a full flush due to there will be some that will stay in (heater core andlower part of the engine). Would be cool to have a vacumme that could just suck the thing dry (wet/dry shop vac), but to do this you have to remove one of the high point lines so that you dont damage any hoses. Which is why most just use a standard garden hose and flush the whole system out til it flows clear water.

 

There are pro's to both the true Dexcool extended life antifreeze and the typical green antifreeze, all of which are expressed in the monster Dexcool thread eluded to above. If you have the time, please read through it beginning to end before making a decision as to what you want to do.

 

I forget what additive they put in Dex-Cool that causes it, but it actually softens plastic, and guess what the radiator tanks, intake, and intake gaskets are made of? I personally do not like it, but on cars with no cast iron parts like Caddy's, or Saturns they seem to be great. The reaction between the iron, and aluminum cause a reaction that causes the sludge. I have a trade magizine 'Master Technician' that had a big write up about this subject, and I will try to remember it tomorrow, and post the additive that cause the problems. There are the Long lofe coolants that are great, and Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chrysler all use it. But I change my coolant every year so I just use the good 'ol green stuff. Besides it is easier to see if you have a leak. IMO Korey.

 

Oh No Not again.........

 

No probs with dexcool here

 

DexCool is great for new cars that have the need for long life protection but as the vehicles get older and parts need replacing the matter of air in the system makes DexCools affectiveness suspect for some. If you could guarantee that this problem would not happen then maybe there would not be this spectre of failure with the product. But I have researched a few sites about it and there are many that say that it is not the problem of the DexCool but with the mechanical systems that allow air into the system...well if DexCool were a little more robust it would not need a completely closed system and when parts failed would give you time to fix them...I blame GM and Texaco for this since they have done the research on this issue and they continue to deny that there are problems, blaming the lack of maintainance on the problem when they are the ones telling everybody in brochures and advertising that you don't need to mess with the cars cooling system for 100K mi so when there are problems people just tend to believe the ads and wait to fix this issue.

I recently after the second clog in my heater core made the switch to the green stuff or shorter maintainance coolant since my vehicle is past the 100K mark and it is requiring me to get into some of the cooling systems and other parts so air will most likely get into the coolant passages and I don't need a coolant that will clot up any time there is the least amount of air inside the passages....

 

https://blazerforum.com/m_21318/mpag.../tm.htm#112358

If you want green coolant that lasts 5 years/100,000 miles...

http://www.valvoline.com/pages/produ....asp?product=8
http://www.valvoline.com/products/zerexoriginal.pdf

 

I have recently swapped to the "green" anitfreeze. I did it for personal reasons, mostly my blazer seemed to hate the orange it looked horrible (all brown colored). So I flushed it........for hours to make sure that there was no lingering trace of orange in it. And then refilled it with a (somewhat) proper mix of the green. The reason I say somewhat proper mix of the green is because I flushed it on an incline so some of the water stayed inside the block (d'oh). So that is something I will remedy after winter. As for right now the cold weather keeps it right where it is supposed to be.