Blame GM if you want for plastic tanks on the radiators. But I don't think you can find any auto maker that uses metal tanks any longer. The plastic tanks are nice from the aspect that the hoses do not stick to them which used to make removal difficult.

 

wow! this is a great thread! there is a lot of information here. i dont know if i missed the answer or not, but what was the deal with the thought that dexcool turns into an acid when it comes in contact with the air?

 

The Dexcool=acid thing was started by mechanics that didn't understand the issue and wanted to scare their patrons into handing over all their money.

 

i guess nobody thought that thru because if that was the case it would eat thru the bottle it comes in.

 

I have gotton batteries for my lawn mower that came with a seperate plastic bottle of acid that you add to the battery once you open the package. I guess it depends on the plastic formulation.

 

that is true too. forgot about that

 

My "other" ride is a 99 silverado with the 4.8.. I bought it in Jan 03 with 54k miles. It now has just over 205k on it & still has the original dex-cool in it. It appears as clean as new & I've never had the first problem with it. I believe the problems with dex-cool stem from other things, not the coolant itself..
On the other hand, the blazer has long since "gone green"...

 

i have a 00 s10 192k the heater core went out bc of dex cool also my 96 just flushed all that dex crap out low and behold the heater core goes out in it green ftw!!! we have 4 s10s and a jimmy all run green never had a problem once

 

I do not think you can blame heater core going out on Dex-Cool. I have two Jimmy's one is an 89 and I am the original owner and it has never had Dex-Cool and I have done 3 heater cores in it. My 2000 is Dec-Cool and has 90,000 and so far no heater core leakes. Heater cores can start to leak no matter which coolant is in the engine. I have no problem with Dex-Cool.

 

96 Blazer here almost 200,000 miles. Original heater core and DexCool looks brand new.