Vortec dex-coolant flush?
Ok, here's the deal, Im coming close to purchasing an '06 Burban with 72,xxx. My only concern is the horror stories with the coolant. Does the dex-cool still eat through intake manifold gaskets? I currently own a '99 Tahoe that I've had for the last ten years that came with that stuff. I had it flushed after about a year and have been using the "universal" coolant since; no problems. I was told that the dex-cool has been "improved" and that it doesn't cause problems like it did in the past. Will it be ok to flush it or leave it in there.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Check the coolant reservoir and radiator - if you see lots of orange solid cake, then expect having to do a thorough coolant system flush. If it is in good shape, then flush and refill after you buy it, and it is your choice as to continuing with the Dex cool or going with a traditional coolant (both types of coolants mix together, so there's no need to be fully paranoid about a 100% removal of either type of coolant).
Dex cool never ate through anything - it is an organic acid based coolant (different from the glycol based coolants), and it is sensitive to loss/chemical degradation, and unfortunately its primary degradation product is a coolant-stopping crud. This crud clogs small passages and results in head gasket failure and localized overheating.
Personally, I had it in a Grand Am (no problems whatsoever) and it was in my Z28 when I bought it (I switched to regular stuff since I had initial problems with some crud forming). With all the horror stories I've heard, none has ever come from my buddies who regularly maintain their own cars - only from people who believe that "10 year warranty" means you can ignore your cooling system for 10 years before you check the reservoir. My advice - check your coolant at least once a year, and you shouldn't have problems with either!
It has its problem but it does only have a life of 5 years or 100,000 miles. So it being a 2006, thats 6 years. Granted I know something had to been replaced on it like the water pump since GM cant build certain parts to last very long. But I would clean it out & replace it with new coolant. And no on the pellet tabs if you were curious about those, they have a bad tendency to clog up heater cores
Never heard that. If you are concerned, then by all means flush the stuff out. I know GM vehicles have a bad habit of leaking coolant at the intake manifold but that is because the composite manifolds crack.
It doesn't eat through anything. The problem with Dexcool is that it gells up very easily when the engine has lots of short trips and blocks things up.