Truth about Dex Cool (orange coolant)

[Stitch]

From the Bonneville Club website, this is in a 98 bonneville se

[m-ushroom]

I dont know to much about coolant :p but I'm pretty sure when you see that its not a good sign.

[Stitch]

ya that's why I got mine flushed in my '02 about a month ago. My rad didn't have any signs of that yet but my coolant bottle did.

[Videoman]

Yeah, reason why its better to go yellow or green. Its possible to clean the guck out, but your gonna need alot of time, a good hose and solvent. Dexcool is fine on all aluminum system, but if you have any copper or solder points, it will eat away at it. For everyone who has a car that is older than 3 yrs and still has dexcool in it. Take about 40 mins and empty the coolant. Take a garden hose and fill the resevoire to the top, start the engine and turn on the heat for a while. this will help clean out the coolant that remains in the heater core. Shut off the car, and drain the remaining water/coolant. Take some green or yellow coolant and mix it 60/40. Begin to fill the system back up. Reason I suggest 60/40 as opposed to 50/50, is that from the flush earlier, you will have plain water deposits still in the engine, the 60/40 mix will even out to a 50/50 once everthing is completed.

Dex-cool was a good idea that didn't turn out too well. Dump it out!

[Exist2Inspire]

we switched out of dex cool two years ago when we bought the GA. Still have it in the L200 because... well... it's a Saturn and nobody cares

[darkfox]

had that exact same gunk buildup in my lumina when i got it. flushed it out and replaced with green stuff. then my intake manifold blew shortly thereafter. O.o

dexcool is the devil.

i still have to re-flush the system... at least now it maintains a constant temperature and nothing leaks. there is still brownish/orange gunk floating around in the coolant system, though. i want it all cleaned out.

[Azrael]

Originally Posted by Videoman

...turn on the heat for a while. this will help clean out the coolant that remains in the heater core...

You don't have to do this. There's always coolant running through the heatercore irregardless of what temperature you set the HVAC controls to.