> Dexcool antifreeze and water?

Dexcool antifreeze and water?

Posted at: 2015-01-07 
Have a friend pick up the antifreeze. Change it to the green type. DexCool plugs up heater cores and rots out intakes manifolds. It's junk. If you have mostly water in the cooling system it will not have enough lubricant for the water pump seal and you take the chance of ruing the water pump.

if it isn't empty and overheating right now and the store isn't very far away then don't add anything. Just go straight there and get some Antifreeze. I think most antifreeze made today mixes with dexcool or replaces it altogether. I know that SuperTech mixes with all.

As far as what color is in it right now someone changed it and didn't add DistructCool I mean DexCool. (DexCool eats Gaskets for lunch.) personally I have never seen any advantage to running Dexcool other than it may void the manufacturers warranty if you don't use it. Look for the Mixes with All on the Label.

So if your vehicle is still under warranty get DexCool. Otherwise get one that Says Mixes With All colors or kinds.

We always use distilled water which Walmart has. Use distilled water when using pure 100% strength antifreeze.

First look-up your cooling system capacity in the specifications pages of your glove compartment manual. *Fill 1/2 your cooling system capacity using 100% full strength antifreeze first. Dump out the plastic coolant recovery reservoir and clean it and use this space if you need it!

The reason for doing the above is your cooling system is never 100% empty after flushing or cleaning. Use the distilled water if you need to fill any extra space.

You can add purified water (no tap water... the hard water minerals end up deposited in lime inside the radiator tubes). But if it is low it is probably time for a cooling system service. Dexcool is a 5 year coolant - I don't know how long it has been in there but I would et it is at least 5 years if the level is down.

Yes, Dexcool is orange. Green coolant is definitely not right and will have to be flushed well when the cooling system is serviced. Conventional green is a two year coolant. You don't mention make, model, or year, but if it specifies Dexcool it must be a GM vehicle made since 1996. Dexcool has a bad reputation for dissolving intake manifold gaskets in 1996-2004 V6 and V8 engines, for which GM settled a class action suit. It also has a reputation for a particularly nasty sort of sludge, maybe from lack of maintenance. See the sources. For that reason a lot of people have changed to something else. Prestone Extended Life is okay, the conventional green stuff... not so much.

You can add water only to get to WalMart or similar. Just measure how much water only you add, and then add the same amount of UNDILUTED antifreeze once you get some. Be sure to not purchase the already pre-diluted type of anti-freeze. Also check the type of anti-freeze you buy. Many of the new types of anti-freeze are formulated to work with either green anti-freeze or DexCool. The labels will indicate which brands are formulated to allow mixing with DexCool.

Car says dexcool anti freeze only but can I add water just so I can get to Walmart and purchase some ? Also when it was leaking before (anti freeze) my husband said it was green. Isn't dex cool orange ? So what should I put in my car regular anti freeze or dex cool ?