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Dex-cool Coolant... Orange or Pink?

gpfahler

Charter Member
SM 2003
Full Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
Messages
715
Location
Southern Calif
I just went on a 500 mile trip and noticed that the "low coolant" light came on. I checked the owners manual and it states that you should use GM DEX COOL anti freeze. I checked around several places and could not find it. After checking the coolant reservoir I found that it was maybe an inch low. ( apparently just enough to set the sensor off) I did not have any colling problems at all and I was in 80 to 100 degree temperatures. Since I was unable to find Dex Cool I waited until I got home today and went to my local dealer and they gave me a half gallon of coolant. I have not had any leaks either. Anyway all is well. :love:

Gary
 
I believe that Dex-cool is Dex-Cool. Havoline makes a Dex-cool that is sold at most major automotive retail chains i.e., Pep Boys, Kragen, Autozone. Generally costs about 7-8 dollars per gallon. Hope this helps...
 
Dex-Cool and Halvoline (Texaco) Dex-Cool are the same thing since they developed it together. ?Do not mix or you lose the properties that make DexCool great. I read on another forum that the only problem is if you let the coolant get low so never do that!... :p :eek: ;D (y) :B:
 
I had a question about the Dex-Cool Coolant that you are supposed to put in the AV's. When I looked in mine, it looked Pink. However a service guy at the dealership gave me some stuff that looked orange. I believe it was an off brand but GM certified, and not the actual GM BRAND Dex-Cool Coolant. Does the color matter? He said the stuff he/ the dealership had cost approx $15 and the GM Brand cost approx $23-$25, but he said they were the same thing. Any help in this would be great! Thanks!! SHAY :B:
 
502Hoss=Me said:
I had a question about the Dex-Cool Coolant that you are supposed to put in the AV's. When I looked in mine, it looked Pink. However a service guy at the dealership gave me some stuff that looked orange. I believe it was an off brand but GM certified, and not the actual GM BRAND Dex-Cool Coolant. Does the color matter? He said the stuff he/ the dealership had cost approx $15 and the GM Brand cost approx $23-$25, but he said they were the same thing. Any help in this would be great! Thanks!! SHAY :B:

First question is "Why did you have to get new coolant?" Did you have something repaired? Because otherwise the coolant's good for 150,000 miles, and I doubt any Avs have reached that point (correct me if I'm wrong ;) )

If the orange coolant (sounds like a new cocktail) is certified for 150,000, then it should be ok. Color is just an additive, and doesn't affect the coolant itself.
 
I actually called my dealership just a little while ago. My coolant light came on and I was told to put only Dex-Cool GM Certified Coolant in it. Otherwise it would mess it up..? A service guy at the dealership said that either was fine, just as long as it was NOT a green coolant. I am taking it there in the morning and he said he would give me a free jug of the good stuff. How nice is that...? :D See, being nice in life does help....sometimes! ;D SHAY :B:
 
Thanks!! I believe I will stick with the good stuff, just because, well any AV desirves the best!
Thanks Guys! SHAY :B:
 
You should not be loosing coolant unless you have a leak. You probably have a bad sensor. Did you look into the tank and see if there was any coolant. The level will vary when it is hot and cold but you should always be above the sensor. I have over 54K miles on my Av and have not added a drop of coolant to the tank. My last Chevy truck had 100K miles and I did not add any coolant either till I replaced with new dexcool.

Just keep a eye on the sensor.
 
My 02 silverado's light also comes on intermittantly for a few hours at a time and the levels always good. If you are losing coolant, hope you find an external leak or its inside the block thats leaking.
 
Just don't forget to mix the Dex-Cool 50/50 with distilled water.



Tubbyslanche - I'd love to see data backing that up as I've read numerous articles about how nobody is recycling Dex-Cool back to Dex-Cool, but only to regular AF. BTW - Dex-Cool is Pinkish/Orange depending on the viewer and Toyota's coolant is Red and not compatible with GM's Dex-Cool.
 
Edward K said:
...and Toyota's coolant is Red and not compatible with GM's Dex-Cool.

Oh wow, I did not know that. I think this is going to mess someone up in the future, (people who don't know the difference). When I tell people my coolant is pink, they don't believe me.

... My coolant light came on the day after we got back from the beach, which was like a 5-6 hour drive. When I looked in it, it didn't look low to me. The LOW COOLANT Light went off later that day, and I haven't seen it since. I think I will get me a jug of the Dex-Cool just incase I do have a problem on the road or something. Thanks!! SHAY :B:
 
I'm not too thrilled with Dex-cool, had a '96 Blazer, 24,000 heater core plugged up, 70,000 needed radiator, Dealer flushed system and put in a new radiator, and old style"green" coolant.. :eek:

whats that tell you. ???
 
gisdsuho said:
I'm not too thrilled with Dex-cool, had a '96 Blazer, 24,000 heater core plugged up, 70,000 needed radiator, Dealer flushed system and put in a new radiator, and old style"green" coolant.. :eek:

whats that tell you. ???

That model was very prone to failures with Dex, most say that the fact the reservoir was not sealed (by design, not by the owner) on the Blazer/Jimmy was to blame.



SOME DEX-COOL INFORMATION

Dex-Cool is an Ethylene Glycol based high performance coolant that contains unique corrosion inhibitors, which are different from anything else on the market. Dex-Cool is vastly superior to conventional coolants, which use silicates, phosphates, borates, nitrites, nitrates, and amine additives to eliminate corrosion. These additives are abrasive to water pump seals, and silicates are especially unstable and drop out of solution and form a gel after time. All of these conventional inhibitors deplete after a short time, which is why conventional coolant must be changed every year.

The unique corrosion inhibitor technology in Dex-Cool is based on the use of two organic acids, which are synergistic and combine to form carboxylates. Texaco refers to this as Organic Acid Technology (OAT), or Carboxylate Technology. The corrosion inhibitors used in Dex-Cool deplete very slowly thus eliminating the need for traditional additives, or frequent change intervals.

Note that Dex-Cool differs from conventional coolants only in the additive package, not in the Ethylene Glycol base, meaning it provides the same anti-freeze and boil over protection as conventional high performance coolants, but also provides superior corrosion protection to all cooling system metals.
 
This is an interesting thread. A co-worker of mine was told by his dealer that the "pink/red" stuff shouldn't be used anymore (at least in his car). He has a 96 (I think) Aurora that he keeps in pristine condition (only 50+K miles). He just had the coolant flushed and replaced, and they replaced it with the "Green stuff".

He was told that the new stuff has been causing problems....

I'm interested in knowing why.

Craig
 
CraigF said:
This is an interesting thread. A co-worker of mine was told by his dealer that the "pink/red" stuff shouldn't be used anymore (at least in his car). He has a 96 (I think) Aurora that he keeps in pristine condition (only 50+K miles). He just had the coolant flushed and replaced, and they replaced it with the "Green stuff".

He was told that the new stuff has been causing problems....

I'm interested in knowing why.

Craig
What I was told is that Sometimes it "jells" and coats the Sensors with a "slime" that cause the Coolant light to come on Even Though the Coolant level is full -Could in some Extreme Situations have been known to Clogg a Heater Core !
 
The Aurora engine is basically the same as the Cadillac Northstar. I have had two STS's and never heard anything of the sort from my service writer (who was a friend outside of the dealership). Problems with Dex-Cool can happen. If the system is not sealed via a small leak or something of the sort the system will become contaminated. There are all sorts of myths out there, even a class action lawsuit... if you do a search on yahoo for: dex-cool problems there are 7,560 results. So there are tons of opinions out there about dex and wether or not its good or bad. In my experience (family of 13 GM Vehicles w/ approx. 400,000 miles total since Dex-Cool in '96) I've seen no cooling system problems. However, at my old job I did see a mini van, I think an Astro but could have been a Venture, with a block leak (making the cooling system unsealed) where the dex had geled and left a nasty sludge throughout the entire coolant path.
 
Edward K said:
the dex had geled and left a nasty sludge throughout the entire coolant path.
I've been told that if you mix ANY amount of "the green stuff" into DexCool that it will cause a reaction that results in a gummy mess. This is likely what's happening to at least some of the people that have had gumming up problems with Dex Cool. Either a service schmo at a quickie lube shop topped off the tank with the wrong coolant or perhaps even water was added from a bottle that had had a mix including "the green stuff" previously. And before you say it would take a complete moron to pour green AF into a DexCool tank, take a look at some of the guys working at the quickie lube shops. And after you do that, read above where it describes that the level fluctuates and know that while you're engine is running it sucks more of the AF out of the reservoir so it's possible that there wasn't much/any in there for the employee to see in the first place.

 
You need to make sure that your Dexcool does not get mixed with air. In older vehicles with seperate radiator caps, a defective cap wil often let air into the system. This causes the Dexcool to "gel" and clog the system. Keep an eye on the condition of your coolant and replace the radiator cap every year or so and you should have no problems.
 
SO you all are saying if I get some dexcool and put it in a bowl in the garage I will get JELLO??

I find that hard to beleive....the engine has air in it and so does the overflow bottle........how does this JELLO form.....

And if it was that easy I could not beleive it would be on the market.......

Time for some research on my part I guess
 
I don't believe that air can damage DexCool either. Though I have seen a case with power steering fluid turning into a messy "froth" caused by the level getting too low and bubbles being churned through the system by the pump. Even letting it sit overnight didn't pull the bubbles from the system.

So MAYBE (and this is a BIG maybe) if there was a leak in the system somewhere that would induce small air bubbles into the coolant circuit (not just sitting in the reservoir) which were there beaten into a froth as they passed through the water pump, then that MIGHT cause the "gumming problem" that some people seem to quote as an issue with using DexCool.

But I'd still have to see that to believe it, as I too have run multiple vehicles over 100k miles with nothing but DexCool and no problems with cooling systems.


PS. Maybe the difference between "oragnge" and "pink" is how much water the DexCool has been diluted with and what type of container you're looking through to try to guess the color. The reservoir tanks aren't really transparent so that might affect what you're seeing.
 
The guys at the dealership just opened mine and looked in it. Was that wrong? Because then it would be exposed to air.... will that make it gum up? Surely a tech. at the Chevy dealership would know not to do that, if it wasn't supposed to be done... ?
 
ygmn said:
SO you all are saying if I get some dexcool and put it in a bowl in the garage I will get JELLO??

No. What I'm saying is this: The coolant system is sealed. If there is a breach and the coolant system is allowed to be exposed to air, while running under pressure, by a leaky head gasket, bad reservoir cap, or low coolant levels that it will most likely gel.
 
Edward K said:
No. What I'm saying is this: The coolant system is sealed. If there is a breach and the coolant system is allowed to be exposed to air, while running under pressure, by a leaky head gasket, bad reservoir cap, or low coolant levels that it will most likely gel.
I still think that it isn't "exposure to air while under pressure" that causes a problem, as there is ALWAYS air in the top of the reservoir whether more is coming in through the cap or not. It must have to do with air getting circulated through the system through either a leak somewhere else or a REALLY low reservoir that would allow the air to get sucked down into the system.

The only physical difference between a leaky reservoir cap and a good one when the system is "under pressure" is that a leaky one would let air OUT so that the reservoir level would rise and possibly leak coolant out. I guess that could potentially cause a problem somewhere else but the loose cap itself isn't going to put air into the system unless I've misinterpreted how the system runs "under pressure". In my experience the level in the reservoir tank usually goes down while the engine is running so that seems to mean it's operating under vacuum instead of pressure.

 
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