Exact Antifreeze Brand

[bradslt5]

Originally Posted by gbrtng

Brad, please cite your source for this eating head gasket "problem".
That's a new one on me. FWIW, I converted to Dexcool in 1997 by completely flushing with distilled water - did 4 fill and drain cycles - then filled with Dexcool. No problems 11 years later. Instead of google, check out www.bobistheoilguy.com and study the antifreeze forum; there are several industry gurus lurking. And, the green stuff was all that was available in 1989 when out cars were introduced; the non-phosphate stuff came out two years later in the Saturn line.

my source is right in your area, New braunfels, do you know corey henderson? i have 2 zr1s one of which i bought that had dexcool in it , 3weeks later poof head gasket went . there are many here that have had this happen to there cars . so you have run a zr1 for 11 years with dexcool in it ? the head gaskets in a zr1 are made from different material than other gaskets . at least thats what i have been told . i just know in my cars i will only run the stuff that is gm spec1825 for our engines . changing head gaskets in these motors is not an easy deal . 400 in tools pulling the motor etc . so to me why take the chance . dexcool is not gm1825 spec and thats good enough for me.

[bradslt5]

Originally Posted by EuroPete

gbrtng, what did you do exactly? Fill the full cooling circuit with distilled water and empty it four times? Then, filling it with Dexcool completely, right?

Seems to be an easy procedure, it's only a matter of spending around 50 liters of distilled water, isn't it?

pete the choice is yours but if it were me i would only use gm spec 1825 . get ahold of jeffvette here on this forum he is one of the most knowledgable people on our cars ask him and follow his suggestion. that is the best advise i can give you . good luck in whatever you decide .he is pnwzr1 in the links section

[scottfab]

Does anyone have actual evidence that the coolant Dexcool caused the head gasket problem? Pictures maybe? I am curious about erosion vs other failure.
I have had Dexcool in mine from 98 on. I’ve swapped it out twice and it is due again now.

[jonszr1]

scott , i would get ahold of jeffvette aka jeff flint @pnwzr1, since he is in your area and discuss your dilema with him . he know our cars as well as any one . as for scientific proof i don t have any . i have just heard of a lot of problems when using dexcool , so i decided to just not take the chance, having allready seen a head gasket failure in on a 90 zr1 i used to own . the choice is yours

[scottfab]

ah, so Jeff is the expert on this. Ok, I know him well and in fact helped him with his first plennum pull back in the 90s. Sure sounds suspiciously like regular old head gasket failure though. I’ve done many in the past on various vehicles. Of course non of these have had Dexcool in them so I can’t blame it on Dexcool. Turns out head gaskets can fail from other causes. Most that I’ve done show deformation off the gasket at the weakest point. In fact only one of those that I have ever replace did not show this deformation.
Your right about one thing there for sure. It is my choice and until I see some evidence of corrosion I’m not likely to stop using the orange stuff. It last longer and is easier on water pumps.
At this point it just seems like conjecture on root cause. I’d be more inclined to think some sort of partial detonation event would be the cause. Obviously a full detonation event would be catastrophic but a late detonation (very close to TDC) would seem to fit the profile of deforming the gasket.

[scottfab]

BTW Jeff's email is jeff2577@yahoo.com or he can be reached at pnwzr1@pnwzr1.net
The Address given before was bogus.

[Pete]

Do you guys know if Dexcool lasts as long as the Green stuff.

All i know is i looked at a friends 18 year old car with 50k miles with green stuff and my own 14 year old 60k mile car they still look green like they were just changed.

I have 2001 Caddy with 50k miles with Dexcool looks like sh!t.
If 50k is considered extended life then it's garbage,now i know why the factory warranty is only good for 36k miles
If it looks like that at 50k what's it gonna look like at 100k.
Extended Life my a$$, just a sales pitch from GM.

And soon you will tell us McDonald's has the best burgers.

I'd like to see 15yo Dexcool in your car.

I'll stay with the green stuff.

Pete

[BLACK90ZR1]

It's not a ZR1, but the owners manual for my 2005 Impala says to use a one half "clean drinkable water" and 1/2 DEX-COOL solution. That's the first time that I have seen "clean drinkable water" specified.

[jonszr1]

Originally Posted by scottfab

BTW Jeff's email is jeff2577@yahoo.com or he can be reached at pnwzr1@pnwzr1.net
The Address given before was bogus.

sorry if i didnt give the right address i dont do business with him and was just trying to direct him to the best person in his area that might help him

[scottfab]

Has anyone replace a head gasket in a LT5 motor that was using
the green stuff?? And if so what did you see?
Do the head gaskets simply not fail in a motor with the green stuff?