Dexcool coolant warning

So, professor, you're saying that this product contains powdered quartz?

I'm not a Professor, just a Master Mechanic, so you may refer to me as "Master". lol "Normal" modern coolants contain silicates to scour the cooling system clean of corrosion, and are fine for most engines. It's really tough on pre-1930s packing gland style pumps. Some of the new types of coolant are free of silicates. A coolant that actually eats the engine or gaskets through chemical action or electrolysis is kinda bad.

I put Honda Genuine premix in both my Hondas, a 2002 CR-V and a 1999 Civic HX. The Civic came new with green antifreeze, probably identical to the Zerex Green that you can still get at Autozone, but I am not taking any chances. Ten bucks a gallon for premix seems a lot, but that is enough to change the entire cooling system in the Civic and a gallon and a half for the CR-V. The bad part is I have to drive 135 miles one way to get it.

Afaik, Dexcool is for GM vehicles. "DEX-COOL is a registered trademark of General Motors Corporation." What don't people understand about this?

The auto industry is seriously out of control on the coolant issue. I have four different vehicles and this requires three different coolant types. But if you mix and match or even try to save money by using a sensible alternative you are looking for trouble.

Earle

More like chalk. When I was a kid they caught a dairy near me putting it in milk, so it can't be that bad, heh.

Earle

I think you're confusing "silicates" (cleaning agents) with "silica" (quartz). The former is in your dishwasher detergent, the latter at the beach.

Actually, I don't know that Dex-Cool even contains silicates:

You may want to read this

Coasty

Preston makes a universal for all makes and models which meets all manufacturer specifications.

I have been using itin all my vehicles and jeeps one size fits all you got to love it. Coasty

I believe that this is the same as the end-of-the-aisle one-size-fits-all coolant sold as SuperTech by Walmart. I posted the ingredients here and someone told me it was DexCool, or a blend of DexCool ingredients and something else. I put it in my GM vehicle but I am not taking chances with my Hondas or my Jeep. If you would like to look at the thread, the subject is "Coolant Surprise" from December 2006, pretty easy to find in Google Groups. It is also explained there why a single formula cannot meet the CONFLICTING OEM requirements for IAT, OAT and HOAT coolants.

Here is the relevant response, that made me not use it in my Jeep.

"Incidentally, presense of 2-EHA (sodium 2-ethyl hexanoate) in the coolant you've examined means you're looking at Dex-cool. If you put this in a Jeep, I don't want to hear you whining like a spoiled 3-yr. old later when you have to replace the entire cooling system."

Outatime posted that.

I wouldn't use the Prestone stuff you are using in Jeep unless it says "meets Jeep specifications" or lists the ingredients.

Earle

For DECADES we used the same green ethylene glycol coolant. The price was reasonable, it worked well, and was harmless to the environment as long as you didn't let critters get to it.

Then the government screwed everything up (as they do SO well).

Does anyone still make the good old fashioned coolant anymore? I want to use it in my 96 Cherokee and my Studebakers.

Or is real coolant considered an environmental hate crime these days?

Jeff DeWitt

Stupendous Man wrote:

Zerex Green is supposed to be close. Autozone has it or can order it for you.

Earle

This may help a good read

Coasty

In article , Jeff DeWitt wrote: #For DECADES we used the same green ethylene glycol coolant. The price #was reasonable, it worked well, and was harmless to the environment as #long as you didn't let critters get to it. # #Then the government screwed everything up (as they do SO well). # #Does anyone still make the good old fashioned coolant anymore? I want #to use it in my 96 Cherokee and my Studebakers. # #Or is real coolant considered an environmental hate crime these days? # #Jeff DeWitt

Don't go by color alone. It's just a dye added in by the coolant producer. Look at the specs that the stuff meets--Chrysler MS 7170, Chrysler MS 9769, Ford ESE-M97B44-A, Ford WSS-M97B51-A1, etc.

Two coolents can have the same specs and be two different colors and likewise, be the same color and not be compatable.

Ford G-05 and Zerex G-05 are yellow. Chrysler G-05 and GM DEX-COOL are both orange. Zerex G-05 meets both the Ford and Chrysler standards. Chrysler G-05 and GM DEX-COOL are totaly incompatable.

As a side question, the rental Ford I drove around recently had a "no orange" sticker on the coolant overflow bottle. Definatly no DEX-COOL. But does it also mean no Chrysler G-05 since Chrysler uses 10% recycled ethylene glycol and Ford does not?

/herb

Heh, I count three basic types of coolant, IAT, OAT and HOAT, plus the Walmart SuperTech stuff that is "compatible with all types".

This is a pretty chart.

Don't blame the government solely for screwing this up. The auto manufacturers played their own parts, but developing water pump seals that each "require" their own special type of coolant/lubrication. You can choose to believe them or not, but who wants to take chances? A water pump seal isn't too expensive a lesson, but a head gasket can be a major pita.

Saludos y buena suerte,

Earle

I think you need to re-read the original post. I switched to dex to avoid silicates. Prestone has described silicates as powdered quartz, maybe that's wrong but that's what their engineer said.

More than you ever wanted to know, unless you are a geologist that is:

Silicate is the basic building block for almost all kinds of rock. There are about a zillion different ones, some real soft and some hard like quartz. Saying that something has "silicate" in it, tells you nothing about what it will actually do to engine cooling system components. If it had quartz in it, that would be bad. It wouldn't stay in suspension either, as far as I know.

The Zerex chart that I posted a link to says that their G-05 is good for pre-1996 Honda, and their Dex-Cool is good for 1996 and later. For Jeeps you want Green for pre-2001 and G-05 for 2001 and later. My 1999 Honda Civic came with Green in it. It now has Honda Genuine blue.

Cheers,

Earle

The only silicate I know of in antifreeze is sodium silicate (water glass), which inhibits corrosion of aluminum. Same as in automatic dishwasher detergent. Nothing like quartz.

Oops-just to get picky :>, quartz is not a rock, it's is a mineral. Sorry, but this old science teacher just couldn't resist....

Dan

"Rock: aggregation of solid matter composed of one or more of the minerals forming the earth's crust"

Quartz is a mineral, that can be formed into rocks. Most people wouldn't pay any attention to the difference, if there is one. Besides, if you look closely, I wasn't saying that quartz is a rock, only that it is hard.

Earle

Yep, you're right, I just noticed. Quartz hardness=8.0, making it the hardest common mineral.

A mobile mass of petrified matter agglomerates no bryophytes. ;)

Back to the subject-my Jeep has driven over a lot of quartz.

Dan