Dexcool Labeled Antifreeze: Must Use ?

As long as the container says it is Dex compatible it's fine to use.

Don't waste your money on the pre-mixed. You're paying a LOT of money for water.

Go to the store you buy the coolant at and look at the prices. Usually the premix is around $1.00 more a gallon.

So say the prices in your area are 6.00 a gallon for straight and 7.00 a gallon for pre-mixed. Now say your car takes 2 gallons to fill it. That means $14.00 for the premix.

Or you could buy the straight antifreeze at 6.00 bucks and a gallon of distilled water from the grocery store for around 1.00. That gives you 2 gallons of 50/50 for the price of one gallon of pre-mix.

So you paid $7.00 for a gallon of water!

"Steve W." wrote in news:ldg30e$fup$1@dont- email.me:

we have had reports that the all mix antifreezes are not as good or compatiable as they say. it is safer to use the dex or flush and switch to the good ol green. (my preference) KB

No, but you might not want to mix them. I bought an '03 Impala last year and am wondering if I should flush out the Dexcool and put in green anti-freeze. Don't know yet. Dexcool got knocks initially, but I've heard it's good stuff.

The problem with mixing is simple. It changes the chemistry of the coolant. GM even states that you can mix different coolants. BUT they also say that the mix will degrade the "lifetime" coolant used (Dex) so they recommend a flush and refill with Dex.

The thing is that NO coolant is good for the life of the vehicle, it all should be flushed and changed. Doesn't matter if it's green, pink, orange or purple. They all should be renewed as part of the service routine.

and don't forget GM's definition of "lifetime" was FIVE years or 100,000 miles.

GW