Is dexcool nessesary?

No, but if you change from dexcool to the green stuff, you need to completely flush everything, you CANNOT mix red and green, dont know why thats what the dealer said. I had an engine replaced in my car in december and the pontiac dealer put green in it.

No

It's what is designed for your car.

Do you know for certain that using a different type of coolant will not cause cavitation damage to the engine block, cylinder heads or other critical components?

No, and in fact you're better off not using it.

More horseshit...It was not 'designed for your car'.

It was perhaps spec'ed for your car, but there is little difference between it and the 'green stuff', except for the composition of the corrosion inhibitor package. The glycol base is pretty much universal.

Here is where you hit a snag...read your warranty carefully. If you are within warranty, and you find that Dexcool is required for you to maintain warranty, maybe you want to use the crap.

If warranty is not an issue, maybe you don't.. It does NOT attack gaskets. That is total BS. The gaskets on certain GM models were crap in themselves.¨ They didn't need to be attacked. They gave up on their own.

It is not the best corrosion inhibitive package in the world. The hybrid is better.

Semantics.

Naturally, the corrosion inhibitor package is the least important reason to use it, right. Color is -so- much more important.

No snag. No GM vehicles. No GM warranty to read.

That's correct.

And the reasons for second guessing the engineers who designed the vehicle are?

Where is this thread did I ever suggest such?

You don't need to tell me this, I work on them every day.

Indeed.

"But there is little difference between it and the green stuff."

Engineers asses... The vehicle design has little to do with the corrosion inhibitor packages. Engineers are not worth a shit as chemists anyway. Dexcool was a bit of a mistake.

Whoever suggested you did??

That isn't exactly what I said. The green stuff and the orange stuff are both glycol based coolants. The corrosion inhibitor package is somewhat different. The Dexcool was an attempt at a low silicate package based on organic acid inhibitors. It wasn't very good, some say. The hybrid package replaced some of the silicate that was removed in Dexcool. Some say it is better.

The older green crap was the same coolant, basically, with a time tested corrosion inhibitor formula. It had its weaknesses too.

Chemists have asses, should we second guess them also? How about MDs, should we second guess hem because they have asses? What about the guy dealing Black Jack at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino, he has an ass, should we second guess him also? Should we just second guess every one and every thing? (it would be a whole lot easier)

Riiiight.

Thanks for sharing that.

Because? (looking for reasons other than that it isn't a product of your former employer)

You did when you made it a part of [your] reply to one of my posts.

Actually, it is.

Well, there you go. There must be a reason that they wanted a different corrosion inhibitor package.

It very well may be. I haven't had a single heart attack since I switched my 95 Dakota over to G-05.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Exactly.

Well then what's with the stuff that's supposed to mix with ANY color anti-freeze, which is made by one of the major anti-freeze mfgrs--maybe Prestone? Can't you just use that and forget about Dex-cool vs. green? And how much different could those two have been in the first place--since they later came out with something which was compatible with either one?

Fluid manufacturers make enormous claims about the suitability of their products. One can rarely go wrong by following the OEMs specifications when choosing which fluid to use. That said, if one wanted to use a coolant other than DexCool, I'd go with G-05 and avoid the 'fits all brands' types.

Precisely - including GM with respect to DexCool.

True - to a point.

I believe the problem with DexCool is that the intent of switching to it was to extend the maintenance free life of the cooling system. Hopefully, owners would no longer have to monitor and change coolant at frequent intervals. Hopefully, that component of the car could go for 100,000 miles with no attention. Isn't that what consumers clamor for? Sure as hell is - just look at all of the babble here about extending warranties and building cars that "don't break" for 100,000 miles.

Where it all goes to hell is that the product (DexCool) does not deliver everything that the consumer was lead to believe was promised by it. It does not last for 100,000 miles with no attention. There are issues with it crudding up that are not a result of other engine issues. But even those issues still provide an improvement over the maintenance schedules of old. Today, people want to get in and drive. When required to actually look at something and possibly show it a little attention, they complain. The product proves not to allow the consumer to be as brain dead as they'd like to be and holy horror!

Sure - there are issues with DexCool. GM probably should revise their stand on DexCool a bit, but they're in this game as much to sell more DexCool as they are to sell more cars. Oh holy horror again! The consumer may have to fork out >$100 for a complete flush and refill somewhere near 100,000 miles. Damn!

I don't believe that DexCool offers anything over today's green coolants in terms of better protection. I don't believe it offers any less of a requirement for a watchful eye, but such are the realities of owning a car. I don't buy the line that it was designed for the car and the engineers know best. Green is as good as orange and the owner will *not* suffer any negative effects on the car (not talking warranty issues here) by using green from day one. It's coolant for the love of Pete. Use what you will and keep an eye on it.

GM doesn't manufacture DexCool, Texaco does. They'd make the same amount on sales no matter what coolant they specified.

Or, he may have to purchase an expensive engine component that otherwise wouldn't have failed had it not been for the type of additive package in the specified coolant. There's a whole lot more to it than how often it needs to be changed. Cavitation damage due to the use of the wrong coolant can and has been marked in hours.

You should probably study up more on the causes of damage due to cavitation in the cooling system. Applying what the layman knows about what is a real and serious problem is disingenuous at best.

Simplistic view noted...

Ok - I'll stand corrected on that with the exception that they do sell it and it's a profit point for them.

What are you saying? Are you saying that DexCool offers better protection against cavitation? I hope not because DexCool lacks the nitrates and phosphates which provide quick layering to minimize the effects of cavitation. Having said that, though cavitation exists in all motors and DexCool has been shown in at least some studies to offer less protection than standard green used in America, literally tens of thousands - hundreds of thousands of cars are surviving quite well on DexCool. It does become more problematic than green is the level is allowed to drop, but that's a maintenance issue and is what I was talking about in my post.

I think you need to review those facts.

Uninformed view also noted. You really need to *read* what is published on this great debate.

What is G-05 and why would it be preferable to Dex-cool or the "universal" antifreeze?

What is G-05 and why would it be preferable to Dex-cool or the "universal" antifreeze?

and google says: Zerex G-05 is a low-silicate, low-pH, phosphate-free, pre-charged formula that is designed to protect automotive and diesel engines from rust and corrosion. Zerex G05 is approved by Ford and by Daimler-Chrysler for worldwide applications including all MTU and Mercedes engines.

Which part of "They'd make the same amount on sales no matter what coolant they specified." confuses you?

Better than most generic green coolants, not as good as most (all) of the extreme service coolants, but then the issue -is- Dex versus 'green' isn't it?

Nitrates and phosphates aren't the only additives that protect against cavitation.

It's also been shown that it (DexCool) varies by batch.

Exactly!

Then we agree.

I have, numerous times over the years since DexCool has been introduced. The bottom line is; follow the instructions until those instructions are revised.

Oh, I have.

What the hell does that have to do with what I said, or are you just trying to be argumentative?

Then why argue with my point above if that's what you believe? The trueth about DecCool is that it does not protect against cavitation as well as nitrates and phosephates. They protect much sooner - within a fraction of the mileage of DexCool. Not to say that DexCool offers substandard protection though. Even Ford Motor Company's own study stated that for the consumer the difference is not all that noteworthy if proper maintenance is practiced.

But they are the better when compared to DexCool.

Meaning???

A point which is completely consistent with my original post - that you took exception with.

I believe we do, but you may have misunderstood my original post.

As I stated in my original post - pretty much.

I'm not sure why there appears to be a disagreement here. It seems we are both saying the same thing, but somehow this got off track.

It has everything to do with what you said. You seem to think that the only coolant GM could make money from is DexCool. GM has no exclusive in the market WRT DexCool sales.

Because that is what I believe and not what you (apparently) believe.

Yet Ford is now using HOAT coolants which have more in common with DexCool than they do with conventional green coolants.

To a point, yes, but there is a marked difference seen on aluminum components that have been in service using DexCool compared to what used to be seen in years prior to DexCool's introduction.

Meaning that the results of the studies that you mention have been known to vary depending on the batch of DexCool being tested. Speaks more of the QC during the manufacture than it does as a blanket indictment of DexCool itself.

I take exception with it because I've seen first hand the effects of using conventional green coolant on vehicles that originally came with DexCool, the DexCool being changed out early in the vehicles life because of the myth and hearsay that goes along with something 'different' and unfamiliar.

This is usenet after all.

May well be, but the point needs reinforcing because the days of walking in and buying what ever is on sale can and often does result in disastrous consequences be it coolant, motor oil, gear lube, transmission fluid, chassis grease, brake fluid, etc...