Havoline Extended Life Coolant-DEXCOOL

edwardn1

Last year I bought a few jugs of the above at WalMart on sale and thought it was a good deal, the jug said it was good for all vehicles and would protect for 5 years and 150,000 miles. The label did not say not to use it on non GM vehicles, and I liked the idea that it was phosphate and silicate free as these are hard on waterpump seals. Shortly after that the water pump went out on our 92 Toyota Camry at about 135,000 miles which may or may not be caused by the dexcool. But this has my wondering if anyone else had a similiar situation, as this product is sold at Walmart and other national chains. It would be nice not to have to mess with the coolant every year of so and extended water pump life would be a welcome benefit, but is this really going to happen with this product?

0patience

You cannot mix dex-cool and ethylene glycol.
Draining the system and then adding the dex-cool will not work either, as there is still the old coolant in the system.
In order to use dex-cool form the old coolant, a complete flush must be done and even at that, the system probably won't like it.

Best thing, use what was designed for the vehicle.

edwardn1

Texaco (Havoline) says that is ok if you flush the system, I have done so with a flushing tee. Please tell me if I should remove the dexcool. TO THE HOST, I WOULD LIKE TO DELETE THE OTHER DEXCOOL POST, WHICH WAS ALSO MINE, BUT I AM UNABLE TO DELETE IT. IT DOES NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS. THE OTHER POST DOES NOT HAVE A DISCUSSION ON IT AND THIS ONE DOES. EVERY TIME I TRY TO CREATE A DISCUSSION ON THIS TOPIC IT GETS STOPPED. THANK YOU HOST KIRSTIE!

Kirstie_H

We'll leave this one up. I zapped the other one for you.

kirstie_h
Roving Host & Future Vehicles Host

edwardn1

Thank You for leaving this up.

0patience

If your vehicle did not come with Dex-cool, then if you flushed it really well, you may be okay.
Dex-cool and other coolants do not mix. They coagulate and form a nasty gel that likes to build up in the worst possible places, like heater cores and pockets in the head.

Dex-cool is advertised as an extended life coolant, but read the fine print. I will also recommend replacing the coolant every 3 years, amazingly enough, that is the same interval recommended by ethylene glycol manufacturers.

swschrad

in the twin cities... consider ANY coolant a limited-life item, change every 2 or 3 years. he's also had the orange crud in a car or two. my sister's Olds had the overflow jug isolated by orange crud, and a plug of it in the radiator... the dealer was able to flush it out OK and the car has been changed to standard coolant.

edwardn1

...in the cars that get the DEATHCOOL coolant or is it ok to use in anything that is clean of other coolants? Is a flush with a prestone flushing tee in the heater inlet hose suficient to get all of the green coolant out before using dexcool? Has anyone had good luck converting over to this stuff? THANKS IN ADVANCE AS I HAVE 2 GALLONS LEFT.

leadfoot4

I've have three GM cars in the family that have Dexcool. The 1996 and the 1997 were both flushed and refilled with Dexcool after 5 years, and the 2001 isn't due yet.

I haven't had any cooling system problems with any of the cars.

swschrad

come with it from the factory. there's no earthly good reason. what you get from the orange (organic) (Dex-Cool tm) coolant you don't get from the green/red/yellow (silicone/silicate) protective chemistry is a better match to the materials GM used in building the cars that came with orange coolant.

there are automakers with "splinter" coolant formulas all over the place... VW, Honda... and I'm willing indeed to let them maintain their exclusivity.

gsleve

tee flush method this will suffice remember however after the flush half of the system will still retain the tap water within the system if you can find the engine block drain plugs you can then empty what's there and then refill with half distilled water and coolant.

If you cannot drain the block refill with just coolant and you would have a close to a 50/50 mix within the system yet you'll have to drain every 3 or 4 yrs due to the fact the tap water contains other additives that can errode the sensors.

armtdm

Just had a huge altercation with the Toyota rep. Had to have my radiator replaced and they filled it with Toyota long life coolant, it is red. I aske d what it was compatable with, he said nothing. I said crazy must be with either dexcool or the green stuff. Went parts, they said the green stuff, technician said the green stuff.

I am so tired of dealer incompentence, hose leaked even after they sent me on my way with a filthy enngine covered in old coolant. had to clean it up myself and tighten the hose clamp myself. Dealers are assembly lines only interested in pushing cars out the door.

swschrad

(snif) I don' WANNA, waaaahhhhhh.....

seriously, if you believe in the proposition that you should change the coolant every couple years because it's the engine and the radiator that count, not the coolant, it is just not worth the hassle to shift off the manufacturer's installed product.

if you start with Dex-Cool, cool, flush the hell out of the car and put more in. if you start with silicone/silicate, groovy, flush the hell out of the car and put that in.

if you have a Coolant From Hell in your import, flush the hell out of the car and put that back in.

not worth fighting city hall if something goes wrong.

leadfoot4

...makes sense to me.

edwardn1

...will the dexcool hurt anything in an engine that did not originally come with it? In other words, gasket and sealers, etc.

armtdm

(snif) I don' WANNA, waaaahhhhhh.....
seriously, if you believe in the proposition that you should change the coolant every couple years because it's the engine and the radiator that count, not the coolant, it is just not worth the hassle to shift off the manufacturer's installed product.

Issue is storage etc. I already have to have the green stuff and dexcool for other cars and to keep the toyota crap on my shelf as well is ludicrous.

edwardn1

...when all engines use the same aluminum, copper, rubber and other items which are in contact with the coolant. You would think that what is good for one engine would be good for another. Whats next, Honda gas and toyota washer fluid?

swschrad

depends on what is used where... the coolant can set up electrolytic reactions, also known as, eat the bejabbers out of the aluminum engine block because of the iron water pump.

all these different coolants probably have a different balance of buffers in the additive package based on whether ToHonSanWagon measures a delta voltage across any part of the coolant loop.

there is also some percentage of the mystery secret ingredient, "MINE! ALL MINE!" wherever there is a proprietary coolant formula.

0patience

when all engines use the same aluminum, copper, rubber and other items which are in contact with the coolant.
Well, not exactly.
They use different compositions of metals, plastics and gasket materials.

In the industry of o-rings there are at least 30 different compositions of o-rings. From neoprene to high pressure hydraulic o-rings and each chemical affects each material differently.

As was mentioned, different metals bolted together can create electrolysis. Aluminum and steel together, add some liquid to the mixture and they start to eat each other up.

edwardn1

...when the time comes for a coolant change, should I do it now or should I stay with the DEXCOOL?

armtdm

Rumor is that you cannot mix the dexcool with the ole ethelene glycol green stuff and recently I had Toyota place their all red coolant into my toyota and they also claim cannot be mixed with anyhting. So, having purchased a gal of the toyota red I now have all three at home. I decided to mix all three separately, green with red, green with orange etc as a test to see what fell out or rose to the top so to speak. Next day, all the mixtures looked about the same, no evidence of not mixing together what so ever, no separation etc. So, if they cannot be mixed the problems must occur under the heat of the engine and reaction to metals because in a container they all mix very well together.

I still have not received a reply from Toyota corporate as to what their red dye coolant can be mixed with

swschrad

DexCool doesn't much like trapped air, it makes orange cement. orange cement is the reputed evil spawn of mixed antifreeze. see what happens if you run the air compressor through it and let it set a while after that.