Dexcool (GM "Orange Juice")

[cheetah]

Is this stuff safe for the bricks?  I am running the OEM "grape juice" in it right now (it was just changed 8 months ago). 

I'm looking at changing it again, however, at $25 / gal + shipping for the OEM grape juice, I'd like to know.

[johnny]

greetings cheetah...

i use the auto parts store prestone brand 50/50 mix... not the dex cool variety... no coolant failures to date... drain it once a year and refill... straight up out of the jug... no 60/40 mix for my motobricks...

j o

[cheetah]

Good to know.

Are you supposed to change it once a season?  I need to get on the ball if I do...!

[ahimsa]

Dexcool can do nasty things when it's mixed with other kinds of antifreeze, so I'd avoid it.  I don't even use Dexcool in my GM cars that originally came with it... you never know when you're going to have to top off the coolant on the road, so it's best to use something that can safely mix with most other kinds of antifreeze. I use the "universal" green stuff from Autozone in the cars and the bike, mixed 50/50 with distilled water (avoid tap water, which can leave mineral deposits.)

[Scott_]

AVOID the Dex crap at all cost.
Even in my GM truck, it ruined 2 sets of intake manifold gaskets before I went with the standard "green" antifreeze mix.

[cheetah]

Survey says...NO DEX!!  Point taken and will follow  :clap:

[argent brick]

There have been complaints about Dexcool from the beginning. Why is that stuff still on the market? I don't see anything special about the stuff.

[mac]

Many german cars use dexcool compatibile (VW/Audi and Mercedes that I know of). The only time I've seen issues is when people mix it with the green stuff, yielding the awful brown stuff.

[mjydrafter]

Many german cars use dexcool compatibile (VW/Audi and Mercedes that I know of). The only time I've seen issues is when people mix it with the green stuff, yielding the awful brown stuff.

VW uses three types of coolants in its vehicles, based on when it was produced.  G11 (blue) was used from about 1990 to mid 1996.  G11 is a phosphate free anti-freeze and is blue in color.  G12 was used from mid 1996 to 2005 - its pink in color, its also phosphate free and should not be mixed with other coolants.  G12+ is purple in color, and well, I don't know that much about it.  A lot of early to mid 90's European vehicles use G11 coolant (Saab, Mercedes, Volvo, Etc..).  Rumor has it that VW switched to G11 for the Vanagon (head gasket issue) and then pushed the G11 line into all of their vehicles to cover the costs of the Vanagon G11 supply.  Before G11 there was "green coolant" that VW  used, ( I think it was G10, but I could be wrong, it was still phosphate free..).  As a side note, GM's "Dexcool" and its family of coolants share the same basic Organic Acid Technology (OAT) as G12, at least this has been my findings from reading the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) more or less the "ingredients" list.

If you want to switch coolant types, you can.  Well, that is a source of debate that I have read about for 15 years now. Basically if you fully flush a system, with lots of water, and do this a few times to remove all the traces of the coolant, you can switch from G11 to say G12, or from G12 to "green" coolant.  There is also talk of the G11 coolant was changed to G12 due to yet another head gasket issue with the VR6 engine, and by this time the Vanagon had been phased out in 1991.

My cage is a Jetta :yes

[mystic red]

Good to know.

Are you supposed to change it once a season?  I need to get on the ball if I do...!

Every other year...Johnny is maintenance obsessed.

[JamesInCA]

I use the Prestone, mixed 40/60 because (a) the manual says so, (b) more water should cool slightly better [albeit with a slightly lower boiling point than 50/50], and (c) the concentrate is cheaper, and I'm a cheapskate.

For various maintenance reasons (first scheduled maintenance, then water pump, then water pump again....) I've changed my coolant about three times in the last year. One of those times I figured I'd do a flush with Prestone radiator cleaner as well; what the heck. Rinsed it out several times, once or twice with hose water, then once or twice with distilled, then filled with 40/60.

[cheetah]

I was going to use the Prestone "DexCool-Approved" orange juice.  I've used it in my car, suburbans, trucks ect.  It's $14.29 + tax at the local Wally World. 

I too have heard all of the horror stories of the GM DexCool.

Looking at http://www.ascycles.com/detail.aspx?ID=43216 the price is not much more than Walmart and I need the eight screws for my bellypan.  I guess I'll do this one last time and "go green" from now on, lol.

[cheetah]

Good to know.

Are you supposed to change it once a season?  I need to get on the ball if I do...!

Every other year...Johnny is maintenance obsessed.

In John's defense, I am in the same boat!  The cleaner your fluids the better the gas mileage and the longer the life  :2thumbup:

[K75RT Keith]

I won't use Dexcool in something I hate.  I sure wouldn't use it in my bike!