Dex cool?

Has anyone replaced there Toyota pink coolant with orange Dex cool? I have heard a lot of mixed reviews on it, I tried searching the forum for some info but most of it is pretty old info. I wasn't sure if anyone here has first hand experience with Dex cool in their 2nd gen 4.0L. Im not hard pressed to use Dex cool it's just that I already bought it before I read the concerns with it.

On a side note, is there an engine coolant drain plug/bolt on the block?

 

Death-cool would be awful in our engines.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2090826

Return it for a refund or donate it to some poor, unlucky GM owner. Zerex Asian Vehicle Formula is what I run in mine.

 

I ran it for about a year after I busted a radiator and couldn't get the Toyota stuff where I was at. (Germany) Seemed fine. I'm currently running normal green premixed stuff. Also seems fine. I'm sure the Toyota stuff would last longer, but I manage to poke holes in my radiator often enough I don't think it really matters.

 

RUN FROM DEXCOOL!!!

drained and flushed that shit out of my chevy and went with standard glycol green stuff... the truck was much happier.

DO NOT PUT THAT CRAP IN ANYTHING!

 

I also got the dex cool stuff. Was a bit low so I went to advance auto and told them the truck and thats what they gave me. Before I used it, I looked it up on here. I ended up returning it and getting some toyota antifreeze. Better safe than sorry. Stick with the pink factory stuff.

 

Dexcool is the devil! As my former neighbor who owned an auto parts place said "you think you have problems now, go ahead and use Dexcool and see what happens". As far back as 1998 I have been dumping Dexcool and replacing it. BTW, not a fan of Prestone either.

 

If in doubt, just get factory pink fluid. After, all a jug is only around $20-30.

 

Stay away from dexcool.

There are two drains on the block, one on each side that look like this. Use a 10mm socket to turn them open



and the one on the bottom of the radiator.

You will need three gallons of coolant which will run you ~$20 a gallon from the parts desk at the dealer

 

Dexcool:

 

^ Well damn, that's proof enough for me!

 

Well I'm convinced enough. I will just return it and go with the pink or green. I would rather be safe than sorry. Thanks for the info TW.

 

Dexcool turns into Jello - only you can't eat this Jello.

 

The block drains are on either side of the block, not in the valley. If you don't drain the block from both drains, almost 1/2 your coolant is staying behind. If you drain only 1 block drain, nearly a litre remains in the other side.

 

Stay away from the green too...just do it with factory fluid. Sure its $20 a gallon, but at a 100,000 mile service interval, $60 is cheap

 

Glycol is in fact the chemical you NEED for it to be an anti-freeze.

The 'chemical' to avoid are silicates: it must be a silicate-free anti-freeze. For a variety of reasons, including that below:

Dex-Cool would actually be perfect. The horror stories are old-wives tales base on horror stories of contamination or partial change-overs from silicate-based antifreezes to Dex-cool, one of the first long-life OAT antifreezes widely marketed. If the silicate anti-freeze ratio gets too high the silicates can fall out of solution forming a glop that will plug radiator cores and lead to over heating; it's actually the silicate antifreeze causing it.

The most common horror story concerns a GM V6 engine application with a poorly designed cooling system that had high spots allowing air pockets to form in the system even when full. GM, in typical fashion, chose THAT engine to be one of the first to use Dex-Cool as factory fill. Because Dex-cool (and other OAT anti-freezes) was so new, people would top-off with silicate antifreezes. Since silicates fall out at the vapor-liquid boundary, the air pockets in that V6 engine was a perfect place for it to happen. A lot.

It was just one of the many debacles for GM, but Dex-cool, unfairly IMO, got the wrap in the trade rags. It's just another example of people not understanding the difference between cause and effect. Too, the trade rags tend to recommend what they think will lower risk for their readers...garages and radiator shops...not owners.

Another thing: OAT antifreezes have an effective life in the hundreds of years since neither the glycol antifreeze base NOR the OAT anti-corrosion package depletes in use. They only recommend changing it at 100K mi/5 year because they expect it WILL become contaminated over that period. So if the coolant mix in my vehicle is correct mix, clean, uncontaminated with crappy water or unknown antifreezes and additives, I'd not change it. But that's me.

And the old wives tales persist.

 

DexCool is aggressive on plastics. Personal experience with the GM 3.1/3.4L V6 LIM gaskets. I've done many a plastic intake manifold on the GMs, 3.8L and late 90's 5.0/5.7 being most common.

 

It's more spendy, but I just spend the extra $$ and go with the red Toyota coolant.

 

Dex-Cool's also not recommended on certain Ford or Mercury engines because the water pump wiper design isn't compatible. Modern engines and cooling systems are all being designed for long-life OAT or OAT-hybrid formulations. Much like the Toyota red is...

Certainly not a bad idea, especially since the cost gets amortized over 100K miles/5 years. But what's an even better question is why do it at all?

Just like DexCool it's a high quality hybrid OAT formulation and totally unlike old nitrite and silicate formulations that deplete over time. If you're careful and only top-off with Toyota red, never put crappy creek water in it, and slap mechanic's hands when they get to close to the cap you'll be just fine.

It's of course your choice: just offering the thought.

 

Zerex Asian Vehicle is $14.99 a gallon for 50/50.

 

If it were mine I would run the plain old green stuff. That is what I have always put in all my Toyotas. I change to it when they are one year old and replace every 30K. Have never had a problem nor have I ever had to replace a single coolant system part on any toyota I have ever owned. IMO the Toyota stuff is garbage. When they introduced the 100K crap we had a large amount of vehicles coming in with pink crust out of the water pump wrap holes and many were only a year old.