G'S50TH

need to top off my tank

aaronc7

dexcool. if you need to just top it off a little... distilled water should be fine too.

neutron82

, gm dexcool/distilled water mix is the only thing I will put in my car

Vetteman Jack

DexCool with the proper mixture of water works very well.

c4cruiser

When you go to buy DexCool, get the gallon jug of the concentrated Dex, then go to any grocery store and get a gallon of distilled water.

Pre-mixed Dex will be $3 to $5 more than the concentrate. A gallon of distilled water will run about $1.50. A gallon of concentrate and a gallon of water will be about the same price as the pre-mix stuff and mixing it yourself gets you two gallons.

leadfoot4

What color is the coolant in your tank?

G'S50TH

its orange in color I was told it's dex cool

leadfoot4

It most likely is, since that's what GM has been using for the last 20 years, or so.........

Bill Dearborn

When I flush my radiators I always run drain them, refill them and drain them again after running the engine until the thermostat has been open for a while. Once the drained fluid is clear I stop, add the correct amount of straight DexCool to fill the cooling system 1/2 way. Then I top off with water. This brings the coolant to 50%. When you drain the system through the radiator petcock you can't get a couple of quarts out of the system. That is why the repeated flushings until there is nothing but water left in the engine.

I have been changing the fluid in GM Vehicles for years and I can tell you the GM Factory Service Manual for all cars does not call out Distilled Water. It calls out drinkable tap water and that is what I use. No need to guess how many bottles of distilled water you are going to need. Just run the hose. My 03 Tahoe is 14 years old and just about due for its third 5 year coolant change using drinkable tap water.

Bill

aaronc7

Interesting note about the distilled vs drinkable water, thanks for sharing that. Going to be hard for me to break tradition at this point though haha!

Rabbitman

I've always wondered about the distilled part myself. I don't know if it's in the Corvette manuals but I think I read somewhere it had to do with The aluminum but cars have aluminum heads for decades.
It might have to do with the fact that these cars set so much and might give corrosion a better chance to form. But I probably will use distilled water after spending so much on other things for this car for the past 8 months or so.
There is a big thread about Dexcool and some problems it supposedly created {lawsuits and such} but that's what I have and will continue to use with distilled water if possible just for my own peace of mind. I deffinately wouldn't mix this stuff with other types though in any circumstance.

TOPCATHR

I just replaced my coolant with dexcool drained about 9 quarts.

strand rider

My tap water carries a lot of minerals, so I buy the premixed dexcool.
THat way I am assured the water in the mix is suitable, hopefully someone is minding the mix with an informed eye at the plant. and I don't have to make a trip to the store for distilled water. Distilled water is not in big demand in my area, not a lot of steam irons any more, so I have to shop around , not worth the time or trouble when premixed offers no problems.

IF I were not running dexcool , I would use the more modern chemistry and go for the lifetime stuff.

fmvette9

They come from the factory with Bowling Green tap water and Dexcool mix.

Music

I had been using a -40C mixture of Dexcool for the longest time until I had to replace my thermostat due to P0128 (slow warmup) code being thrown in the winter. Unfortunately, I left all of my Dexcool at another residence half way across the country and decided to read the label on some of the Prestone I use in my truck. The regular prestone label says it is safe to mix with any colour antifreeze so that`s what I did. I haven`t had any problems at all, the code is gone, heater core works great around freezing exterior temperatures, temperature is super stable just under the midway mark, and the car warms up very quickly.