Dexcool antifreeze lawsuit
03-07-2010, 11:10 AM
#1
Cruising
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Location: Bordentown NJ
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Dexcool antifreeze lawsuit
Recently got my 95 coupe with 78 K on it, back from a vette specialty repair facility. Had no heat and I figured a quick flush and fill might do the trick to unclog the heater core. Well $1800.00
later I had my car back. I have had this car less than a year and it looked good and ran fine but come to find out that the GM recommended coolant had become a sludge like substance contaminating the cooling system and clogging the heater core, steam tubes and radiator. Later found out that GM had a large class action lawsuit filed against them (Google it) for damages done to engines that had this installed as a coolant. Turns out that it can also eat head and intake manifold gaskets and some owners were facing engine replacements or rebuilds.
The class action suit is closed now and it seems that most claimants only got $100.00 or less from GM. I would imagine that they have changed their formulation by now but if you have orange antifreeze be careful. It was supposed to last 150,000 miles. Thanks GM.....
later I had my car back. I have had this car less than a year and it looked good and ran fine but come to find out that the GM recommended coolant had become a sludge like substance contaminating the cooling system and clogging the heater core, steam tubes and radiator. Later found out that GM had a large class action lawsuit filed against them (Google it) for damages done to engines that had this installed as a coolant. Turns out that it can also eat head and intake manifold gaskets and some owners were facing engine replacements or rebuilds. The class action suit is closed now and it seems that most claimants only got $100.00 or less from GM. I would imagine that they have changed their formulation by now but if you have orange antifreeze be careful. It was supposed to last 150,000 miles. Thanks GM.....
03-07-2010, 11:47 AM
#2
Le Mans Master
Just to be clear, you bought a 15 year old car recently, right? The coolant should have been changed 3 times by now. Are you sure that each time it was done with the right stuff and the right way?
It's just you are making a fairly broad claim based on a fairly small amount of information. That sucks you had problems with your cooling system, though.
It's just you are making a fairly broad claim based on a fairly small amount of information. That sucks you had problems with your cooling system, though.
03-07-2010, 11:48 AM
#3
Le Mans Master
Been running it for a year now...no problems for me so far. If I had to guess I'm betting a lot of those who filed claims mixed/topped off the dex with another uncompatible coolant and got coolant sludge/boogers as a result.
03-07-2010, 11:50 AM
#4
Race Director
Recently got my 95 coupe with 78 K on it, back from a vette specialty repair facility. Had no heat and I figured a quick flush and fill might do the trick to unclog the heater core. Well $1800.00 later I had my car back. I have had this car less than a year and it looked good and ran fine but come to find out that the GM recommended coolant had become a sludge like substance contaminating the cooling system and clogging the heater core, steam tubes and radiator. Later found out that GM had a large class action lawsuit filed against them (Google it) for damages done to engines that had this installed as a coolant. Turns out that it can also eat head and intake manifold gaskets and some owners were facing engine replacements or rebuilds.
The class action suit is closed now and it seems that most claimants only got $100.00 or less from GM. I would imagine that they have changed their formulation by now but if you have orange antifreeze be careful. It was supposed to last 150,000 miles. Thanks GM.....
later I had my car back. I have had this car less than a year and it looked good and ran fine but come to find out that the GM recommended coolant had become a sludge like substance contaminating the cooling system and clogging the heater core, steam tubes and radiator. Later found out that GM had a large class action lawsuit filed against them (Google it) for damages done to engines that had this installed as a coolant. Turns out that it can also eat head and intake manifold gaskets and some owners were facing engine replacements or rebuilds. The class action suit is closed now and it seems that most claimants only got $100.00 or less from GM. I would imagine that they have changed their formulation by now but if you have orange antifreeze be careful. It was supposed to last 150,000 miles. Thanks GM.....
Yes, there were some cars (quite a few actually) with problems.
But in just about all cases, those problems could probably be traced back lack of proper maintenance.
Unless you bought your car new, you have no idea what might have happened to it in the last 15 years.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of GM cars using Dexcool without any issues at all.
I have 3 of them, and all over 100k miles.
Not a single issue.
'96 Corvette with over 103k miles
'00 Silverado with over 102k miles (purchased new)
'01 Monte Carlo with over 125k miles.
03-07-2010, 12:06 PM
#5
Le Mans Master
I switched out to Dexicool some years ago when I swapped to a Dewitts radiator. No problem in the vette (yet).
I had a Dodege truck and when it was time for a flush, I thought that I would also switch it out to Dexicool since it seemed to be ok in the vette.
Wrong - not ok. I got the sludge in the Dodge. No engine damage. Just some time later I opened up the radiator cap and say this jello crap in there. It must have been that I was unable to flush out all the original green anti-freeze. Seems to be if you have any traces of the old anti-freeze - it will jello up. At least that is what I heard.
Still have the Dexicool in the Vette and it seems happy.
I had a Dodege truck and when it was time for a flush, I thought that I would also switch it out to Dexicool since it seemed to be ok in the vette.
Wrong - not ok. I got the sludge in the Dodge. No engine damage. Just some time later I opened up the radiator cap and say this jello crap in there. It must have been that I was unable to flush out all the original green anti-freeze. Seems to be if you have any traces of the old anti-freeze - it will jello up. At least that is what I heard.
Still have the Dexicool in the Vette and it seems happy.
03-07-2010, 12:15 PM
#6
Le Mans Master
That's what will happen
03-07-2010, 12:53 PM
#7
Just to be clear, you bought a 15 year old car recently, right? The coolant should have been changed 3 times by now. Are you sure that each time it was done with the right stuff and the right way?
It's just you are making a fairly broad claim based on a fairly small amount of information. That sucks you had problems with your cooling system, though.
It's just you are making a fairly broad claim based on a fairly small amount of information. That sucks you had problems with your cooling system, though.
03-07-2010, 01:05 PM
#8
Drifting
Well, the even better part of this story is that your '95 NEVER came with DexCool! 1996 was the first year for DexCool...so, let's get back to the maintenance thing on a 15 year old Corvette.
If some Jim Dandy quick lube tech had mixed DexCool into your car's cooling system WITHOUT completely purging the conventional coolant, then that creates another problem - because DexCool and conventional coolant are chemical enemies. You certainly would not be the first person to suffer from owning a car that suffered because of an underinformed tech, happens all the time - "only" missed it by one year.
A common issue of "sludge" in cars of any years is if at any time one of the parts store "leaky radiator repair in a can/bottle" was poured into the radiator. Some of those miracle formulas will "stop" the leak, at the expense of a gummed up cooling system.
The formula for DexCool was changed after field reports of premature sludge buildup accumulated, such was part of the basis for the lawsuit. That said, C4's are notoriously hard even on conventional coolant in the '84 - '95 models. Its a fact of life that the C4 cooling system will hate you if it is neglected. I've seen sludge in '95 and earlier C4s.
Thomas
If some Jim Dandy quick lube tech had mixed DexCool into your car's cooling system WITHOUT completely purging the conventional coolant, then that creates another problem - because DexCool and conventional coolant are chemical enemies. You certainly would not be the first person to suffer from owning a car that suffered because of an underinformed tech, happens all the time - "only" missed it by one year.
A common issue of "sludge" in cars of any years is if at any time one of the parts store "leaky radiator repair in a can/bottle" was poured into the radiator. Some of those miracle formulas will "stop" the leak, at the expense of a gummed up cooling system.
The formula for DexCool was changed after field reports of premature sludge buildup accumulated, such was part of the basis for the lawsuit. That said, C4's are notoriously hard even on conventional coolant in the '84 - '95 models. Its a fact of life that the C4 cooling system will hate you if it is neglected. I've seen sludge in '95 and earlier C4s.
Thomas
03-07-2010, 01:34 PM
#9
Le Mans Master
03-07-2010, 01:46 PM
#10
Le Mans Master
Let's all return to the basics.
Surfactants,
particulate in the water (non Deionized or Distilled water introduced)
Electrolysis (Di-similar metals used in coolant systems rather than just Steel/steel)
There are a ton of factors that many do not understand in that cooling system.
I try every time I see one of these threads to point these things out..but no one believes a word I say.
Spent a couple of years studying Antifreeze for the purpose of recycling it using reverse osmosis filtration systems.
Propylene Glycol?? Ethylene Glycol........Tap water?? What eats aluminum what doesn't...why do the Europeans use Propylene Glycol in their aluminum engines and when we introduced Aluminum heads....all the sudden we had problems....
Just rambling with random thoughts....
Surfactants,
particulate in the water (non Deionized or Distilled water introduced)
Electrolysis (Di-similar metals used in coolant systems rather than just Steel/steel)
There are a ton of factors that many do not understand in that cooling system.
I try every time I see one of these threads to point these things out..but no one believes a word I say.
Spent a couple of years studying Antifreeze for the purpose of recycling it using reverse osmosis filtration systems.
Propylene Glycol?? Ethylene Glycol........Tap water?? What eats aluminum what doesn't...why do the Europeans use Propylene Glycol in their aluminum engines and when we introduced Aluminum heads....all the sudden we had problems....
Just rambling with random thoughts....
