I think this is good information, what does SAE say? In most automotive circles, Dexcool is crapola! If you need more proof beyond a train hitting you, read:

http://www.classlaw.info/page10.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...m_dexcool.html

 

Also see:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/news/7oys...s_dexcool.html

It's gotten so bad that Dexcool has had to remove their long life claims. This stuff is terrible but GM is too darned stubborn to admit it. They know that if they admitted it, it would open up thousands of lawsuits. No matter, they are headed that way anyhow. Be smart dump it now and go with Prestone's new formula. Mixes with all other types.

 

I bought mine several months ago ...it was a pleasure to deal... a pleasure to be treated well as a customer and they were knowlegeable to a fault ...the product was AS ADVERTISED easy to install and it works great .....
John Johnson

 

What did you buy?????

 

This is a testimonial from one of our customers about a new product
called the Big Mouth Performance Air Dam !!

 

This is right on info, I can say from experiance. I had been noticing that my temp was little high compared to my C5. So, while installing my Vararam intake, (had shroud over rad/cond off) I noticed the condenser was full of seeds, chaf and animal hair. I could not blow it out because it was imbeded. Then, I pulled the cond away from rad to better blow it out and radiator was worse. I would never have known rad was so plugged without seeing it. I ended up blowing and using long precission twezzers to get what I could out. Temp came down 10/15*. I still need to pull rad out all the way to really clean it correctly.

Another way I got temp down was to reprogram on/off temp settings for both fans. Normally, 92/94* cruising and 195/200 under worst case traffic/temp (last test 88* day in heavy traffic).

 

Why go through all that debris problems when you can eliminate most of the debris and water contamination , plus increase the cold static pressure all in one ? and reduce component operating temperatures while the vehicle is in motion.

 

 

"Ill-informed,wrong,misleading,wannabes"? For cristsakes it sounds like common sense to me me.Crawl under the car,look and see if there's even any crap in there before you start disassembling the car!

 

OK - Here's my story . . . a rather long one . . .

Driving home last Tuesday - 40 mi commute . . . 106 degrees outside - usual crap - Phoenix traffic just before 5:00 p.m. - and suddenly everyone is going 10 mph . . .

This went on for about 5 miles. I'm dancing between 1st and 2nd . . . trying to find a gear where the idle speed will keep me in synch with the flow - cuz the ball of my left foot is already starting to hurt from clutch duty!

The A/C is keeping me cool, so no prob . . .

All of a sudden I see this alert on the Heads up telling me to check gauges . . . I look down and see TEMP is at 260!!!

Now, I had noticed it running a little hot at times last year (220-230) but never PEGGED IT before!

I immediately shut down the A/C and took an off-ramp so as to get up some speed and get some airflow over that hot radiator!

Ran her up to about 60 and put her in neutral and let the ram-air do it's job while coasting . . . about half a mile

Temp was down to 230 or so when I pulled into a convenience store parking lot . . .

Shut her down and went inside to buy some distilled water thinking that I must have blown something, and would need water to get her home.

But . . . popped hood, and saw overflow tank was about half full . . . totally normal.

Fired her up and noticed fans were running . . . everything looked fine.

Took some interesting side-routes to another freeway to home. I noticed that whenever my speed dropped below about 50 mph, temp would start climbing . . . so I concentrated on keeping groundspeed up.

Managed to get her down to 220 over several miles where traffic was moving . . . then the inevitable . . . another slowdown.

Sweating it out, I creeped along with everyone else - now of course having the temp displayed on the DIC and watching it constantly.

Temp slowly climbed back up to about 240 before congestion cleared somewhat and we started moving again. Got her home and shut her down.

Started in on researching right away . . . I didn't have any major problems before . . . but this was one of the hottest days so far this year, and I (knew there were plenty more to come (it can hit 120 degrees here.)

Went from blown head gasket to water pump failure to hose collapse to thermostat failure, and just about everything in-between. Finally read a few posts about cleaning condenser/radiator - seems the C5 is a big vacuum cleaner on the highway, and I know from experience that Phoenix provides plenty of debris for motorists.

Resolved to give that a try the next morning.

Early Wednesday, pulled her out in the driveway, and pulled shrouds and covers to expose them. Got my small (but effective) 1400 psi pressure washer out and spent the next two hours THOROUGHLY cleaning both condenser and radiator, being careful not to direct the high-pressure spray at an angle that would bend the tiny intricate fins.

I COULD NOT believe what came out of there . . . napkins . . . paper towels . . . plastic baggies . . . bugs . . . dirt . . . when blasting the cores, the liquid that came out from the opposite side looked like chocolate milk - literally!

Put her all back together . . . and what a difference!

It sits rock-solid at 198-201 degrees sitting at the local burger stand, or cruising down the freeway now . . . (if the A/C is on)

With A/C off, it will creep up into the 220's before the fans kick in, but then immediately starts dropping - like it should . . .

So, moral of the story - sometimes it is the little things . . . not the big expensive ones.

I feel I got lucky here - was expecting wallet to really hurt before this one was fixed!

I hope the next guy with this problem sees this post before doing a bunch of drastic fixes . . .

 

cool and informative story, i live in the same hellhole you and have fought the same traffic recently at 112 degrees and temps went up, will try your solution and see what happens, was going to go with the ron davis radiator, prolly still gonna do it, cause summer is gonna be a b@#!h this year,and i have some major hot mods goin on, new ls6 heads,cam, and everything else imaginable, and i want to run cool with no problems this year, been on the side of the road already this year, and had to be towed thanks again.

 

Everybody I have spoken to says to get rid of the DexCool and go back to the green stuff as soon as possible. My machinist showed me a cylinder head that was totally blocked by the crystals formed by Dex Cool. I have had master mechanics, auto machinists and most recently a radiator guy all tell me that Dex Cool is major trouble. I am going to the latest Prestone which is ethelene glycol but also mixes with all other types of anti-freeze.[/QUOTE]

I was always under the impression that by mixing up Dex-Cool with other types you will get big problems. If a car originally ran Dex-Cool and then you mix in other types or change types, it would gel up inside the coolant chambers. Could someone provide concrete information about this??

 

I check the front of the radiator every Oil Change

 

I was always under the impression that by mixing up Dex-Cool with other types you will get big problems. If a car originally ran Dex-Cool and then you mix in other types or change types, it would gel up inside the coolant chambers. Could someone provide concrete information about this??
Quote

The latest formulas available mix with all other types of antifreeze. Check out the new Prestone yellow bottle. It will tell you that it mixes with ALL other types. I got rid of Dexcool. Going with the new Prestone (Yellow Bottle) mix. Too many lawsuits against Dexcool and too many professionals telling me that it is destructive.

 

I've got a 99 A4 and it too hits that range. And on HOT days it gets to like 240. I went to Chevy last week and they said its in the normal range for a C5. What concerns me is that they said it's acceptable for it to get as high as 270! That seems way to high... but maybe Chevy knows best....

BTW, I have a 160 degree and a ported and polished oil pump. My car did run a lot hotter before the TRASH in my radiator was cleaned out (had to replace a fan motor too because of such).

After reading this post.. I don't feel so bad. Was going to look into getting an oil cooler.

 

Is someone over at that dealership smoking CRACK??? Thats WAY TOO HIGH!!!

VR

 

yes

 

Obviously, you didn't read the info clearly and don't know about E-T or you wouldn't have made such a comment. By cleaning what you can reach from under the car, you only solve part of the problem. E-T is right about wannabes opinions, they're like A-holes, everybody has one and most stink. I never read so much crap as when a radiator, temperature, thermostat thread is started.

 

why do I get the exact opposite. when I'm driving my temps climb to 220 ish then when I stop in traffic temp goes down. could this be my thermostat also?

 

First, 230 degree oil temp is not too high. It's still within the optimal operating range.

Second, I bought the pre-mixed Dex-Cool at WalMart and did not have to worry what type of water to use. Peace of mind.