When should the dex cool in the radiator of my 02 be changed? The manual says 150,000 miles but I have read some people do it at 50,000 miles please advise.

 

You can do it whenever you like, but the manual says 150,000 miles.

 

Just to be on the safe side I change coolant every other year regardless of the miles. Also use distilled water instead of tap water. My DD is 19 years old... since new, I've done this and still have the original heater core and would have the original radiator except that the dealer damaged it during routine maintenance a few years back.

 

Every year I drain 2 gallons of coolant, and refill with 2 fresh gallons. The system holds 14qts (3.5gals), so I'm refreshing over half of it each year.

It's cheap, easy, and you'll be running mostly fresh coolant all the time.

 

 

I believe the manual or maybe a sticker under the hood said at 7 years or 150,000 miles. I just changed the Dex-Cool on my 99 coupe with 47,000 miles. It was looking a little discolored and I just bought the Corvette in September of this year. Better safe than sorry for I don't know what fluids were changed before I came along.

 

With the Dex-Cool, I change it every 5 years (and use distilled water), I never put that many miles on my cars on an annual basis.

 

In case you need it, here are the instructions. It is important to remove the air from the system. They are other shortcut method, but I prefer the GM one.

Drain and Fill procedure

1. Park the vehicle on a level surface.

2. Follow the steps below to remove the radiator sure tank fill cap :
a. Slowly rotate the cap counterclockwise.
b. Stop and allow the hissing to stop.
c. After all hissing stop, continue turning counterclockwise to remove the cap.

3. Opens the radiator drain ****. (It looks like a white plastic plug below the lower radiator hose. You can see it if your car is jack and you are under it).

4. Allow the system to drain completely.

5. Inspect the engine coolant:
-Discolored – Follow the flush procedure below
-Normal in appearance –continue the next step

6. Close the radiator drain ****.

7. Fill the system through the radiator surge tank opening up to the base of the neck.

8. Start the engine.

9. Idle engine for 1 minute.

10. Install radiator surge tank cap.

11. Cycle the RPM, idle to 3000 for 30 seconds intervals until engine coolant reaches 210 F.

12. Shut off the engine.

13. Refer to step 3 above to remove the radiator surge tank cap.

14. Start the engine.

15. Idle engine for 1 minute and fill surge tank to ½ above COLD Full mark on the radiator surge tank.

16. Install the radiator surge tank cap.

17. Cycle the RMP, idle to 3000 in 30 seconds intervals until engine coolant reaches 210 F.

18. Shut off the engine.

19. Top off coolant as necessary, to ½ above COLD Full mark on the radiator surge tank.

20. Rinse away any excess coolant from the engine and the compartment.

21. Inspect the concentration of the coolant.

Flush Procedure.
1. Block the drive wheels.
2. Place the transmission in Park or Neutral
3. Press the parking brake.
4. Run the engine until the thermostat opens.
5. Stop the engine
6. Follow the drain and fill procedure using water until the fluid is nearly colorless. Refer to Draining and Filling Cooling System.
7. Fill the cooling system. Refer to Draining and filling cooling system.

Edit: I use distilled water.

 

So far, every cam change but now it will be a head change

 

Manual says 5 years or 150,000 miles.