My '07 Z51 coupe just hit 35,000 miles and I am wondering if this is a good time to change the coolant and check hoses etc.
Any input from the forum would be appreciated.

 

My '08 Owners Manual says 5 years or 150,000 miles.

 

your Dex-Cool extended life coolant maintenance schedule calls for coolant replacement after 5 years or 150,000 miles,whichever occurs first. your a few years late if you havent replaced yet. check your hoses and change your oil at least once per year. read the maintenance schedule in your owners manual

 

You really need to change the coolant ASAP. Dex Cool if not changed turns to crap and will gum up your entire cooling system.

 

OP: I change all fluids & filters every 30K miles, which is around every March for me. I bought my 07 with 2 miles on it and now it has over 170K. I plan on keeping it for many years. As for the coolant, I like to add 2 bottles of water wetter from Red Line when I have the flush done.

 

You're due. I changed it my '06 at six years because it only had 14,000 miles on it. Easy diy. Just make sure the system "burps."

 

It's time for an '07...time, not mileage...I'll be doing mine this summer.

 

Does it have a shelf life printed on the bottle?

 

Thanks for your quick and helpful reply.

 

in the owners manual

 

Prestone brand of Dexcool does. The label on the back of the one gallon jug says 5 years or 150,000 miles.

 

The OP just showed us that somewhere in the 7-8 year range hasn't caused a problem yet.

 

have had people asking if I could weld up their oil filter because it had rusted thru or check noise in front end caused by brake rotor rusting,breaking in half and falling off car.dont recommend these maintenance schedule's either. coolant replacement=chump change

 

Hasn't caused a problem YET. His cooling system might crash tomorrow, if he was depending on an Extended Warranty he's out of luck since he didn't change coolant @ 5 years.

GM Owners Manual requires 5/150,000, Coolant Manufacturer says 5/150,000. Seems obvious.

 

DexCool won't gum up if there is no oxygen in the cooling system. Keep the system full, and you should be just fine.

With that said, at 5yrs, I'd do a drain and flush, with clean water from the garden hose. Drain the radiator after flushing, and add half the cooling system's capacity in pure DexCool coolant. Then top it off was straight water. This way, you'll end up with a perfect 50/50 mix.

At that age, I would also flush the brake fluid.

 

I'm just saying that just because the manufacturers recommend a time or mileage, that it's not chiseled in stone and all sorts of bad things happen right after the time/mileage is exceeded.

GM also says Vettes have a total load capacity of 432#. So if you weigh 232#, you better have a lightweight in the other seat to compensate for the luggage, otherwise the car may break in half.

People get too **** about lots of stuff that in the end doesn't make a big difference.
Almost forgot the part about Vettes are not made to tow boats or small trailers.

 

Your absolutely right!!!Good One!

 

Five years and one day...it all turns to goo....

 

I think most of us know that anti-freeze (be it Dex Cool or the earlier Green Ethylene Glycol version) has a lot of stuff in it other than the Ethylene Glycol that keeps the coolant from freezing. One of the other things is a corrosion inhibitor package. I'm not a chemist, but that corrosion inhibitor package does not last forever, and when it looses it's effectiveness, you will definitely see dissimilar metals in the cooling system corrode. Will your entre cooling system turn to a corroded mess one day after the five year service interval - of course not !!! But, it certainly seems like false economy to try to save $25 and a couple hours of your time by not buying two gallons of Dex Cool, and to have a head gasket or a radiator fail because the coolant failed to protect these components from corroding...

I've had the "pleasure" of working on a C4 that had eon's old coolant in it (this is prior to the "extended life coolants, and the Dex-Cool days). When I finally did a coolant drain - the stuff that came out of the block drains was dark brown... When the heads came off the engine a while later, there was a "green slime" in the cooling passages of the cylinder heads that was nearly impossible to get off (a 2,000 psi pressure washer didn't even make a dent in the stuff). Think that cooling system was operating anywhere near as efficiently as it should ???

Fundamentally - the fluids in our cars - be it Engine Oil, Coolant, Brake Fluid, Gear Oil etc. are cheap compared to the damage that can be done if they're overlooked for too long. Enough Said ???

 

You just confirmed, in my mind, the wisdom of my having all fluids changed out in mine at just under 3 years (with 33,000 miles) before the bumper/bumper warranty expires.