Aw cr*p - I used Dex coolant

[ashooter]

I just did a radiator flush a couple of weeks ago and used one of the "Dex" coolants when I filled it back up. The guy at NAPA said "red is red and green is green".

How important is it that I get this stuff out RIGHT NOW and replace it with the green stuff? AND, how do I make damned sure I get it ALL out so it doesn't cause any problems?

 

[Koffer]

My 92 has been running dexcool for 4 years now and Ive not had any problems .
I did this when I changed the Tstat , flushed out the "green" at the same time .

If you changed all of the coolent you should be fine . its when you start mixing its becomes a problem.

 

[Romer]

It depends on how well you flushed. If you flushed out the old really well, you should be OK.

 

[ashooter]

Yeah, well I'm not 100% convinced I did a thorough enough job of flushing. Maybe I ought to do another flush and then refill with the remaining Dex I have on hand. I think I still have a gallon of Dex and a gallon of distilled water out in the garage.

Does that sound reasonable, or should I just go ahead and flush the heck out of it and go back to green or Toyota red???

 

[RavenTai]

Dexcool has some rather nasty problems, Toyota Red is definatly not Dexcool.

one of Dexcools major rust inhibitors 2-EHA (which stands for
2-ethylhexanoic acid) is a plasticizer and can damage gaskets and seals, Dexcool also does not contain any short tem corrosion protection, all of its corrosion inhibitors are long term and take a wile to start working, if a part looses it coverage such as from cavitations or low fluid level that part will corrode before protection is reestablished, the brown funk found in S10 cooling systems was directly attributed to dexcool,

Use Toyota red or regular green or basically anything but Dexcool

...........Since last year, however,
Honda and Toyota have moved strongly
into extended-life organic acid technology
(OAT) coolants. Yes, DexCools
also are OATs, but these Japanese formulas
are not DexCool, and the two
car companies have indicated they absolutely,
positively don’t want DexCooltype
coolants used in their vehicles.

The questions about 2-EHA were
raised not only by Ford (and reportedly
DaimlerChrysler) but within Japanese
coolant development circles, as
well. When Honda introduced its longlife
coolant, it specifically excluded 2-
EHA, and we can tell you there is unhappiness
at Honda regarding Dex-
Cool in the new Saturn VUE with the
Honda-supplied 3.5L V6. The system
is being filled with DexCool because
that’s what’s in the plant for everything
else. It would not be simple to set up a
separate coolant fill system for the
Honda engine.

Lots more good info in this article

http://www.motor.com/MAGAZINE/Pdf/082004_04.pdf

 

[ashooter]

Aw hell... that's what I thought. Looks like I have another flush to do this weekend.

 

[concretejungle]

good info raven as usual. I was under the impression that green antifreeze is ok, so long as you have every last drop of red or other product out of your cooling system. Mainly it's the mixture that is deadly, not one or the other.

 

[jmsoule]

I'm trying Evans NPG+. This is genuine waterless coolant you never have to flush again. Just keep it there and you'll NEVER overheat.

http://www.evanscooling.com/html/npgPls.htm

I hope that's correct. if not let me know .. thanks

 

[Riley]

It's either Toyota Red (long life, not super long life) or the Prestone green. Anything else and y our IH8MUD warranty is void.

Get this, my friend with a minitruck took it in the dealer with green it in and asked them to replace the coolant (without thinking). They ended up putting in red but didn't flush the system. When pushed on it they replied "we never flush unless asked to do so".

Looks like we're doing a flush and new red this weekend.....

 

[RavenTai]

I'm trying Evans NPG+. This is genuine waterless coolant you never have to flush again. Just keep it there and you'll NEVER overheat.

http://www.evanscooling.com/html/npgPls.htm

I hope that's correct. if not let me know .. thanks

since the boiling point of Evans is so high it cannot boil over, but your engine can still can overheat, not being able to boil in a nice saftey feature and may improve cooling by not having gas bubbles in the head,

only problem is water carries and transfers a lot of heat, more than glycol alone and is the reason water is used in coolant, it sounds like Evans is addressing that with the NPG+, (the old NPG was just straight propolene glycol) but I am not sure if they have cought up with the effeciency of water & coolant. they dont give a lot of info just that "while improving upon its thermal conductivity by about 32 percent and reducing its viscosity by about 65 percent." over the original NPG

let us know how that works out, if you have not yet you should do the temperature gague mod in the FAQ. ditching corrosion, electrolisis and bi-anual coolant changes would be great if it works right, the old stuff did not.

 

[CJF]

I'm trying Evans NPG+. This is genuine waterless coolant you never have to flush again. Just keep it there and you'll NEVER overheat.

http://www.evanscooling.com/html/npgPls.htm

I hope that's correct. if not let me know .. thanks

How long have you had it in there? I think you're definitely being a guinea pig on this, so I'd be very interested in updates. I know one person who tried it in a 3FE; it kept blowing out his water pump and he's now back to water based.

Like Raven says, oil-based coolant has been a holy grail for quite a while; I for one am not convinced that Evans has obtained it.

Good luck,

Curtis

 

[cptmud]

i dont know much about coolants, but i only use redline waterwetter without any hassels , and thats dealing with the aussie outback on my extended trips

 

[1000-oaks]

Hmmmm, thinking it was the same as Yota Red I put Dexcool in my 4Runner seven years ago (been parked for five years though)...no problems yet but maybe I should change it sometime.

 

[ashooter]

1000-oaks, i wanna eat your avatar.

 

[LandCrusher'70]

1000-oaks, i wanna eat your avatar.

Print it out...

 

[ashooter]

Print it out...

Good idea! Why didn't I think of that?

"Ctrl P"

munchamunchamuncha

 

[CJF]

munchamunchamuncha