Flush & Fill

[excel45800]

Howdy all!My girlfriend has a 05 2wd Vibe, 97,000 + miles. I want to flush and fill the cooling system. It has Dex Cool in it, do i have to replace with Dex Cool? I was hoping that if i do a good job flushing the system i could go back in with 5 yr long life coolant? Thank you for your reply in advance.

[djb383]

Dumped the DexCrud out of both our Vibes shortly after buying them. Flushed several times with distilled water to get as much of the DexCrud out, then filled with green Prestone Extended Life coolant. Did the same thing to our Saturn Vue that came filled with DexCrud.

[excel45800]

Thank you for the reply, Thats what I'm going to do. I've heard too many bad tales about the Dex Crud.

[pljenkins]

Second it. Lose the DexCrud, do a good three or more thorough flushes with water, then put the Prestone stuff in. Been running that way for 50000 miles since this last change and zero defects.

[djb383]

My I suggest that if you flush with distilled water and don't drain the block (just the radiator), fill the system with the full strength Prestone, not the 50/50 pre-diluted. That way the full strength stuff will mix with the distilled water in the block and give you a +/- 50/50 mix. Also, I found the Vibe to be somewhat stubborn to "burp" the air out of the cooling system. For several days after the flush, remove the radiator cap (ENGINE COLD) and add coolant to the very top of the rad as needed.

[excel45800]

Thank you for all the replies!Is there a reason why everyone likes Prestone? and How do you drian the overflow bottle? The darn thing is molded into the fan shroud. Is Prestone a better low silicate coolant? Thanks for all the replys, I'm a Ford guy and this is my girlfriends car so I'm learning how to maintain it. This is really a great forum!Edit,I drained it and it took forever with the radiator cap off to drain, so I'm assuming that the block drained as well? Didnt get much out of it though. Not sure how I'm gonna drain the overflow bottle, its tough to get my hand under it to try and remove the rubber hose. the top is vented so you cant suck the fluid out of it. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks,

[jake75]

What does not make sense to me - why would GM, a multi billion dollar company with all kinds of technical expertise, put a coolant in an automobile that is (as some say) "crud". I know there were some issues, real or imagined, several years ago but I would trust that if there was a problem with the Dex-Cool formulation that GM has by now corrected it. Toyota had a "sludge" issue too. My conservative approach to this is just change out that coolant a little more often than every 5 years.

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »What does not make sense to me - why would GM, a multi billion dollar company with all kinds of technical expertise, put a coolant in an automobile that is (as some say) "crud". I know there were some issues, real or imagined, several years ago but I would trust that if there was a problem with the Dex-Cool formulation that GM has by now corrected it. Toyota had a "sludge" issue too. My conservative approach to this is just change out that coolant a little more often than every 5 years.Sludge issue with Toyota are the owners who did not change oil on a regular interval - the design of the engine tends to wear down oil faster (at least this is what I read).

[excel45800]

When i drained it the color was pink, Isnt that Toyota antifreeze? Dex Crud is orange?

[scherry2]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »What does not make sense to me - why would GM, a multi billion dollar company with all kinds of technical expertise, put a coolant in an automobile that is (as some say) "crud". I know there were some issues, real or imagined, several years ago but I would trust that if there was a problem with the Dex-Cool formulation that GM has by now corrected it. I had a chevy blazer that had no heat GM replaced the heater core, heater hoses, radiator, all in a 4 month period when the dealer said after the heater core change, "its not GM's fault" but a few years later in a lawsuit I was paid for repairs I paid to the dealer when GM finally had to admit it was their dex cool "at that time. that was 1998. I'm sure technology has improved since then. I've never had a problem since with either of my vehicles with Dex-cool in them and I'll bet you would be hard pressed to finds many cases after they piad out millions in the lawsuit. but then again there are stigmas stuck to chevy just like the stigma I have about sheetmetal on Foreign made vehicles they were rust buckets in the 70's and as far as I'm concerned they still are. just like djb383 thinks dexcool is crud....

[djb383]

If you want to stay pink, orange, red or whatever Prestone makes GM DexCool........http://www.prestone.com/produc...lant2........but you may not be able to find it everywhere, like you can the green stuff. Sure hope Prestone manages there business better than GM.

[jake75]

I am reasonably sure GM was never in the antifreeze manufacturing business. Someone else (Prestone?) no doubt made it for GM.

[excel45800]

Went to Advance Auto Parts and bought a $3 siphon hose and drianed the overflow bottle, worked great.