[Jack M]

After evacuvating from Houston to Austin last Wednesday/Thursday, I checked the surge tank on my '01 Eldo and it was a little low. When I asked for a gallon of 50/50 pre-mixed orange Dex-Cool at a parts store, they said neither it nor full strength was made any longer, but that Prestone has a yellow-colored replacement anti-freeze that is compatable with all coolants, including Dex-Cool.

I declined to buy the yellow stuff since I only wanted to put less than a pint in the tank, and missing that little amount should be OK during the trip back to Houston this morning.

Is Dex-Cool off the market now? And, if so, what is the recommended replacement coolant?

Thanks, Guys.

 

[peteski]

Hmm... I thought that it was the other way around. I can no longer find the "green stuff". All I see is Dex-Cool and that yellow "universal" crap!

I don't have a good feeling about it. Since each coolant used totally different chemistry (according to our ex-expert), how can one-coolant-fit-all?! I've asked here about the universal coolant, but I don't recall getting any worthy info back.

Peteski

 

[Hus_Lac]

I found some 50/50 mix dex-cool at a local pepboys, but i wasn't able to find any at o'reillys and autozone. Don't know why.

 

[mcowden]

After evacuvating from Houston to Austin last Wednesday/Thursday, I checked the surge tank on my '01 Eldo and it was a little low. When I asked for a gallon of 50/50 pre-mixed orange Dex-Cool at a parts store, they said neither it nor full strength was made any longer, but that Prestone has a yellow-colored replacement anti-freeze that is compatable with all coolants, including Dex-Cool.

I declined to buy the yellow stuff since I only wanted to put less than a pint in the tank, and missing that little amount should be OK during the trip back to Houston this morning.

Is Dex-Cool off the market now? And, if so, what is the recommended replacement coolant?

Thanks, Guys.

If they weren't making it any more, it wouldn't be new cars. It is in new cars. It's still being made. If you want to use the same stuff that comes in the car from the factory, you need the Texaco stuff. Read about it here:

http://www.texaco.com/texaco/prodsvcs/anti_freeze_and_coolants.htm#Havoline_Extended

Prestone also makes a bright orange one, but I don't know where you can find it or why you're having problems finding it at common places. Rest assured it's still made and it still works fine.

 

[Jack M]

Thanks, Guys. I'm guessing that the Austin auto parts store just wanted to sell some of their so-called compatible product pushed on them by their wholesaler. I got Dex-Cool at O'Reilly's last time, so they probably have it in now. I like the pre-mixed for topping off purposes.

Incidently, it took me 15 hours to get to Austin, 215 miles from my Houston area home. It was bumper-to-bumper most of the way, and the temperature guage was getting close to the red. Had to turn off the a/c several times and goose the rpms up at idle neutral to get it under control. Lots of other cars were breaking down.

 

[mcowden]

Hmm... I thought that it was the other way around. I can no longer find the "green stuff". All I see is Dex-Cool and that yellow "universal" crap!

I don't have a good feeling about it. Since each coolant used totally different chemistry (according to our ex-expert), how can one-coolant-fit-all?! I've asked here about the universal coolant, but I don't recall getting any worthy info back.

Peteski

You can put whatever coolant in your car that you need to get through an emergency. Mix the green and orange stuff if you have to, it will work just fine. The problem is that, when you put green (silicated) coolants in a previously DexCool system, you can not get back the long-life properties of DexCool. You will be relegated to changing the coolant at the green coolant intervals of 2 years or 30k miles (whatever it says on a bottle of green stuff). It won't hurt anything to mix them in the car, but you will lose the benefits of DexCool. Hopefully that makes sense.

The "universal" coolant that I've seen out there is more yellow in color and it is also non-silicated and contains additives to prevent corrosion for the same interval as DexCool. Even if the chemistry is not the same as DexCool, it is compatible as far as long life goes, so you should be able to run with it for 5 years or 150,000 miles, but consult the bottle for the full details. I felt confident enough in the chemistry that I'm running a gallon of the yellow "universal" stuff in my car now, mixed 50/50 with distilled water, and that's in addition to the 1+ gallons of Prestone orange DexCool coolant mixed 50/50 with distilled water that was left in the system after I drained it to change the water pump cover seal. It's cooling just fine, and unless I have some other need to drain the coolant system before then, I plan to let it go for the full 5 years or 150k miles and I will not worry about it at all. My car has never had the green silicated coolants in it, so it should go the full life of the coolant without a problem.

 

[peteski]

Well, that is all fine, but how compatible is the universal stuff with the silicated (green) stuff I use in my 93 and 85 Caddies?

How can it be ok to do a mix of silicated and non-silicated coolant?

Peteski

 

[mcowden]

Well, that is all fine, but how compatible is the universal stuff with the silicated (green) stuff I use in my 93 and 85 Caddies?

How can it be ok to do a mix of silicated and non-silicated coolant?

Peteski

Good question, Peteski. I read up on the universal stuff, and it is also perfectly safe to mix it with green silicated coolants, but you have to change it at 2 years or 30k miles because of the silicates in the mix.

Surprisingly, Prestone says they guarantee a 5 year or 150k mile lifetime on the Universal coolant in a system that previously had green silicated coolants, provided you flush the system the way they want you to flush it. I did not find the flush procedure they recommend, but if that's all it takes, it might even be worth switching silicated systems over to the Universal stuff next time you swap coolant, if only to gain the added protection lifetime.

When you mix the Universal with DexCool, you can go to the full lifetime of 5 years or 150,000 miles.

So, with the universal (yellow) stuff, the consensus seems to be "mix to your heart's delight and change at the interval specified by the original stuff," or basically the lowest common denominator. If you follow the flushing procedure the universal manufacturer recommends, you can use the yellow stuff mixed up 50/50 with distilled water and go for 5 years or 150k miles.

 

[peteski]

Thanks mcowden!

Peteski