Dex Cool vs Reg. Antifreeze
 

Ok so i have a 2002 Silverado Z71 1500 with the 5.3 vortec in it. I was out washing my truck today and saw a small pool of something orange under the truck right about where the water pump sits. Stuck my finger in it knowing it was this dreaded DEX COOL... Then proceeded to trace the leak and found out that it was the water pump gasket. I called up my buddy and asked him to come look at it he is (ASE) Certified btw. Took one look at it said yep thats the wp gasket. So i called the parts store and started pricing everything for the pump and gasket because im going to swap out the pump since im doing the gasket. We were standing there talking about Dex Cool Coolant and he said that he did a full flush and got rid of the (Orange Sh*t) cause it eats at your hoses, o rings, and gaskets.

So my ? is should I take his word and swap over to the Reg. Antifreeze or keep this expensive Dex Cool?

Sorry if this is a repost i could not find anything about the dex cool swap... Thanks

From the reading I have done on the subject DexCool can be bad if either A: You have a leak and it gets mixed with outside air, B: You accidentally mix it with other kinds of coolant, or C: You don't flush it on a regular basis. In either case it can sludge up and cause a real mess. Personally I did a full flush and went back to the good ole green stuff in my 98. My 2003 still has it and actually is due for a flush. It will also probably get converted over to the green stuff. As far as affecting the system my 98 runs just as cool and I haven't seen any ill affects. The key will be getting as much of the orange stuff out as possible. Good luck.

Sham,

What is the best way to flush a truck like mine since there is no rad cap just the overflow. Do you just take the lower hose off drain all the dex then fill full of water run for a few then flush several more times then put in the Good ole trusty green?

The Dex coolant is good for 150K miles or 5 years and this is longer than the green stuff in my own experience. The idea that anti-freeze formulated by the manufacturer and which affects the vehicles probable need for maintenance over the 5-year 100,000 mile drive train warranty is bad for the engine parts is just plain dumb.

The cost is also going to be based on a 50-50 mix of coolant and drinking water for best performance which is also what GM specifies.

"Plain Dumb" in your opinion or not there are COUNTLESS Dex-Cool related complaints. Just do a quick Google search and pull up a chair you can read the complaints till you go blind.

Since your post is a month old you may have already done the job. But, if you haven't there is a drain hose on the lower driver side of the radiator with a valve on it. You can drain a lot of the coolant from there. There is also drain plugs on both sides of the engine block that you can drain too (I flushed mine without touching the engine block drains). Remove the upper rad hose from the rad. Stick a garden hose in the rad and flush until the water that comes out of the hose runs clear. Take the water pump off and flush both sides of the engine block, and the heater core. I also used an air compressor after each flush to get as much of the water out as I could. Put it all back together, fill coolant res, and run the truck with the res. cap off to let the air out, and the heater on full hot, while adding coolant as it goes into the system.