What kind/brand of coolant do you use?

[DMCVegas]

I should add that my current engine which is the B280F with EFI, is rebuilt so it was all cleaned up beforehand. I didn't have to worry about contamination but it is a problem as Robert indicates so don't go dumping it in your drained cooling system since there will still be plenty of "green" coolant left in it. My Ford also uses Dex-Cool. So far, no complaints or issues with either vehicles.

Ford uses Extended Life Coolant, yes. But it is not DEX-COOL. DEX-COOL is a GM-only antifreeze with it's own proprietary formula containing Potassium 2-ethylhexanoate.

Ford extended life antifreeze is Yellow.

Now while MoPar extended life antifreeze is also Orange like DEX-COOL, it is NOT the same formula. It is more similar to what Ford uses. So nope, you can't go solely by color either.

Potassium 2-ethylhexanoate acts as a plasticizer which attacks certain plastics and silicone rubber. Both of which GM uses in their head gaskets as well as their intake manifolds because of water passages around the throttles. It led to lots and lots of failures. It's why you can still see a decent amount of old Cavaliers, Corvettes, and Silverados from the 90's on the road that had less vulnerable designs, but the vehicles that used the more susceptible to damage V6 engines are disappearing quickly.

If you have a GM vehicle, it's absolutely in your best interest to get the DEX-COOL out. If you have a vehicle that you need to top-off the coolant in, your best bet is just the universal stuff. NEVER EVER EVER use DEX-COOL in any car or truck that doesn't have it already inside! Which if it's not a GM product, you know for a fact you won't use it. GM does claim that DEX-COOL is *technicly* compatible with other coolants, but it's life is then shortened to only two years. But given that it doesn't play well with contamination, and even worse things like silicone rubber where the majority of us here have replaced the Water Pump hoses in the VOD with silicone rubber ones, you don't want to run the risk.

[dn010]

Manual states WSS-M97B44-D Ford Part Number. Check out the description tab on this link, last bullet:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/p...f850/7020008-P

Ford uses Extended Life Coolant, yes. But it is not DEX-COOL. DEX-COOL is a GM-only antifreeze with it's own proprietary formula containing Potassium 2-ethylhexanoate.

Ford extended life antifreeze is Yellow.

Now while MoPar extended life antifreeze is also Orange like DEX-COOL, it is NOT the same formula. It is more similar to what Ford uses. So nope, you can't go solely by color either.

Potassium 2-ethylhexanoate acts as a plasticizer which attacks certain plastics and silicone rubber. Both of which GM uses in their head gaskets as well as their intake manifolds because of water passages around the throttles. It led to lots and lots of failures. It's why you can still see a decent amount of old Cavaliers, Corvettes, and Silverados from the 90's on the road that had less vulnerable designs, but the vehicles that used the more susceptible to damage V6 engines are disappearing quickly.

If you have a GM vehicle, it's absolutely in your best interest to get the DEX-COOL out. If you have a vehicle that you need to top-off the coolant in, your best bet is just the universal stuff. NEVER EVER EVER use DEX-COOL in any car or truck that doesn't have it already inside! Which if it's not a GM product, you know for a fact you won't use it. GM does claim that DEX-COOL is *technicly* compatible with other coolants, but it's life is then shortened to only two years. But given that it doesn't play well with contamination, and even worse things like silicone rubber where the majority of us here have replaced the Water Pump hoses in the VOD with silicone rubber ones, you don't want to run the risk.

[mr_maxime]

i used the green stuff from oreillys

[AugustneverEnds]

Ford uses Extended Life Coolant, yes. But it is not DEX-COOL. DEX-COOL is a GM-only antifreeze with it's own proprietary formula containing Potassium 2-ethylhexanoate.

Ford extended life antifreeze is Yellow.

Now while MoPar extended life antifreeze is also Orange like DEX-COOL, it is NOT the same formula. It is more similar to what Ford uses. So nope, you can't go solely by color either.

Potassium 2-ethylhexanoate acts as a plasticizer which attacks certain plastics and silicone rubber. Both of which GM uses in their head gaskets as well as their intake manifolds because of water passages around the throttles. It led to lots and lots of failures. It's why you can still see a decent amount of old Cavaliers, Corvettes, and Silverados from the 90's on the road that had less vulnerable designs, but the vehicles that used the more susceptible to damage V6 engines are disappearing quickly.

If you have a GM vehicle, it's absolutely in your best interest to get the DEX-COOL out. If you have a vehicle that you need to top-off the coolant in, your best bet is just the universal stuff. NEVER EVER EVER use DEX-COOL in any car or truck that doesn't have it already inside! Which if it's not a GM product, you know for a fact you won't use it. GM does claim that DEX-COOL is *technicly* compatible with other coolants, but it's life is then shortened to only two years. But given that it doesn't play well with contamination, and even worse things like silicone rubber where the majority of us here have replaced the Water Pump hoses in the VOD with silicone rubber ones, you don't want to run the risk.

I can't find where he posted it but Rob Grady gave pretty much the same explanation as to why he doesn't recommend Dex-Cool. If Mr. Grady doesn't like Dex-Cool then it should never find its way into a D.

By the way I use Peak or Prestone pre-mixed whichever I have on the shelf or is readily available at the local Advance Auto.

[DMCMW Dave]

The only car I've ever run Dex-Cool in is Julee's Chevy Volt. That uses it in both cooling systems (engine AND battery), and given the extremely long warranty involved, I don't want to experiment with it.

[DMCVegas]

Manual states WSS-M97B44-D Ford Part Number. Check out the description tab on this link, last bullet:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/p...f850/7020008-P

That is an excellent point worth discussion.

In a nutshell, it's Prestone accidentally Spamdexing based upon the product specification chart. That's why it turns up as a compatible coolant when you punch it into a search engine. But in truth, it's not *real* DEX-COOL. Check this out:

DEX-COOL compatible formulas such as this merely claim to meet the Ford WSS-M97B44-D standard for extended life coolants. The first thing is to realize that the "specifications" themselves are not listed. But more on that in a second.

The other thing is that there are different formulas for DEX-COOL. It's an OAT coolant (Organic Acid Technology) which uses Potassium 2-ethylhexanoate. Which remember, that is a plasticizer and what is responsible for all the damage to GM vehicles. However, the Prestone formula as per it's MSDS instead uses SODIUM 2-ethylhexanoate. That if I am not mistaken is a HOAT, or Hybrid Organic Acid Technology coolant. Both Prestone's regular extended life formula, as well as their DEX-COOL formulas eschew Potassium 2-ethylhexanoate in their formulas, which by contrast GM demands and uses on their own assembly line.

Take a look at this chart as well. Even after Ford went from traditional green to HOAT coolant, and the on to OAT coolants, and other manufacturers followed suit as well, everyone is still listed as being compatible with one another except for GM's DEX-COOL which is still quarantined off by itself.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/an...-selection.oap

They also go out of their way to point out that even when Chrysler also used orange colored coolant, it was totally different than DEX-COOL.

My guess is it seems that the official DEX-COOL standard formula utilized by GM is not at all what you're getting with Prestone. Instead it's only compatible fluids that merely meet OEM specifications. Probably as well to escape the multi-million dollar lawsuits that General Motors had to endure because of their product. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the DEX-COOL stuff Prestone is selling is probably no different than their Extended Life product save for the color dye used. Which is why it would technically be compatible with Ford's WSS-M97B44-D standard. But is is absolutely NOT the same official DEX-COOL you'd buy from a GM dealer. I'd bet that the Ford spec does NOT include Potassium 2-ethylhexanoate, which since Prestone doesn't use, it's why it's listed as being compatible. But we'd need to see the exact specifications to see that.

[David T]

Because most of us are not chemists and we don't want to guess at it, the very best advice is to NEVER mix fluids. Doesn't matter what they are. There are enough different types that we can't know what can mix and what cannot. The safest bet is the good old green stuff. As for Deloreans that is what is recommended, and that is what works. On other make cars you should always use what the manual recommends and again, NEVER mix different fluids. Not even different manufacturers. You should always know what kinds of fluids are in your car and when they were last changed. If you don't know, then the fluids should be replaced so you DO know when they were changed and exactly what is in there. Especially on a used car, one of the first things that should be done is change all of the fluids and filters.

[vwdmc16]

Ok guys lets not turn this into a dexcool hate thread, some people like it, most of us hate it. We get it.

I think we got the general vote of what people use.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Unless you pull your engine block drains, you won't get but half the old coolant out. So you can flush the system with your garden hose. But then you know the capacity and then add half of that capacity with none premixed coolant.

So using none premixed coolant is a quicker change since you don't have to pull your block drains.

This reminds me it is time to do a flush. I used the 5 year coolant which I think was yellow.

[DMCMW Dave]

Unless you pull your engine block drains, you won't get but half the old coolant out. So you can flush the system with your garden hose. But then you know the capacity and then add half of that capacity with none premixed coolant.

So using none premixed coolant is a quicker change since you don't have to pull your block drains.

This reminds me it is time to do a flush. I used the 5 year coolant which I think was yellow.

Now you've done it. This will start the "distilled vs. tap water" discussion. . . . ;-)