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Introdution to Dex-Cool coolant.
I found many guys on the Web say mixing Dex-Cool with the green coolant will form sludge and clog up the cooling system. But I also found an official instroduction to Dex-Cool, which doesn't say it will cause sludge, instead "In so doing, they rIeduce the service life of their coolant by half or more."
A'man, do you think I should do the radiator flush, or just replace the coolant?
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DEX-COOL ANTIFREEZE PRECAUTIONS
In 1996, General Motors began factory filling all their cars and light trucks with "Dex-Cool" antifreeze. Dex-Cool is made by Texaco and is marketed under the Havoline "Extended Life" brand name.
Dex-Cool has a service life of five years or 150,000 miles, and is dyed orange so it can be easily distinguished from ordinary green antifreeze. It is an ethylene glycol antifreeze but contains a unique corrosion-inhibiting chemistry that uses an organic acid technology (OAT) additive package instead of silicates, phosphates or borates.
GM says Dex-Cool should NOT be intermixed with ordinary antifreeze because doing so reduces the service life of the new coolant to that of ordinary coolant. Many motorists do not know this and may add ordinary coolant to top off their cooling system. In so doing, they rIeduce the service life of their coolant by half or more.
Ford also uses an OAT-based silicated hybrid antifreeze in their 1999 Mercury Cougars, and Chrysler uses a silicated OAT orange antifreeze in 1998 and 1999 LH models (Dodge Intrepid, Chrysler Concorde, Chrysler 300M).
As long-lived as OAT-based antifreezes are, GM does not recommend using Dex-Cool in older vehicles with copper/brass radiators and high lead solder seams. The reason is because the additives in Dex-Cool can eat away at the solder leading to premature radiator failure. There is also concern that it can erode water pump impellers that experience lot of cavitation (new GM engines have specially designed water pump impellers to minimize cavitation).
Dex-Cool has experienced some problems in GM applications at relatively low mileages. If the coolant level is low, or the concentration of antifreeze in the coolant drops too low (say 25% instead of the normal 50%), sludge deposits can form that plug up radiators, heater cores and cooling jackets. Some problem applications have included the cast iron 4.3L V6 engine in Chevy/GMC S-10 pickups and Blazers/Jimmys (these vehicles do not have a pressurized coolant reservoir).
The plugging problem has created a demand for "retrofitting" new GM vehicles back to ordinary antifreeze. Though GM does not approve this, people who have experienced problems with Dex-Cool (or who want to avoid the risk of such problems) are having Dex-Cool removed and replaced with conventional antifreeze.
Post by Xinxin
再次谢谢热心肠的阿慢.
前两天我发现我的车(Alero 2000,V6 3.4L)coolant有点低,打开盖发现里面的液体是橙红色的,可是我买来的coolant是绿色的。因为我以前的车也是Olds的,都用这种通用的绿色coolant。所以没多想能不能混合的问题,就倒了半升进去,满了。现在上网发现,Alero的coolant不仅是染色剂不同,其化学成分也是不同的。现在有点担心,我这样混合了不同的coolant会不会有问题?
我现在时时留心引擎温度,发现车跑得比较顺的时候温度指针在50%,走走停停时,温度指针在60%.不知道这样是算正常吗?以前不太注意引擎温度,但我模糊记得热车以后不管天冷天热,温度指针都稳定在50%,不象现在会有小幅波动。 |
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