Should I keep Dexcool in V8?

1879 Views 10 Replies 5 Participants Last post by mperez225, May 13, 2014

mperez225

Discussion Starter · May 10, 2014

Hello Everyone,

In a few weeks or so I plan on servicing my V8 FE. I plan to renew all fluids (engine oil, transaxle oil, brake fluid, and coolant). Should I use Havoline Extended Life Dexcool, which is what the last dealer used when they serviced it?

Everything I am reading about Dexcool is steering me to flush it out completely and use Valvoline Zerex G-05. What is the best way to remove the Dexcool completely? I know there are some acid based flushes out there, which is the safest to use on the Esprit V8?

Thanks in advance for the help.

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jtrealty

· #2 · May 10, 2014

With all of the problems I have heard about involving Dexcool I would not use it. Prestone is just fine as long as you use soft water. If the water in your area is hard you can buy pre-mixed. As for getting the old stuff out, just flush it a couple of times. Try not to use an acid. Whenever I used acid the hoses went bad shortly afterwards.
David Teitelbaum

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89.5 Esprit SE

· #3 · May 10, 2014

If you have a lot of aluminum parts in your cooling system, then you should use the newer type antifreezes. They are not green/yellow. Instead they're often orange, blue or red.

You should not mix different style antifreezes.

It is all about corrosion inhibition, and it does matter in some applications. If you have an aluminum radiator or a chargecooler, you would be stupid not to use the proper coolant, as the cost difference is small.

Dexcool did have a gelling problem in the past, but there are other brands.

If you have mostly steel/brass then it is less of a concern.

Since the Lotus contains a lot of aluminum, and new motors are not available, I would be careful.

Randy

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89.5 Esprit SE

· #4 · May 10, 2014

Don't use tap water!

Either buy premixed or use distilled.

I have seen a bunch of Lotus header tanks and they all are full of scale and deposits.

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mperez225

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 11, 2014

89.5 Esprit SE said:
If you have a lot of aluminum parts in your cooling system, then you should use the newer type antifreezes. They are not green/yellow. Instead they're often orange, blue or red.

You should not mix different style antifreezes.

It is all about corrosion inhibition, and it does matter in some applications. If you have an aluminum radiator or a chargecooler, you would be stupid not to use the proper coolant, as the cost difference is small.

Dexcool did have a gelling problem in the past, but there are other brands.

If you have mostly steel/brass then it is less of a concern.

Since the Lotus contains a lot of aluminum, and new motors are not available, I would be careful.

Randy

Thanks for the response Randy. I am just trying to decide whether to keep using Havoline Dexcool which is what Lotus recommended and the last Lotus dealer used or flush it out and use some other long life coolant that is not Dexcool. Frankly, I don't care how much it cost, I just care to use the best I can for the car.

I also know not to use tap water. I only use distilled water.

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89.5 Esprit SE

· #6 · May 11, 2014

If it is recommended to use Dexcool, then I would certainly stick with a similar product which I believe the G05 is.
The hard part is flushing since it is near impossible to get all the "flush" out once you use it.
In your car, where you care about longevity, you have two options.
One is to flush with with water if you can drain 90% percent or more of your capacity. That would require opening a lot more connections than just the main drain.
Otherwise I would just drain it, flush with a few gallons of distilled and then refill. Make sure you check the ratio of water to coolant.

Randy

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S4Denver

· #7 · May 11, 2014

dexcool is old an attempt by GM to force the use of their antifreeze also that was years ago, all new coolant has same ingredients, any newer antifreeze will work fine.

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89.5 Esprit SE

· #8 · May 12, 2014

S4Denver said:
dexcool is old an attempt by GM to force the use of their antifreeze also that was years ago, all new coolant has same ingredients, any newer antifreeze will work fine.

If you mean newer "type" coolants there are still differences although they tend to be somewhat similar. If you are also referring to the currently available "traditional" antifreeze, you are incorrect.

Traditional antifreeze will not protect aluminum as well as the newer technology.
I know this from personal experience, and have payed the $ to replace parts where green antifreeze was not supposed to be used.

Also be aware that some of the newer antifreezes have a much longer service interval, as much as 150,000 miles. Not that I would do that in an exotic.

I would also avoid using the so called non-toxic brands, as they don't contain Ethelyne glycol.

Randy

Randy

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carbuff

· #9 · May 12, 2014

I have observed the difference between old type coolants and OAT/HOAT types with my own eyes. When I had my Esprit's engine out and replaced all the secondary hoses, there was a LOT of crusty buildup, despite having replaced coolant every 2 - 4 years.

If you want to see what others think, look at the Coolant sub-section of BobIsTheOilGuy.com

Cooling System Fluids & Additives | Bob Is The Oil Guy

Or for an overview, peruse the descriptions in this article in Wikipedia.

Antifreeze - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

+++++++++

All I can say is, I'm glad the twice-yearly maintenance of draining a summer coolant in facvor of a winter coolant is well behind us, here in the 21st century!

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S4Denver

· #10 · May 12, 2014

current dexcool is not the same formula as years ago, today's dexcool can be mixed with other coolants. yes the old dexcool mixed with old coolant would produce a rather interesting science experiment, but since most engines are now aluminum the old stuff hasn't been used for years, last year we could not even buy the old green stuff from our distributor. The majority of shops and dealerships here use prime made by prestone (there are actually only a handful of manufacturers that make coolant they just rebrand/repackage) it mixes with any color/make of anitifreeze, the only time we did not use this was with G20+. just go to your local auto parts store and read the ingredients on the jugs. if in doubt of how old the coolant in your car is, or if you believe it is old dexcool just ensure you completely flush your system.

"Prime All Vechicle is a new addition to the automotive antifreeze market and covers all of the automotive applications for top off or replacement. This Light Yellow antifreeze helps automotive shops consolidate their antifreeze inventory needs into one product."

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mperez225

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 13, 2014

Thanks for the feedback guys. I really doubt is old Dexcool. It was recently replaced (mid 2012) by Newport Beach. I will probably flush it with distilled water just to clean everything and then put Dexcool back in. I am going to go with Zerex Dexcool since it is available locally (Napa, etc.). Havoline Dexcool is not available locally.

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