Originally Posted By: ArrestMeRedZ
You can remain perplexed all you want. Your ancedotial evidence doesn't mask the fact that Dexcool caused a lot of problems with LIMs in the mid-late 90s and the early 2000s. Those problems usually showed up after the warranty expired.
I special ordered and bought a '97 C2500HD with the 5.7 Vortec engine. Followed a rigorous maintenance schedule, and expected the truck to last forever. At the 7 year point, the LIM gasket failed. After examining the mushed (sorry about the "technical" term) gasket, I'd bet the farm that the problem was caused by Dexcool.
I bought my father-in-law a '01 Alero with the 3.4. It came back about a year ago with massive coolant leaks from the LIM and the thermostat bypass pipe. I believe these leaks were caused by a poor design with the bypass pipe, and the LIM bolts becoming loose. Dexcool may have played a contributing factor, but I would not bet the farm on that one. [
I can understand you skepticism. You got 2 bad apples or models with incompatible IMG and/or a non-pressurized reservoir.
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I've also bought a '02 Z-28 Camaro. No problems with the cooling system on this beast.
This is an example why excepting for some models Dexcool can work. This model had a compatible gasket and I think a pressurized reservoir.
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GM developed Dexcool, and gets a licensing fee for every gallon sold. You wonder why they won't admit the stuff is [censored], and caused problems in a lot of previously reliable vehicles? It's become a company run by accountants, and I've probably bought my last one because of the Deathcool fiasco.
I think Texaco has part of the blame and might have sort of duped GM some. GM still should've more thouroughly tested the coolant on all their models before using it. I also blame GM for taking so long to correct the problem. The licensing thing is not a bad deal really. It assures the product meets the specs. I'm not sure GM gets a royalty per se for licensing a product only GM recieves a fee for testing it and of course that fee gets added on to each product, but I'm not sure that it is a lot. You can get unlicensed Dexcool a little cheaper if someone preferred. If not Dexcool GM could change to another formula and license it just as well, so I think it is a non-issue with GM's Dexcool continued use.