Speaking of the Dex-Cool, it's a curious thing. Pre-Bitog and the Dex-Cool lowdown, I used orange Prestone DexCool in my 92 Hyundai for 190,000 miles and over that time, I probably changed it 4 or five times in ten years. The first water pump that was in the car when I bought it had 180,000 miles on it (I bought the car with 88K on it, traded it with 288K). It never failed, but at the timing belt change around that time, they suggested changing it as a measure of prudence, which I agreed to. I drained the green syrup they put in it then and flushed and refilled with DexCool again (using tap water, no less, for me, pre-BITOG, distilled was for batteries). That pump stayed in the car til I traded it on this 05 Accent GT. From the time I bought the 92 Elantra, I changed it out to DexCool, and never had a problem for all those miles. I never heard of sludge issues until I started reading here (I never did change away from DexCool even after that). What struck me about the DexCool over the green stuff of old was how clear it was, how steady was the temp gauge, and no matter how hot out, no matter the temps outside, no matter what conditions, the temp never budged off the center of the gauge. My hoses lasted forever, the thermostat looked like new when I changed it, the DexCool just never gave me trouble.
When I traded for the AccentGT the green coolant from the factory was a thick, snotty green syrup that was clearly not holding together, even if the car was a year and a half sitting around until I bought it. The puke tank was scaled with silicone at the fluid line, too. So I changed it out, did the 7-gallon distilled water fill and drain to get the old syrup out and installed a 60/40 blend of distilled water and G-05. Now, a year and a half later, and 44,000 miles on the coolant, I had to have the water pump replaced for a leak. Needless to say, my G-05 is gone, and they installed some kind of fluorescent-green coolant in it. They over-filled the puke tank, I got a baster and a water glass to suck the extra half a pint out of there. It was sunny, and while the sun shined through the green, examining the glass up close, you can see the stuff suspended in it, real fine stuff. dissolved, suspended, nothing settled out overnight, but what's in there? Is that the silicate, phosphate, or what? When the car went back the next day for another CEL, I asked the guy what kind of coolant they put in it, he pointed to the big tank in the corner and shrugged. So they get theirs in bulk just like the GTX 10W30, except the delivery guy doesn't hang a label saying what's in there at delivery time.
So my question then becomes, DexCool vs. G-05. Did the G-05 cause the water pump failure, or just coincidence?
My other question is, what would you all suppose they put in the car for replacement coolant? Recycled? Phosphates? Low silicate? Plain old green with lots of silicate? The owner's manual says to install a "good quality ethylene-glycol antifreeze". THAT could be anything.
I dunno whether to drain the old syrup and replace it with DexCool (RayH has had excellent service in his Hyundai with ST's Dex-Cool clone over the years, as did I with Prestone's DexCool), should I replace the dealer stuff with G-05 again, or just leave what's in it be and forget about it? I can't get past the idea of the fine particle component to the green stuff the dealer put in the car after the repair causing trouble.
When I traded for the AccentGT the green coolant from the factory was a thick, snotty green syrup that was clearly not holding together, even if the car was a year and a half sitting around until I bought it. The puke tank was scaled with silicone at the fluid line, too. So I changed it out, did the 7-gallon distilled water fill and drain to get the old syrup out and installed a 60/40 blend of distilled water and G-05. Now, a year and a half later, and 44,000 miles on the coolant, I had to have the water pump replaced for a leak. Needless to say, my G-05 is gone, and they installed some kind of fluorescent-green coolant in it. They over-filled the puke tank, I got a baster and a water glass to suck the extra half a pint out of there. It was sunny, and while the sun shined through the green, examining the glass up close, you can see the stuff suspended in it, real fine stuff. dissolved, suspended, nothing settled out overnight, but what's in there? Is that the silicate, phosphate, or what? When the car went back the next day for another CEL, I asked the guy what kind of coolant they put in it, he pointed to the big tank in the corner and shrugged. So they get theirs in bulk just like the GTX 10W30, except the delivery guy doesn't hang a label saying what's in there at delivery time.
So my question then becomes, DexCool vs. G-05. Did the G-05 cause the water pump failure, or just coincidence?
My other question is, what would you all suppose they put in the car for replacement coolant? Recycled? Phosphates? Low silicate? Plain old green with lots of silicate? The owner's manual says to install a "good quality ethylene-glycol antifreeze". THAT could be anything.
I dunno whether to drain the old syrup and replace it with DexCool (RayH has had excellent service in his Hyundai with ST's Dex-Cool clone over the years, as did I with Prestone's DexCool), should I replace the dealer stuff with G-05 again, or just leave what's in it be and forget about it? I can't get past the idea of the fine particle component to the green stuff the dealer put in the car after the repair causing trouble.
