Is there any advantage of using green antifreeze over dexcool?

[richards72chevy]

I just recently purchased a 05 Denali.I noticed it has been flushed and it contains green coolant now.I have always used dexcool in my 02 and never had an issue.I know one advantage of the green antifreeze is that it's readily available.

[xylorex]

i think the dexcool is long life

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

Isn't dexcool harder on plastic?

I have only.changed old vehicles coolant, and it stayed green.

[Mudder]

Dexcool clogged my heater core in a newer truck.

[hatzie]

I have Dexcool in my 2009 Impala, 2005 Silverado, and my 2000 GMC C2500. Never had any problems with any of them.
It's better for aluminum parts and the newer engine gaskets. I've never heard of issues with plastics that were coolant related just the extreme thermal cycling driving out the plasticizers faster and making them brittle.

If you run low on coolant for a good stretch or have combustion leaks into the coolant from head gasket or cracks it's rumored you can have issues with either the green silicate coolants and the various Organic Acid coolant types like Dexcool.

The other way to get into trouble is pouring Silicate coolant into an OAT system. Dexcool doesn't like the green stuff. It gets all kinds of unhappy about being mixed with the old green stuff. That's how the heater cores and engine blocks got sludged up. If you don't know what's in there dump it all, flush it out thoroughly with copious amounts of water, replace the thermostat, and fill with Dexcool 50:50 premix.

I run the green stuff in the older rigs and the manufacturer recommended juice in the new rigs. VW/Porsche/Audi, Honda, and Subaru are especially persnickety about what gets run in them without eating gaskets.

[Flying Hamster]

The advantage to the green coolant is it doesn't turn into Jello in the radiator/heater core.
My Dex-Cruel turned to Jello early, ruining the heater core and plugging the radiator enough to cause overheating. GM/ Dealer said that is caused by "Contamination". They said ANYTHING could be a contaminant including air.

[Boog]

If it's still in warranty run what the manufacturer says. After that dump it, flush it and use a name brand coolant. I prefer green. Never had clogging issues with any brand green. I've been told Dexcool is corrosive. That can't be good on the cooling system.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by Flying Hamster

The advantage to the green coolant is it doesn't turn into Jello in the radiator/heater core.
My Dex-Cruel turned to Jello early, ruining the heater core and plugging the radiator enough to cause overheating. GM/ Dealer said that is caused by "Contamination". They said ANYTHING could be a contaminant including air.

If raw air were the culprit, all Dex-cool systems in every vehicle with a recovery or expansion container would suffer from sludge.
They don't.
And... reverse flow V-8's like the mid-1990's LT1 & L99 would be immune to Dexcool sludge.
They aren't.

I'm not positive that a blown head gasket will cause sludge. That's the rumor but I've had a Castech cylinder head failure and a blown head gasket on different vehicles. Neither had sludge when I yanked the heads and both had Dexcool in the cooling systems.

I'm going to say what your dealer didn't. Dexcool turns to sludge in the presence of contaminants. Likely someone poured the wrong stuff into your cooling system.
The big three offenders in order of likelihood. 1&2 are a toss up.

1. Someone poured in some old "green" Silicate coolant.
2. Someone used one of many "compatible" and "universal" coolants that aren't quite compatible and definitely not universal.
3. Someone used coolant additives (pick your choice of bottled cooling system snake oil).

I've read rumors that tap water might have enough contamination to make Dexcool sludge but I seriously doubt the veracity of those claims. While it ain't a good idear to use tap water in your cooling system it's not the end of the world either.

My feeling on the matter is that you use what the machine came with and you won't likely have problems. Prestone Dexcool 50:50 is cheap and you can get it at WalMart. I keep a jug of it around to top off my GM Dexcool rigs.

I have some Prestone Green silicate stuff for the Scout and various other machinery from the 60's & 70's.

Where you get into trouble is when someone else works on your rig or a family member uses it and helps out by topping up the coolant with the wrong juice.

[chvtrkman]

Some interesting comments here about Dexcool vs. the green stuff. I always used Dexcool in our Suburban and never had any issues with sludge. However, around 2015 or 2016 it began "using" a small amount of coolant. I say using, because I was never able to detect any leaks, no puddle underneath when parked, nor any indication that a minor leak could be evaporating before dripping on floor. I thought maybe the expansion/overflow tank developed a crack but didn't see any leakage there either. I don't think we had a blown head gasket, it always ran great. To me it was just a mystery.. only had to add a quart or so once a month or so, depending on how much it was driven.

[karlbenz]

Originally Posted by hatzie

If raw air were the culprit, all Dex-cool systems in every vehicle with a recovery or expansion container would suffer from sludge.
They don't.
And... reverse flow V-8's like the mid-1990's LT1 & L99 would be immune to Dexcool sludge.
They aren't.

I'm not positive that a blown head gasket will cause sludge. That's the rumor but I've had a Castech cylinder head failure and a blown head gasket on different vehicles. Neither had sludge when I yanked the heads and both had Dexcool in the cooling systems.

I'm going to say what your dealer didn't. Dexcool turns to sludge in the presence of contaminants. Likely someone poured the wrong stuff into your cooling system.
The big three offenders in order of likelihood. 1&2 are a toss up.

1. Someone poured in some old "green" Silicate coolant.
2. Someone used one of many "compatible" and "universal" coolants that aren't quite compatible and definitely not universal.
3. Someone used coolant additives (pick your choice of bottled cooling system snake oil).

I've read rumors that tap water might have enough contamination to make Dexcool sludge but I seriously doubt the veracity of those claims. While it ain't a good idear to use tap water in your cooling system it's not the end of the world either.

My feeling on the matter is that you use what the machine came with and you won't likely have problems. Prestone Dexcool 50:50 is cheap and you can get it at WalMart. I keep a jug of it around to top off my GM Dexcool rigs.

I have some Prestone Green silicate stuff for the Scout and various other machinery from the 60's & 70's.

Where you get into trouble is when someone else works on your rig or a family member uses it and helps out by topping up the coolant with the wrong juice.

This right here