Prestone Dexcool

I was in the parts store today looking to get a replacement passenger cabin
air filter. Couldn't find a listing and will probably wind up getting one
from Saturn parts here in White Plains.

While there, since I just can't leave a parts store without browsing first,
found that Prestone now makes a DEX-COOL (GM approved) coolant. Comes in a
silver bottle under the name Prestone® Extended Life 5/150
Antifreeze/Coolant.
http://www.prestone.com/products/14.htm

Don't need it right now but like to have a bottle on hand. $9.95 at local
auto parts store; $19.95 at Saturn parts (iirc).


For gits and shiggles, I requested a copy of the MSDS on the prestone. Will
post if there is any interest.

Oppie
2001 LW300 (41K)

 

When you go to the parts department at White Plains, tell Jack and Sonny
I said "Hi"

Then come by the showroom and introduce yourself.

-Mark
Salesman, Saturn of White Plains

 

Personally I stay away from DexCool type antifreeze of any brand. Although it
could be rumor, I heard there is some kind of class action law suit against GM
for this product.

I help maintain a fleet of 15 GM cars at work. We always flush the DexCool out
before it is due. Our fleet mileage is always way ahead of the "time"
recommendation.

Once the DexCool is totally flushed, we always refill with the regular green
antifreeze. We change the coolant every 2 years regardless of what type is in
the system. And there has been absolutely no trouble once we change it over.

I can tell you this, the DexCool stuff always gets the crude around the
radiator cap gasket and inside the resevoir bottle.
The green stuff is always much cleaner.

I am sure other will disagree, but this is my expierence. James

 

Before I was enlightened by the group, I asked the guy in the store which
type my Saturn used. He said they were the same and the color was basically
just to help the dealer get out of doing any warranty repair work.

That will teach me to ask a teenager anything, eh? (wink)

 

....you've probably seen this one:

http://www.amalgatech.com/technical/Dexcool.htm

 

Thanks Jonnie, that resource was new to me.

I also learned that most non-binaries NGs do not accept attachments.
Couldn't figure out at first where the post had gone. I have a new computer
and the 'sent' folder was created under a different account than I was
accustomed to. That's why I wound up posting twice. Then the post didn't
appear on the news account I read from. Tried using www.newzbot.com to find
another free news server to verify if the post went out. Several servers had
rejected the post but did have both posts. Those crazy
Germans... (did I mention my last name is Oppenheimer).
Normally I read news through www.teranews.com which has a one-time setup fee
for up to 50meg/day. Good deal since my office connection has no news server
associated with it so I had to get an external one.

Robert 'oppie' Oppenheimer

 

I agree with James. I work in a school district fleet services shop, and we
just started flushing Dexcool out of 1 year old (gasoline engine) buses
with only 15,000 to 20,000 miles on them. The factory sends them to us with
overconcentration and on a spectrometer the protection level is off the
scale. Within that year the system develops an unrecognizable green slime.

We also found that when it reaches this state, that a high level of
electrolysis (1.8 volts) is present at the radiator.

 

Ok, whatever was the point of Dexcool, besides apparently being good for
eating away cooling systems right after the warrenty's up?

 

Yeah, I quit posting pics after I discovered the same. I used to have a
free account at http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/ but then the new ISP has a
newserver so I quite using the one in Berlin.

Germans are amazing - I love John (Jack) Northrop's flying wing from the
40's and have since discovered the Horten brothers in Germany doing the same
thing about the same time. Should have figured. Oppenheimer... Robert...
??? Bet you get kidded about the Manhattan Project, Los Alamos, etc.

 

Ok, whatever was the point of Dexcool, besides apparently being good for

Claimed lifespan of 5 years of 150,000 miles between flushes. Less hassle
for the user and less chems to dispose of (in theory)...

 

Do a google search for "will the real mr oppenheimer" and you will get the
article that Design News Magazine did on me last year. I had submitted an
entry to their 'Gadget Freak' contest for engineers that use their talents
in a home project and the chief editor asked to do a human interest piece.
The article I submitted can be seen at www.dnsurvey.com as case #42.
Whimsical picture they had taken of me and I hated the caption line they
used but all in all it was fun.

Oppie

To view the magazine's archives, a free registration is required.

Here is the text minus the rather good picture:
What would it be like to go through life as an engineer with a name that
carries powerful associations with the era of nuclear weapons, McCarthyism,
and mutual assured destruction? Ask Robert Oppenheimer, an electrical
engineer in Hawthorne, NY. No relation to the J. Robert Oppenheimer, he's
had to put up with the usual raised eyebrows, wisecracks, and outright
disbelief over his name for much of his life. Probably more than his share,
given his choice of engineering as a career. "In college I took a course in
relativistic physics, and when I signed my name on the exam the professor
assumed some student was having fun at his expense," he recalls. "Luckily,
he still passed me." These days Robert, who is good humored about it all,
says that he gets more questions about the Oppenheimer Funds (no relation
there, either) than the A-bomb. Guess the Cold War really is over.

--
For valid response address, remove the '1' following oppie
_________________
| Yeah, I quit posting pics after I discovered the same. I used to have a
| free account at http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/ but then the new ISP has a
| newserver so I quite using the one in Berlin.
|
| Germans are amazing - I love John (Jack) Northrop's flying wing from the
| 40's and have since discovered the Horten brothers in Germany doing the
same
| thing about the same time. Should have figured. Oppenheimer...
Robert...
| ??? Bet you get kidded about the Manhattan Project, Los Alamos, etc.
|

 

Very cool - great link. I think the other R. Oppenheimer was misunderstood
in the end - but it's a new day (so to speak).

 

Claimed lifespan of 5 years of 150,000 miles between flushes. Less hassle

I don't think the makers of Imodium AD would appreciate a product on the market
that would allow users to go 5 years between flushes

Sorry, couldn't resist Jonnie.

 

But think of all the water you'd save!!!

 

But think of all the water you'd save!!!

Good point!