Prestone Rather Than DesCool ?

Hello,

Have a 2009 Buick LaCrosse.

Manual says to use DexCool for antifreeze.
I think it also says, somewhere, "only".

I see that the Prestone product(s) all say "for any car".

Safe to use Prestone, instead ?

Thanks,
Bob

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Bob > wrote in :

> Hello,
>
> Have a 2009 Buick LaCrosse.
>
> Manual says to use DexCool for antifreeze.
> I think it also says, somewhere, "only".
>
> I see that the Prestone product(s) all say "for any car".
>
> Safe to use Prestone, instead ?
>
> Thanks,
> Bob
>
> ---
> This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus
> protection is active. http://www.avast.com
>
>

I wouldn`t, have not heard good things about the combo antifreezes. KB

On 8/7/2014 9:08 AM, Bob wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Have a 2009 Buick LaCrosse.
>
> Manual says to use DexCool for antifreeze.
> I think it also says, somewhere, "only".
>
> I see that the Prestone product(s) all say "for any car".
>
> Safe to use Prestone, instead ?
>
> Thanks,
> Bob
>
> ---
> This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus
> protection is active.
> http://www.avast.com
>

If you can save a few bucks, I'd go for it. What's the worst that could
happen?

On Thu, 07 Aug 2014 15:08:24 -0400, Bob > wrote:

>Hello,
>
>Have a 2009 Buick LaCrosse.
>
>Manual says to use DexCool for antifreeze.
>I think it also says, somewhere, "only".
>
>I see that the Prestone product(s) all say "for any car".
>
>Safe to use Prestone, instead ?
>
>Thanks,
>Bob
>
>---
>This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
>http://www.avast.com

From what I've read, yes, it's fine to use the Prestone. The only
difference is it won't last 100K miles like the dexcool supposedly
does. Of course, you could use Dexcool and not worry. The price
can't be much different. The big issue about dexcool, again, this is
from what I read, was that people who are always opening their
radiator cap to 'check the antifreeze' are letting air into the system
and the air reacts with the dexcool and if enough air gets in it can
cause problems. If the system is just left alone and the level
checked by simply looking at the level in the overflow bottle there
should not be a problem. I would NOT use Dexcool in any car that did
not use it from the factory. And if you mix other non-dexcool stuff
with it you lose the long life benefit.

On Thursday, August 7, 2014 12:08:24 PM UTC-7, Bob wrote:
>
> Have a 2009 Buick LaCrosse.
>
> Manual says to use DexCool for antifreeze.
> I think it also says, somewhere, "only".
>
> I see that the Prestone product(s) all say "for any car".
>
> Safe to use Prestone, instead ?

Prestone says it meets GM 6277M, the specification for DexCool:

http://prestone.com/enmx/learn_more/...sked_questions

OTOH why bother switching when Prestone makes its own version of
DexCool, and at most you'll save just $15 every 5 years or 150,000
miles?

Sometimes when you switch from one type of antifreeze to another,
the new stuff dissolves deposits left by the old coolant, and in
my case the changeover turned the coolant a murky brown-green in
a month, despite the system having been flushed with a strong
chemical, just before refilling. This was with a 1993 Ford, over
15 years ago. It had conventional green coolant, and I decided
to try DexCool. I still have the car and still run DexCool, and
it's never needed new cooling system parts, except a radiator cap
and hoses. I also run DexCool in a 1986 Toyota that was given to
me, about 5 years ago, because its original owner had long used
it (he did not assume it was like Toyota antifreeze just because
both were red).

> wrote:
>On Thursday, August 7, 2014 12:08:24 PM UTC-7, Bob wrote:
>>
>> Have a 2009 Buick LaCrosse.
>>
>> Manual says to use DexCool for antifreeze.
>> I think it also says, somewhere, "only".
>>
>> I see that the Prestone product(s) all say "for any car".
>>
>> Safe to use Prestone, instead ?
>
>Prestone says it meets GM 6277M, the specification for DexCool:
>
> http://prestone.com/enmx/learn_more/...sked_questions
>
>OTOH why bother switching when Prestone makes its own version of
>DexCool, and at most you'll save just $15 every 5 years or 150,000
>miles?

Long-term, using DexCool is supposed to save you money due to the extended
change interval, and the Prestone equivalent is just fine.

However, I know several people who have changed from DexCool to conventional
antifreeze because they were getting black gooey material in their cooling
system, the source of which was never properly tracked down but which went
away when they moved to Prestone.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Thursday, August 7, 2014 2:37:32 PM UTC-10, Ashton Crusher wrote:
> On Thu, 07 Aug 2014 15:08:24 -0400, Bob > wrote:
>
>
>
> >Hello,
>
> >
>
> >Have a 2009 Buick LaCrosse.
>
> >
>
> >Manual says to use DexCool for antifreeze.
>
> >I think it also says, somewhere, "only".
>
> >
>
> >I see that the Prestone product(s) all say "for any car".
>
> >
>
> >Safe to use Prestone, instead ?
>
> >
>
> >Thanks,
>
> >Bob
>
> >
>
> >---
>
> >This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
>
> >http://www.avast.com
>
>
>
> From what I've read, yes, it's fine to use the Prestone. The only
>
> difference is it won't last 100K miles like the dexcool supposedly
>
> does. Of course, you could use Dexcool and not worry. The price
>
> can't be much different. The big issue about dexcool, again, this is
>
> from what I read, was that people who are always opening their
>
> radiator cap to 'check the antifreeze' are letting air into the system
>
> and the air reacts with the dexcool and if enough air gets in it can
>
> cause problems. If the system is just left alone and the level
>
> checked by simply looking at the level in the overflow bottle there
>
> should not be a problem. I would NOT use Dexcool in any car that did
>
> not use it from the factory. And if you mix other non-dexcool stuff
>
> with it you lose the long life benefit.

I had that problem with my Chevy Lumina or rather many people had that problem with their coolant on that car. The problem was supposed to be solved by slightly changing the design of the cap by adding a little spring to the vent the equalized the pressure with the atmosphere. I never could figure out how that was supposed to work.

On Fri, 8 Aug 2014 12:14:27 -0700 (PDT), dsi1 >
wrote:


>
>I had that problem with my Chevy Lumina or rather many people had that problem with their coolant on that car. The problem was supposed to be solved by slightly changing the design of the cap by adding a little spring to the vent the equalized the pressure with the atmosphere. I never could figure out how that was supposed to work.

I'm up in the air about Dexcool. Haven't read much on it lately.
Early on it screwed up a lot of cooling systems, for whatever reasons.
My sister had an expensive problem with a Buick because of Dexcool.
Might be better now, but I flushed if from my Lumina and went with
green Prestone for the life of that car.
Dexcool is in the 2003 Impala I bought last year and looks clean.
And if it all looks good when I get around to changing it I might use
it in there again. Any sludging and I'll go to green Prestone.
No big deal.
One thing I wouldn't do is mix Dexcool with other anti-freeze.

On Friday, August 8, 2014 9:39:55 AM UTC-10, Vic Smith wrote:
> On Fri, 8 Aug 2014 12:14:27 -0700 (PDT), dsi1
>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> >
>
> >I had that problem with my Chevy Lumina or rather many people had that problem with their coolant on that car. The problem was supposed to be solved by slightly changing the design of the cap by adding a little spring to the vent the equalized the pressure with the atmosphere. I never could figure out how that was supposed to work.
>
>
>
> I'm up in the air about Dexcool. Haven't read much on it lately.
>
> Early on it screwed up a lot of cooling systems, for whatever reasons.
>
> My sister had an expensive problem with a Buick because of Dexcool.
>
> Might be better now, but I flushed if from my Lumina and went with
>
> green Prestone for the life of that car.
>
> Dexcool is in the 2003 Impala I bought last year and looks clean.
>
> And if it all looks good when I get around to changing it I might use
>
> it in there again. Any sludging and I'll go to green Prestone.
>
> No big deal.
>
> One thing I wouldn't do is mix Dexcool with other anti-freeze.

GM wanted to have a coolant that would last and last but maybe that's like trying live to be 150 years old - it just ain't natural! As it goes, I don't keep my cars longer than 3 or 4 years nor do I drive much in a year so details like that are not too important to me. It might be important for those guys that vow never to buy another car again.

Bob wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Have a 2009 Buick LaCrosse.
>
> Manual says to use DexCool for antifreeze.
> I think it also says, somewhere, "only".
>
> I see that the Prestone product(s) all say "for any car".
>
> Safe to use Prestone, instead ?
>
> Thanks,
> Bob


Prestone sells DexCool spec fluid.

If you are really wondering about mixing two-year coolant with
five-year...it just turns it all into two-year. It says that on the
bottle and in the fffing manual.

Don't forget the true weak link is that the pressurized cap has a
one-year expected life span!

GW