and Lee wins yet ANOTHER argument. Yay.[8D]

 

why would anyone put dex cool in anything that didn't require it? the green never turns to mud and it doesn't eat intake gaskets. I have it on pretty goo authority that most gm service mgrs take it out of their personal vehicles that call for it, but cannot recommend it to customers. comments?

 

Well I got the radiator hoses in today and replaced them. Once the engine started ( it didnt want to as it seemed like the timing was off while it was turning over the first time I tried it since last Friday ) it ran GREAT. I took it to my friend who owns a shop and when we got there we turned off the car and let it sit for a few minutes and then tried cranking it again. It cranked on the first try soon as I hit the switch so I think its ok!
I am having the coolant system flushed tomorrow and all new heater hoses installed also plus a new belt and new thermostat.
The car when I left his house was running PERFECT so I am holding out hope that the opti is gonna be fine. My friend also told me the skipping/misfiring that happened when the hose let go could have come from the coil getting wet as there was alot of water on top of it when I opened the hood right after it happened. Its very possible that the Opti wasnt touched with water. At least I hope so. I hope to have my baby back on Monday all cleaned out and ready to ride !
To answer a couple responses, if the opti were to have been fried then it would be STUPID to replace it and not replace an original waterpump with over 97K miles on it dont you think?

 

You definetly would want to replace the water pump.

 

Yes if everything holds up this year I plan on replacing the WP and the Opti next Spring/Summer along with the weatherstripping. I am in the market for a used acrylic top in the meantime. So come Monday hopefully I will be out and about with the top off and enjoying the sun.
One more thing.
Can anyone tell me the best thing to use to get all that rust off the engine parts and hoses etc? That crap is all over the place under the hood. Any input would be appreciated

 

Maybe dexcool maybe not my guess is that the coolant system has not had any service my bet is all the hoses are original

 

All hoses were original. Since the engine isnt missing and is running smooth I elected to Only replace ALL the heater and radiatior hoses. So tell me guys did I get a good deal. I paid about $200.00 for all the hoses and new thermostat, and another $51.00 for the belt and the guy charged me $125.00 to put them on and to replace all the fluid. So I spent a total of about $375.00. I am going to buy a Opti and a new WP this week sometimes to have just in case or when the WP starts to fail.

 

You got a pretty good deal but what I want to know is if you got rid of all that Dexcool or did you use it again?

 

In response to Scooterman, as a former GM tech & service manager, my personal 99 Grand Am still has Dexcool in it and I have flushed & replaced the coolant once at this time.
however, my 92 Vette does not have Dex. As indicated in the article that Lees mentioned, the silicates are already in the cooling system if it ever had the green antifreeze and you will not gain the long life capabilitys of Dex if you put it in a system that has already had the older coolant. An important fact that has not been mentioned, is that Dex does not tolerate ANY air in the cooling system. A Dex system that is always kept full of coolant lasts along time, but a Dex system that has a slight leak and gets air in the system turns to nasty mud in a very short time. The vast majority of problems related to Dex systems that I have seen have been caused by air in the system. I do not have any experience using Dex is older, occaisional use vehicles that sit around a lot, so I will not comment on that.

 

There was only about 2 quarts of dex added and NO that wasnt put back in. It has the old standard green coolant now. What was supposed to be in there in the first place .