List,
I'm happy to see that someone likes the new "lifetime" coolant. As a
mechanic I must say I like the stuff too, since it brings me lots of service
work. When it was created the chemists had good intentions, and it works
pretty well under ideal conditions. Problem is that most of it gets
contaminated somewhere along the line with tap water. I see cars regularly
with less than 20K that have completely blocked heater cores. Cars that
have yet to reach 100K with all their "freeze plugs" corroded through.
Blown head gaskets, clogged radiators. All on cars with "lifetime" coolant.
Some of the contamination may go as far back as the assembly line, but it's
taken too long to recognize the problem. Distilled water is now what GM
specifies to mix with the new Dexcool.
It may be socially unacceptable, and environmentally unfriendly, but I'm
gonna keep using old fashioned toxic green coolant in my cars, and change it
annually. (recycling it, naturally.) My fleet is old enough that it has yet
to be cursed by the "lifetime" coolant, but if I had a car equipped with it
I'd have to flush it and swap to the old glycol coolant just as soon as the
warranty ran out. I've just seen too much destruction from so-called
"lifetime" coolants.
Chuck Rothfuss
Pole Cat Hollow, NC
|