antifreeze emergency!

[blackgoose]

Hey everyone, I'm just about to fill my cooling system back up, and my girlfriend went out to get tranny fluid and antifreeze and she came back with prestone dex cool for GM vehicles. Its an orangish red color. Would it be OK in my system? I'm 39 miles from autozone and don't wanna go back!

[HardInThePaint]

I've run across a few cats that have used that and say it gums up in the system after a while. I don't know how much truth there is in that, but thats what I've heard from a few people.

[agol]

no, dont do it.

[C91BLX7]

That stuff doesn't even work right in gm's. Eats the gaskets.

[904drACCORDMANG]

gm guys dont even use it, its is corrosive as hell

Edit:c91blx7 beat me to it lol

[Sordz]

You might be ok if your entire system is dex but you can't mix them. Depending what the temp is where your at you could just use water.

[deevergote]

Straight water can cause problems, though the heat transfer properties are greater than that of antifreeze.

Just run a proper blend of regular antifreeze. You can buy basic stuff at most gas stations. It won't be top quality, but I'm sure your car isn't in mint condition either. It'll work just fine. Just don't use that dexcool shit.

[MortsAccord]

Fill with water for now and return the dex cool trash later- unless you live in a place where it would be freezing right now.

I don't honestly know if it will gum anything up. Though it seems to be the general consensus that it will, I haven't tried to mix the 2 before.

For short term water won't cause problems unless it freezes outside. Might be good to just churn some hot water through there anyways to "flush" the system out while you get the normal green stuff.

[deevergote]

Straight water can corrode the metal. If the water isn't absolutely pure (it should be store-bought distilled water) then the mineral deposits can wreak havoc in the cooling system. It'd do more damage than the Dexcool would... though I wouldn't suggest using either.

Just go to the local gas station, service station, convenience store, Wal Mart, supermarket, car dealership, or the dude down the street with 6 project cars in his garage. I'm sure SOMEONE closer than 39 miles has basic coolant that's compatible with your car besides Autozone!

[deevergote]

and get a new girlfriend while you're at it... or school her in the ways of cars before she starts buying shit for you! (I had to do that with an ex... I nearly got a chrome carburetor cover for my Accord for my 24th birthday!)

[MortsAccord]

Straight water can corrode the metal. If the water isn't absolutely pure (it should be store-bought distilled water) then the mineral deposits can wreak havoc in the cooling system. It'd do more damage than the Dexcool would... though I wouldn't suggest using either.

Just go to the local gas station, service station, convenience store, Wal Mart, supermarket, car dealership, or the dude down the street with 6 project cars in his garage. I'm sure SOMEONE closer than 39 miles has basic coolant that's compatible with your car besides Autozone!

its not that big of a deal as long as he replaces it in a timely manner. hell ive ran tap water in an engnie for months with no problems what so ever.

[Old Dog 61]

Don't use the dex-cool if you don't have to. Go to anywhere you can to purchase regular antifreeze, even convenience stores sell it.
GM was trying to re-invent the wheel....so much for that idea.