coolant problems?

[James Hess]

have any of yall had any problems with your factory pink/red (whatever color it is) coolant? there is a fella i know that works at the auto shop on base that asked me if i had this type of coolant from the factory i told his yes. he told me i might want to change it as soon as i could, so i asked him why. well long story short he told me that if it sets for a while or gets old no mater how it does that it will turn this rust color and muck up the inside or your block, he showed me a bucket of this stuff he just got done draining from a customers car and well it was disgusting-:t. the guy said it was brand new and just sat for a while without driving. i figured no way this could happen but i wish i had pics of the stuff he was pouring out of the truck, it had clumps in it and im telling you when i say rusty colored i mean serious. it was a thick color couldnt see through it. just wondering if i should change mine.

[madmaxdmax]

Had the red stuff in our old pos 2001 Malibu...yea it turned to a rust like gel. I've been thinkin' of changing mine...although not sure what to replace it with just yet.

[swatkins]

I have changed most of mine out due to adding the extra radiator.. It was not very dirty then and that was at about 50,000 miles.. I have 84,000 on it now and its loooking ok still....

[madmaxdmax]

Any input of which type of coolant can be safely mixed with the red (that is of course after flushing most of the red stuff out) ??

[James Hess]

I have changed most of mine out due to adding the extra radiator.. It was not very dirty then and that was at about 50,000 miles.. I have 84,000 on it now and its loooking ok still....

you run an extra radiator how does that work? is there enough room and how much cooler do you run with it?

[madmaxdmax]

Maybe he's talking about the tranny cooler ? Hondarider552 had put in a larger aftermarket trans cooler recently. I think with the towing I do, it would be a wise investment especially in the heat of the summer.

[BudTX]

I believe that swatkins runs a V2 from coolmyduramax.com. It is a very nicely designed fix for the overheating that LLY engines can encounter.

[madmaxdmax]

I believe that swatkins runs a V2 from coolmyduramax.com. It is a very nicely designed fix for the overheating that LLY engines can encounter.


Really...is that set-up only for the LLY ? Does it solve the prob?

[James Hess]

i had one on my f-150 and noticed a definate increase in transmission performance, shifts were firmer, takeoffs were better and the whole dang thing just felt like it worked better. dropped the temp on the hottest it ever got from 210 down to 180-190 thats with romping on it. normal driving stayed under 160. i had also wrapped my cold air intake tube with heat shield tape and the fiberglass stuff over that and it dropped my intake temps. like 20 degrees and that aint no joke i was monitoring it with my tuner (edge) module. not sure if it was reading correctly but thats how much it dropped after i put it on from before. sorry for putting all this here.

[madmaxdmax]

Good to know.....HMMMM more projects...HMMMMMM


:clap:

[D.Camilleri]

I hear stories all the time about dexcool (factory fill) but I have never witnessed a problem myself. I just changed the water pump on wifes 01 at 160k and all the aluminum on the inside of the engine was pristine. I think that the biggest mistake made is that people think they can mix coolants, and that is bad. Dexcool only goes with dexcool and mixing it with anything else is bad. I have been running dexcool for over 10 years and have never had a problem that I can blame on the coolant. There are problems with dexcool and some plastics in some types of head gaskets, but not on the duramax. I even ran dexcool in my cummins suburban with no issues.

[madmaxdmax]

I'm not sure why the dexcool in the Malibu turned bad and chunky, but before this was noticed the coolant was new from the factory and until it started to run warm we never added anything to the radiator :confused:

All I know is after that, I don't trust dexcool. Even GM tech say its corrosive. I guess it is time to do the old pocket electric meter test. I have 76K right now.

[hondarider552]

steve, blksmok has a v2 if youd like to check that out szometime.. interesting. as for the gm dexcool, i mix mine with donahoe racing diesel radiator relief.

[blksmok]

Really...is that set-up only for the LLY ? Does it solve the prob?

Yes it solves the problem. It's the only proven solution to date. Although it was designed for the LLY, it works with the LBZ also. I think I'm the only one that has one on an LBZ and it only required a very minor mod to one piece to make it fit. (bolt holes needed to be drilled because they moved the holes they previously lined up with...very minor)

It's not so much that it runs cooler as that it keeps the temps stable and where they should be while towing in high OAT's. The factory fan almost never engages now which is nice for many reasons. (fuel milege, power, quiet)

I had an overheater LLY. When I bought the LBZ dually because of the weight I tow, I decided to use the V2 aux radiator I bought for my LLY on the LBZ. The LBZ doesn't NEED the V2 to keep from overheating like the LLY did, but it tows a lot better with it.

On edit: I also have the Mike L. '06 trans cooler, but I haven't installed it yet. :)

[swatkins]

Maybe he's talking about the tranny cooler ? Hondarider552 had put in a larger aftermarket trans cooler recently. I think with the towing I do, it would be a wise investment especially in the heat of the summer.

I do have a mike L tranny cooler also :) The truck is fitted with a V2 with fan, Fan Damn electric fan set up, CAI and a Mike L Tranny cooler.. All work very well!

[James Hess]

where can i find some info on this Fan Damn electric fan set up and the V2 with fan combo and the Mike L tranny cooler? and what is a CAI