coolant question

03gxeco · 01-20-2013, 04:05 PM

okay, so i saw somewhere that the coolant that comes in these cars likes to eat away at the intake mani gaskets.. so now that all of my coolant is gone from the TB bypass, if this is true id like to purchase coolant that will work with my engine but not eat my intake gaskets.

mastershake · 01-20-2013, 04:53 PM

you're talking about the 3.4 right? if so, the gasket has a faulty design and that's why it fails. dexcool, however, will sludge up when exposed to air, and become acidic. if you switch to green coolant, make sure you flush the system to get rid of the dexcool. i heard it doesn't mix well.

03gxeco · 01-20-2013, 05:09 PM

yea its a 3400. in my grand am gt.

sleepyalero · 01-20-2013, 05:41 PM

i would use nothing but whats required for that car. yes it can be a problem, but not if you maintain the fluid well. me, i change the coolant out once a year. so every 20,000-30,000 miles. havent had a problem for 5 years.

03gxeco · 01-20-2013, 05:50 PM

i thought dexcool was bad for the cars though?

Shiwnath · 01-20-2013, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 03gxeco

i thought dexcool was bad for the cars though?

Nope. It wasn't the Dexcool that was the issue. It was the material of the gaskets. If it was the dexcool, they wouldn't be selling it still or they wouldv'e changed the formula.. The Dexcool is fine.

04PONTIACGA · 01-20-2013, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 03gxeco

okay, so i saw somewhere that the coolant that comes in these cars likes to eat away at the intake mani gaskets.. so now that all of my coolant is gone from the TB bypass, if this is true id like to purchase coolant that will work with my engine but not eat my intake gaskets.

Did you ask this on GAGT too? I'm asking to save me from re-typing everything I did over there.

zzyzzx · 01-21-2013, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiwnath

Nope. It wasn't the Dexcool that was the issue. It was the material of the gaskets. If it was the dexcool, they wouldn't be selling it still or they wouldv'e changed the formula.. The Dexcool is fine.

I agree. The gasket material and the fact that some of those LIM bolts were not torqued properly and/or did not use the appropriate thread lock caused the problem. When I was doing my research, I found people reporting LIM bolts that were not even finger tight.