Dex-cool F'd up my radiator

[FirebirdHatesRice]

Good thing I caught it when I did. I was driving my car the other day and noticed that first my heat was ice cold; it's always been "cool" at idle but hot once I'm driving around of have my foot on the gas a little at idle.

Anyways, back to the problem...my car started running hot when I turned the heater on. It's always been running around 210-215, which is kind of hot. First thing I thought of was the radiator, so I opened the cap and also checked the reserve...the entire radiator was full of this mucky brown stuff, it looked and felt almost like clay.

I took it down to a shop to have it checked out and he said it looked like someone had tried to mix the two kinds of coolant (dex-cool and the green kind) I know that Dex-cool is notorious for doing this. After flushing my system repeatedly (5 times), and leaving it overnight with acid, most of the crap was taken out. Engine now runs around 195 and seems to be okay.

My only question is, what do you guys think is the deal with my heat? It's very cool at best at idle, when I'm driving it's pretty hot. Even at idle, I can make it warm by revving to about 1000 or so. Do you think my heater core is clogged? If I need a new one, how much do they usually go for, and how hard is it to install?

Thanks,
Brent

[ January 06, 2004: Message edited by: FirebirdHatesRice ]</p>

[cammed3800]

probably just the thermostat, where did you get acid? wouldnt that acid eat at the radiator itself?

[FirebirdHatesRice]

I had the Thermostat replaced too, they said it was pretty clogged. As for the acid, I'm not sure...I guess it's a pretty standard solution that they use when it's pretty clogged up like mine was.

[FirebirdHatesRice]

any other thoughts?

[CamAroFaNaTic]

Thats what happens when you mix the two together... its not really the dex-cool..but more so the person who put it in there

[CamAroFaNaTic]

thats odd....my 96' came from the factory with dex cool...are you sure someone diddnt add green coolant?

[FirebirdHatesRice]

Yeah, thats the thing. I bought it used about a year ago, I think it was been mixed by the previous owner of the car. I have no idea, but I never thought to check the coolant before buying it. It really never caused problems until recently, when I started having problems.

[Tyler]

thats why your supposed to use distilled water....

[semper-fac-id]

You might consider checking the vacuum controls for the heater duct door actuator which controls the mixture of fresh air with heated air.

[Ian]

check the lounge. there is a dex-cool post on the recall they are doing.