A Bad Day.

[Vealmonkey]

To make a long story short, I have a 1998 chevy c1500 short bed that only has 72,000 miles, but the motor is pretty much shot due to chevys miracle 100,000 mile antifreeze, dexcool, that goes bad after 30,000 miles. I've been shopping around for new trucks. I found one I really liked. The dealer was going to give me 2000 off the sticker price, 2000 for the trade for my truck because it is starting to run rough. I go to work this morning, 4 miles. When I get off work to go home, the engine dies at the end of my street. My 2000 dollar trade in is now not worth anything to the dealer or me. Can you believe it, all I had to do was drive another 10 miles or so and I would be getting my new truck. Now, I have to take my 25,000 check from my credit union at work, take it back and get them to recut it for 27,000 and redo all my paperwork and I don't even have a running truck now! I'm going nuts, the salesman is going nuts, it is unreal. The dealer said, come and get the truck, he would put the tags on it, and I could bring the new check back monday. This salesman just saved my day. Hopefully I won't have any problems with my credit union to get the extra cash. Now I have a chevy with a blown up motor to get rid of. Man what a day. Hope you all are having a better go of it. Thanks for letting me vent. Needless to say, I'm not buying another new GM product. If you have a GM product that has the orange anti freeze dexcool, change this stuff every 20-25000 miles or you will be hating life too. I'm finding out that GM has a class action lawsuit against them over this dex cool antifreeze. Is this crazy. I had this truck from brand new, 00000.2 on the odometer and it craps out a 72, 000 miles. I changed the oil religiously and changed the plugs every year and the cap rotor and wires every 2.5 or so years but GM said the antifreeze was good for 100k and it ate all the gaskets out of my engine. The antifreeze just started disappearing out of the engine and I could smell burning antifreeze whenever I started the truck but no visible leak. I just noticed antifreeze in the oil yesterday and the next day the engine is toast. Don't let this happen to you.

[82300R]

what you gonna get?

[200xcellent]

well that really sux, for me and you. My 03 z71 has the orange freeze and 60,000 miles. I will have mine done.

[Vealmonkey]

06 Nissan titan with the 2 door extended cab. Not fancy wheels or electric windows or locks or leather interior, but very nice none the less.

[smokinwrench]

06 Nissan titan with the 2 door extended cab. Not fancy wheels or electric windows or locks or leather interior, but very nice none the less.

Your gonna love it. We bought an 05 crew cab Titan a few months ago. We went to buy chevy but realized just about everythign about the Titan was better.

[82300R]

06 Nissan titan with the 2 door extended cab. Not fancy wheels or electric windows or locks or leather interior, but very nice none the less.

nice, if my f150 ever craps out i would look at either a titan or toyota tundra v8. i hope it lasts though, i hate paying a car note.

[atctim]

So why are you buying another GM? Didn't you learn the first time?

[200xcellent]

So why are you buying another GM? Didn't you learn the first time?

What? Since when does GM make a Nissan Titan

[Vealmonkey]

I was kind of curious about the GM- Nissan deal myself. I don't think GM owns Nissan do they? The Nissan Titan has a nice V8 engine in it and it sounds nice, a low throaty tone from the factory, very cool. And the price with it nicely equipped blows ford and chevy and dodge stripped down models away.

[3 weelin geezer]

why do you think it was the antifreeze that ate the gasket(s)? It sounds to me like it was a bad head gasket. What happens to the composition of the a/f after those 30k miles that causes the gasket to be eaten away? Which reminds me...I need to change it in my truck too.

[82300R]

What? Since when does GM make a Nissan Titan

what he said.

[Vealmonkey]

From my understanding, after so many miles, far less than the owners manual states, the dex cool turns acidic. It has a tendency to eat gaskets, heater and radiators. Some have said it gums up the coolant system but that is contradictory to the acidic statement. When people go to get their cooling systems flushed out, is when alot of trouble starts. The magic number for vehicle problems if your going to have them with the coolant is between 60 and 80 thousand miles. I just noticed 3 days ago, antifreeze in the oil. I was hoping to trade it in before it let go and died, but it seems I was wrong.

[danteross77]

Sorry to hear about your truck dude that sucks. As for GM products I am still sold my last truck was a 1979 GMC lasted over 300,000 miles, My current truck is a GMC and it has 75,000 miles, no problems at all. I have a 1988 Cadillac with over 150,000 miles on it no problems. I went out and bought my wife a brand new Dodge minivan, trany went out at 46,000, a/c at 54,000, motor at 82,000. I guess I feel the same way about dodge, although I have heard they were great cars, mine was not.

[Bryan Raffa]

my buick has dex cool in it its got 163000 miles on it and its never been changed !!!! that stuff junk it turns to sludge and looks like brown snot , ive got new in the shed but it 3 degrees out it gone this long ill wait till it warms up a little . thanks for reminding me!!!!!!!!!

[grundlegrabber]

That dex-cool is junk. Over time, antifreeze breaks down and turns acidic. It acts as an electrolyte, with negative current running thruogh it. This causes pitting of the gasket mating surfaces and internal block rusting. Intake manifold gasket failure is common. This sounds like a premature failure. I work on a lot of them and haven't seen any *Edited**Edited**Edited**Edited* the bed that soon. 100K and 5 years on antifreeze is just too long. 3 years, 30k it should be changed, no matter what's in there. Peak global is a good product to replace the dex cool. My 89 Chevy K1500 5.0L has almost 200K on it and running strong. GM trucks ain't that bad, but they do tend to be a little maintenance-intensive if you wanna keep them in top shape.