I hate to arrive late to this conversation, but feel I must get my 2
cents in. IMHO using GM's Dex cool would be a huge mistake. Now without
getting into the rant that I submitted the last time we discussed this, I
will attempt to relay some of the horrors that Dex Cool creates. Picture a
radiator in a 1998-2000 GMC Jimmy or Chevrolet Blazer that is 1/2 full of
dark brown sludge. This is what happens when hot Dex Cool comes in contact
with oxygen. Strangely enough, hot coolant will come into contact with
oxygen as it is cycled in and out of the overflow bottle. Granted, it takes
about 2 years and 40,000km before the customer notices an overheating
problem, but this is in a cooling system with a 16-20 litre capacity.
Picture a VMax with it's radiator about the size of a postage stamp (and a
coolant capacity of just over 3 litres) and the same amount of blockage in
the rad. It's not a pretty thought. Once it's plugged, a manual fan switch
or the Borg Warner switch won't help either; it's all about the ability to
radiate heat off due to surface area. Plug 1/2 the rad and you have 1/2 the
cooling potential. It's also foolish to assume that all that crap is just
in the radiator. If the rad is half full of sludge, so is the reat of the
cooling system. Now the bike has hot spots and overheating (they always
told me in trade school "1/16th of an inch of scale equals the insulating
value of 1 inch of cast iron."), and a build up that requires a seriously
caustic chemical to remove it. The aluminum of the coolant jackets in the
block will not react kindly to the chemical and neither will the radiator or
water pump impeller and seal. In addition to this, Dex Cool seems to love
to eat brass. We replace a ridiculous amount of block heaters since Dexcool
has been implimented. People talk about green coolant doing damage, this is
much, much worse.
I can't say that I have any experience with the Toyota coolant, but if
the coolant companies are anything like oil companies, it may be the same
stuff in a different bottle. In fact we don't even get our oil and coolant
from GM, we get it from Petro Canada. I'm not trying to start a coolant war
(like the synthetic vs petroleum based oils- by the way, the oil company TV
adds about mechanics choosing one type of oil over another are wrong. Every
mechanic that I know has a favorite kind of oil.....FREE OIL.), but just
hope to save someone some grief (cooked motor, etc).
I use normal green coolant in my VMax. I flush it once a year (in the
fall), and use distilled water to mix 50/50. Why distilled water? Because
it's cheap and tap water has minerals in it. Minerals equal scale buildup
(look in or rattle your kettle). I have had no problems to date (knock on
wood), and won't put anything else in until I see some serious proof touting
some new coolant. I know that regular maintenance will result in coolant
that is not acidic, and still has all of it's additive package intact. This
(in theory) should protect the bike from coolant related problems.
My ears are burning already.......
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