Hi, I have the Dexcool in my Disco and want baddly to use just regular green coolant. I was going to do a flush and change out but I was told that some vehicles have to use certain coolants due to metals or equipment. I tried searching everywhere about the Disco and using green coolant but cant find any info on it. Can anyone tell me if it is optional on the Disco 2? Thanx

 

You can use ANY coolant you want as long as it is ALUMINUM safe.
The entire engine on a Disco is aluminum so all aluminum safe coolant must be used.
Just make sure you get all of the Dex out of the system first.
I prefer the 50/50 premixed coolant, it is idiot proof, just pour it in, bleed the air out of the system and go.
You will need 2 gal, maybe a little more.

 

There is a GM TSB on how to purge Dexcool (just don't re-fill with it). Takes a few hours and the powdered flush. Attached.

Pix of what Dexcool can do (sludge-o-matic), and more so when topped off with other style coolant.

 

you just cant MIX dexcool with conventional or it will make orange brownie batter haha. i went with amsoil coolant with a quick flush, no need to spend half a day running dirty water through the system and having most of it get into the enviro anyway

 

Awsome, thank you. Thanks for the directions too. Just curious, I had a Cadillac years ago with a all aluminum motor and the head gaskets where bad from the previous owner, I ended up having to replace the whole motor because the heads wouldnt sit properly on the block after a gasket replacement. Apperantly this was the case for all Cadillac owners due to the all aluminum motor. Is this a issue with the Disco motor?

 

Only if you overheat the engine and drop a cylinder liner or two.
The cylinders are lined with steel liners, all aluminum engines are, but they are press fitted in. Overheat the engine and the liners slip down into the engine and then the head gaskets leak because there is a .001" gap that can't be sealed and it leaks. Only cure is a new engine.

 

Grand Kodiak --

Can you please share more of the details of how you did the simple flush with Amsoil? If there's an easier way to get rid of Dexcool that doesn't require extensive flushing, I'm game. I recognize that Amsoil isn't usually cheap, but it's gotta be cheaper/better than paying a mechanic to do it!

Thanks,
Ed (RedAustinIX)

 

well it just replaced some of the hoses, thermo, and waterpump, and the stupid *** plastic lines that snapped every other day lol when i had the headgasket job done. it was ran with just water and drained, then just replaced with amsoil coolant. yea, its expensive, but its very alumn. safe and dosent react with dex. the big problem with switching to conv. green coolant is that it reacts with dex to make a thick sludy nastiness which then clogs up thermos, lines, radiator cores and coates the insides of hoses etc. depending. so if you convert to convenstional, you have to be extra carefull to get as much dex out as you possibly can. look online, there are a few videos of flushes that take dozens of runs with water to stop getting an orange tint... not to mention replacing all your hoses AND the radiator if you want to be particular about it. swithcing to amsoil or another compatible substitute means you dont have to be AS carefull in the flush, any remaining dex residue will simple mix harmlessly and not react to form the sludge as it would if you had some residue after switching to conv. coolant. i didnt want to replace all the hoses and lines again, nor the radiator, nor spend forever flushing it. i single pass with some radiator flush chem in water should be more then enough to get the ratio of new coolany with old dex well in the "safe zone" concerning gasket wear and tear, if thats what your problem could be traced to to begin with. obviously the best thing would be a new radiator, new hoses, waterpump and thermo to make sure there was no dex remaining to contaminate a conv. coolant conversion. just cut open an old hose, the entire inner lining will be stained with orange crap, i can imagine what the inside of a dex radiator must look like after 100k miles of use lol. also why even though im dex free now with new components other then the radiator, id like to install a bypass coolant filter to catch all the crap in the future or any now circulating in the system, slowly eating away at gaskets and impeller blades, which are present in all cooling systems anyway to some degree.

 

Seems like a good place to tie in that bypass filter would be the lines from the heater core, they have flow all the time anyway, even with AC on. Would be great if it had a purge valve so you could "burp" out air bubbles....

 

yea DMike suggested that, I keep meaning to measure back there see if its feasible. most of the systems ive seen have a shut off valve so you can stop the flow while you remove the filter during changes, and use simple heater hose t connectors, im sure itll be easy to fit somethin like a purge on it to make bleeding easy!

heres a more popular one that alot of diesel pickup guys seem to use:

http://www.dieselbombers.com/6-0l-bo...il-bypass.html

ps. has a good pick there on just how many flushes it takes to clear out a cooling system on a vehicle!