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Date:         Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:14:14 -0700
Reply-To:     Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: this has me rethinking dexcool
Comments: To: Angus Gordon <birdworks@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <2163811a0803261759o75e7e34fn5434ab19fcc54312@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I have always wondered how GM stays in business ; they make such junk sometimes. I believe the idea of DexCool is that it is 100,000 mile a-frz, no ? Which I have never believed in btw. Stuff still deteriorates. It just does. Scott

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Angus Gordon Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 5:59 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: this has me rethinking dexcool

On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 8:55 AM, gary hradek <hradek@yahoo.com> wrote:

> http://www.girardgibbs.com/dexcool.html >

Don't forget this is lawyer talk, not a technical paper of any sort. GM had a problem with coolant leakage through the intake manifold on these engines, and I'm guessing the lawyers probably sued the makers of Dex-cool, GM, the gasket manufacturer and the Detroit water department. The shotgun approach to litigation seems quite lucrative.

I have a friend with a Buick Century which had this problem a few years back. I checked it over for him after it had overheated and found coolant in the engine oil. Some research on the internet revealed the most likely cause was this coolant leak through the intake manifold. GM had a new, re-designed gasket available so I, unsuspecting, offered to change it for him. I mean, how much work is an intake manifold gasket? Ten hours later I knew!

GM in their infinite wisdom runs coolant from one head bank to the other through the intake, which sits down in the V between the heads. Makes the waterboxer design with all it's external plumbing look like the work of a genius. I think the problem is with the design and gasket material, not the coolant. The "rusty sludge" they talk about in the lawsuit is no doubt the result of coolant left unchanged since the vehicle was new.

Vanagon content - since working on this Buick I have never again cursed the myriad of external pipes and hoses VW adorned the Vanagon with. Even the waterboxer head gaskets are a brilliant design in comparison!

-- Angus Gordon birdworks@gmail.com

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