I was doing some searching on the forums regarding which coolant to use in our Jags and I'm getting mix opinions on which one to use either the DexCool with the orange cap or Zerex G-05. Can someone please explain which one to use that is compatible. I know that if you have green color coolant and mix it with the orange color it will cause gelling up and screw everything up. But I also heard using Dexcool coolant causes eating up of the gaskets especially the manifolds. I'm open to suggestions thanks.

 

Zerex G-05 is the OEM coolant, same stuff you'd buy in a Jag dealer's white jug.

What's the question here?? Dexcool is compatible, but WHY use it??

The ONLY issue is if the car has had green coolant.

Take care,

George

 

Thanks George for clearing it up, but a lot people on here been using the DexCool as an alternative. My question is, will using DexCool do more harm than good?

 

Okay did more searching and found an excellent thread about using DexCool Coolant and Zerex G-05. If anyone is confused about which of the two coolants to use; this is an excellent thread on the topic.
http://www.grandamgt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40721

 

Eh, Dexcool is OK... I think a lot of guys used it because it is orange, and they either assumed it was the factory coolant or a cheaper ok alternative.

Dexcool is known to eat gaskets in GM cars (which it was designed for). I haven't heard any adverse effects in a Jag from using it.

Take care,

George

 

Thanks George, umm....if using the Zerex G-05 coolant do you have to dilute it 50/50 with distilled water?

 

Of course. Just like any other coolant.

Make sure you only use distilled water. It's like $2 a gallon at the pharmacy, grocery store etc...

Take care,

George

 

Ruh-Roh!

 

What does Ruh-Roh mean?, is it some form of mnemonics. Long time back I never knew you had to be precise in what coolant you have to use, me not knowing I added the prestone green color coolant to the Jag and drove it for like 20miles or so and realized my jag was over heating, lesson learned, had to do a complete flush with a new thermostat and luckily it went back to normal. Noticed a jelly type substance while draining out the coolant... Coolant type shouldn't never be taken lightly in any car.

 

Hmmmm...not really sure but I think it hails from Scooby-Doo, or at least some cartoon dog....means, "there may be a problem.......that I may know something about....or even be guilty of"

In my pre-forum days when I thought we had a fancy Ford, and my daughter's 03 sprung a leak from the overflow hose nipple on the radiator hose assy....I changed that with the dealer-supplied part ($200+) which entailed draining all the coolant that would naturally fall out of it (leaving still a considerable amount in the block and heat exchangers; I thought nothing of replacing with a Prestone Long life that "Mixes with any coolant and OK for use in any vehicle" according to the bold lettering on the yellow bottle. It was green. Ran that the better part of a year or more, replaced the water pump (amongst other FEAD parts) in vain attempt to cure a squeaky belt,(more Prestone Long life) then two near-overheats due to a problem shredding drive-belts whilst driven by a 17 yr old girl... until ultimately finding my way to motorcarman who fiddled with it patiently until he spotted a slight wobble on the crank pulley and determined the damper was delaminating. I really don't remember him changing any cooling system parts, but maybe he had to pull the radiator or rad hose to get access to R&R the damper/pulley, or else he was just checking everything out good cuz I looked lost as a ball in high grass...
Now it is waaaaay too late to make a story short, but when I picked the car up he told me, "You had some kinda green mess in your cooling system, I changed it out for the proper Jag orange...this is what you should be using in it" handing over a half gallon of "leftover" Jag orange coolant. After I admitted knowlege of what the green mess was he scolded me soundly and cautioned me not to do that again!

I'm reformed. Will use only Jag/Zerex G-05 going forward....but honestly...never a problem with the Prestone in about a year and a half of running - near overheats were from driving with no drive-belt, not a coolant fault. Still on original DCCV as far as I know, and the coolant tank never leaked though I did swap it out for a new one over Christmas since she is 6 hrs away at school and I figured it was on borrowed time.

I have some of each, new, out in the shop...perhaps I should go mix some up in beaker? Would I need to periodically (meaning when the wife is out and wouldn't declare the stove out-of-order because "you used that on the car!") heat it up to 220F or so and cool it down to produce the gel?

 

The new prestone "add to any coolant" (i could have sworn that stuff was yellow, not green) doesn't have as many phosphates in it, and won't turn the dexcool / Zerex stuff into slime supposedly. If you had the original prestone green stuff, and you added dex cool or vice versa, then you have problems almost instantly. Maybe the near overheats cause the mix.

Still not a good idea to mix coolants... I DARE say that if you were able to get all the traces of orange out of it you could probably run green. Although the orange coolants are designed to be less corrosive (lower ph), and not attack aluminum engine parts like the green stuff does over time.

Take care,

George

 

I had a thread about this a WHILE ago, search Dexcool. I believe its acceptable even though I used "Jag branded" coolant. Its expensive, but I was still skeptical about putting anything else in.