My new 01 Black Alero GLS coupe. 27k miles, SUPER clean!!!

[mastershake]

make sure to flush the dexcrap out before it eats your gaskets! :P

[sleepyalero]

haha glad you had fun in the suv lol and ASS is Alero Show & Stravaganza. usually happens the week before fathers day. happens in lansing michigan and lasts 3 days or so. its alotta fun, great vacation and see some nice aleros. and everyones pretty friendly from all who i have met last time. totally worth going i would have to say.

[kwhauck]

Originally Posted by mastershake

make sure to flush the dexcrap out before it eats your gaskets! :P

That is a highly misinformed statement.


To OP, welcome!! Car looks super clean!! (not a fan of the plasti dip) but Mod on!!

[mastershake]

Originally Posted by kwhauck

That is a highly misinformed statement.

you're right. it is. there isn't any evidence that dexcool causes gasket failure. but, it does sludge up when exposed to air over time, which is good enough reason for me to get rid of it. xD

so i guess a better statement would be; make sure your coolant cap isn't faulty.

[That01Olds]

The car looks great and nice find on getting one with low mileage.

[Papa Rad17]

Originally Posted by AleroB888

Nice car, I didn't know you could get a GLS without a spoiler, it might be more rare as it sits. It looks good either way. I would rather see polished alloy wheels myself, but try putting the caps on stock before you coat them, I'd be interested to see what that looks like.

Leather rocks! I don't care what anybody else says.

I want leather but I agree, if you like it w/o the spoiler I'd say keep it that way, iv need a gls w/o it, and never seen the footwell lights period, but or course if you dont want to put it on, do it. And in reply to earlier, clearing your corners means taking out the orange reflector in the headlights, some people paint the bezel while there at it. There's a how to on here, I think it's stickied...

[billytheman1188]

Originally Posted by mastershake

you're right. it is. there isn't any evidence that dexcool causes gasket failure. but, it does sludge up when exposed to air over time, which is good enough reason for me to get rid of it. xD

so i guess a better statement would be; make sure your coolant cap isn't faulty.

No....the better statement would be.....get the felpro gaskets before the shitty stock ones leak. Dex-cool is great stuff....they just put a rubber gasket in there which was eaten away from the Dex....so BOO YAH! :P

[MMGT1]

Sorry I have to add as well, the green coolant passing through a cast block and aluminum heads drops in PH level fast. If the head gasket was to ever fail by the time you find the problem you will have done serious damage to your heads and surface of your block. I saw this one first hand when I followed the pack a few years back and put the green in our 99. Heads are expensive if you buy new, just an fyi. IMO, stick with DEX, either way its going to save you cash in the end! If you do get gaskets, make sure to ask for the Fel-Pro "Upgrade kit".

[IRONDOG442]

Okay Kwack [sic] Dexcool does degrade Nylon 66, I am a chemist and I have forgotten more about organic chemistry than you ever knew. So The Dex cool statement is not misinformed if you would like me to provide you molecular proof, I shall. Most ignorance on here I let slip but I can't on this one.

[AleroB888]

Originally Posted by IRONDOG442

Okay Kwack [sic] Dexcool does degrade Nylon 66, I am a chemist and I have forgotten more about organic chemistry than you ever knew. So The Dex cool statement is not misinformed if you would like me to provide you molecular proof, I shall. Most ignorance on here I let slip but I can't on this one.

Okay, just how fast has "that dexcool crap" been "eating through" my gaskets?

It was an overstatement.

[TheEdgeofSanity]

my car has orange needles like that too? also, nice looking car by the way!

[IRONDOG442]

Originally Posted by AleroB888

Okay, just how fast has "that dexcool crap" been "eating through" my gaskets?

It was an overstatement.

How old is your car? Do you really want to know? Or are you being a smart ass I am not. (for once)

[IRONDOG442]

Nylon66 melts at temperatures from 255 to 265 degrees C, or 491 to 509 degrees F. This is important, so remember it. Tensile strength is 13,700psi, and even higher in 50% humidity, at 17,000psi. This is also important. Yet another property we'll care about later is it's elongation at the break point. This is described in simple terms how much it stretches before it breaks. Dry rating is 15-80%, and at 50% humidity, it runs 150-300% (at the break when stressed). This might be important information in an application where it's subjected to water. Nylon66's acid resistance is a more difficult story. It boils down to what kind of acid we're talking about. Nylon66 isn't 'Acid Resistant. While it resists SOME acids, it's not considered 'acid resistant'. Nylon66 to several common acids is poor. We're concentrating for now on Nylon66 as the carrier (main frame of the gasket) rather than the silicone-based rubber tracings of the gasket, as it's very obvious in a failed gasket that the Nylon, for whatever reason, just plain seperated. If you have ever changed one you would surely know what I am referring to.

[IRONDOG442]

DEXCOOL uses OAT, or organic acid technology to extend the service life of the product. But one of the primary ingredients is known to soften plastics (or polymers.......sound familiar?) if not kept 'in balance'. One of these 'imbalances' is air introduced into the system. This is typically from very small leaks in the cooling system that most car owners wouldn't be aware of. These leaks, or any other failures, cause DEX to turn acidic over time. Properly maintained, in a perfect or near-perfect system, this SHOULD never happen. This is why we see some cases of DEX'ed LIM gaskets achieving longer lifetimes. They lived in a perfect world. Unfortunately, most of our cars aren't nearly as perfect under the hood as most of us would like to believe.

[IRONDOG442]

ACIDIC EROSION breaks down the Nylon carrier material, and wicks around the silicone rubber seal until it starts breaking down the carrier around the intake ports. This is based on the known properties of Nylon66 and the typical failures I've personally seen in 10 years of working on every GM FWD vehicle and repairing their intake gaskets, The fact that the 'dead' coolant port doesn't erode as badly is testament to the fact that the acid needs 'flow' or must be refreshed in order to start eroding the nylon. It may also be true that the sludge that typically builds up in the dead coolant port protects the nylon carrier from further erosion. GM had choice between several corrosion inhibiting acids in their formulation of DEX, and probably didn't choose wisely. Aftermarket OAT type antifreeze products use other types of OAT inhibitors that are not known for softening plastics. This may have been pure dumb luck based on the fact that GM had covered themselves with a patent and a proprietary formula, or it may be that the new competitors in the market knew the dangers and chose more wisely. My personal suggestion is that anyone that currently has DEX in their car should change the LIM gaskets to the most recent design for their vehicle, and switch to Prestone Long-Life "mixes with any" (not DEX-compatible) antifreeze, which uses a different corrosion inhibitor that is NOT known to soften plastics.

[IRONDOG442]

Originally Posted by MMGT1

Sorry I have to add as well, the green coolant passing through a cast block and aluminum heads drops in PH level fast. If the head gasket was to ever fail by the time you find the problem you will have done serious damage to your heads and surface of your block. I saw this one first hand when I followed the pack a few years back and put the green in our 99. Heads are expensive if you buy new, just an fyi. IMO, stick with DEX, either way its going to save you cash in the end! If you do get gaskets, make sure to ask for the Fel-Pro "Upgrade kit".

pH is the negative logarithm of hydrogen ion content, ehtylene glycol, oxygen and aluminum has absolutely zero to do with hydrogen ions and their respective amount, please refer to the Law of mass action in laymans terns, you sir are a effing idiot.

[rocketfast321]

In other news.....

Another black 2-door

[AleroB888]

Originally Posted by IRONDOG442

ACIDIC EROSION breaks down the Nylon carrier material, and wicks around the silicone rubber seal until it starts breaking down the carrier around the intake ports. ................

My personal suggestion is that anyone that currently has DEX in their car should change the LIM gaskets to the most recent design for their vehicle............

Since the LIM failures are and have been widely known, and correctable by replacing with a design that should have been implemented to begin with, the point is moot. The better gasket will last the remainder of the car's life even if you keep using Dexcool. Bottom line -- you still have to replace the LIM gasket......once.

I wonder if it was too corrosive when I sprayed methanol into the upper intake........

[Gr1m]

clean car. dont eff it up with stupid mods.

[MnG]

I'm surprised no one really likes the black wheels, I think they look cool on the black car. I plan on taking it off in the spring, might as well leave it on through the winter to protect them from any road salt.

Originally Posted by Papa Rad17

I want leather but I agree, if you like it w/o the spoiler I'd say keep it that way, iv need a gls w/o it, and never seen the footwell lights period, but or course if you dont want to put it on, do it. And in reply to earlier, clearing your corners means taking out the orange reflector in the headlights, some people paint the bezel while there at it. There's a how to on here, I think it's stickied...

Weird that no one has seen the footwell lights, I think it's a really nice luxuryish touch. Maybe it was just a one-year thing?

I think I'll leave the corners as they are, not sure I like the clear corner look.

The leather seats are really nice. Seems like many American cars from that era have cheap looking/feeling leather. The leather is high quality in this car.

Unsurprisingly the seats looks brand new too. No cracking or creasing or wear on them really. I used some leather conditioner on them when I first got the car, want to keep them looking nice for as long as I have the car.

clean car. dont eff it up with stupid mods.

I don't plan on doing too much more to it. I just did the gauge sweep mod, plan on putting LEDs in the gauge cluster. After that, tint the windows and I'll probably be done with it. Probably.