dandunham

I just purchased this 2001 Intrigue for my boys first car, it only has 57K on it and has been well maintained. I'm going through all the regular maintenance items and replacing them but I had heard some controversy around using dexcool in some of the engines in this range of years so I thought id ask you guys if you have a definitive answer on the 3.5L and dexcool.

1970cs

Yes, 1996 on up in GM vehicles use Dexcool. I change mine to universal long life that matches any make and model. I have 2004 Alero and changed it 4 times now with no issues.

Pat

dandunham

Thank you for that confirmation, it looked like dexcool in the system already but I wanted to make sure I wasn't shooting myself in the foot.
It really seems like a great little car and it drives great for what it is.

rocketraider

Make sure to THOROUGHLY flush the orange mess out of the cooling system if you decide to change from Dexcool.

Some Intrigues were, well, intriguing. Look in the glovebox or under the decklid and you'll see the car's SPID equipment sticker. Look for codes like F41 and FE3, the performance suspension options.

Most people did not understand what Intrigue was supposed to be- a sports sedan. A mini-Aurora if you will. As they so often did by that time, GM completely missed the mark in the Intrigue's sales and marketing.

Didn't help that most were painted that horrible medium gray GM was obsessed with in the 90s.

Koda

The controversy with Dex Cool is that it is thoroughly incompatible with green antifreeze. Like, open the gates of hell and stare at the horrors within incompatible. The new universal stuff, yellow, is here for that reason.

Olds64

^^^THIS^^^

If you have a car running DexCool from the factory make sure you regularly service the cooling system. Don't mix green coolant and DexCool.

OLE442

In 2012, my Mother passed away and left me her 2003 Impala with only 19,000 miles on it. First thing I had done was to remove the DexCool and put normal anti-freeze in it. I hate DexCool.
Each to their own.

Olds64

Did that Impala run well after the switch? Did you use green coolant, or the new universal stuff? I've heard the only way you can go DexCool to green coolant is to completely disassemble and hot tank the block.

OLE442

It's still running well. I drive it every day! I had it done at a shop and am not sure what antifreeze they used. I probably knew at the time.
Another great GM idea. Kinda like the Vega engine with no sleeves in the aluminum block. I used to buy all GM until the last new car....now it's Toyota for me! Still, 3 out of 4 of my cars are GM but they're older GM!

crossboss

Also, remember GM had stickers saying 'Special coolant fill procedure' on those 1990s early 2000 car lines. And yes, 'Dexcool' is junk.