Ever Wondered Why DEXCOOL Killed Gaskets Back In The Day? This Epic History Lesson From MAHLE Tells The Tale


Ever Wondered Why DEXCOOL Killed Gaskets Back In The Day? This Epic History Lesson From MAHLE Tells The Tale

This is a cool video because it has a couple of interesting elements. The first is MAHLE’s Bill McKnight who is a total legend in the aftermarket and one of the smartest guys who has ever been involved with the world of high performance, OEM manufacturing, and hot rodding. Seriously. This guy is just a font of knowledge and is as welcome walking to an industry conference as he is walking into a top fuel pit to inspect main bearings after a run. That being said, he’s the right guy to recount one of the more interesting tales that has come up in the last few decades of automotive manufacturing. DEXCOOL was introduced by GM and touted as being a coolant that never had to be changed over the life of the engine. This stuff was going to handle the job forever.

Then intake manifold gaskets began to fail on like every engine that GM had. No one really knew what was going on but it was soon discovered that the common thread all these engines had was the DEXCOOL coolant. From that point forward it was understanding how to fix the problem, counteract the effects of DEXCOOL, and get these things into the hands of customers.

The part of this we found most fascinating was the identification of the problem and then the process to get it right and make sure that it met the high standards that the company demands from themselves. To John Q public this may be boring but to us? This is fascinating as hell!

Press play below to see and hear about how DEXCOOL killed gaskets back in the day


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4 thoughts on “Ever Wondered Why DEXCOOL Killed Gaskets Back In The Day? This Epic History Lesson From MAHLE Tells The Tale

  1. jeepster

    GM should have received a lawsuit for this malfunction !
    along with many others on the list….
    waterbased paint
    1984 & later iron dukes with one bad piston

  2. oldguy

    All the big three f’d up WB paint — Paint manufacturers spec’d x mils thick
    of the color coat —smart asses decided cut that thickness down and we’ll save
    XXX thousand gallons of paint a year !! See what I did boss ?
    Problem is the thin color coat allows UV to penetrate the color coat and
    oxidize the primer/bonding agent under coat .
    That breaks the bond under the color coat + yipes – stripes !!
    My brother got a Jimmy repainted for free + learned what had happened .

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