GM agrees to settle class-action lawsuits tied to engine coolant

The Bostan Herald ^ | AP

[mowowie]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - General Motors Corp. has agreed to settle a series of class-action lawsuits claiming a faulty engine coolant damaged thousands of customer vehicles.

Under the settlement, GM would reimburse class members between $50 and $800 for repairs linked to Dex-Cool, an orange coolant that GM included in cars and trucks beginning in 1995.

[mowowie]

For anybody who's interested or a supposed victim of Dex-Cool.

[xjcsa]

I had a 1996 Corsica that died due to a cracked cylinder head...wonder if that was caused by this. Or maybe it was just a 10-year-old car with 155,000 miles on it.

[sam_paine]

If it’s the coolant, then why only settle with V6 owners?

[TexasRedeye]

Hmmmmm, I have a 1996 5.0 L Chev Suburban which I bought new. It had DexCool in the system. It now has 187K on it. I have had the primary radiator replaced 4 times, water pump 2 times, rear heater core 2 times. The first time (54,000 miles) the radiator pumped Dexcool into the transmission. $3,800. in repairs. Entire cooling system and transmission had to be replaced.

This vehicle doesn't seem to have any problems according to the suit. I guess I am just SOL on this one, sigh!

[mowowie]

Probably the latter. :)

You should call Guiness, 155,000 miles on a Corsica might just be a record!

[mowowie]

Damn...
Either Dex-Cool or that truck was built on Christmas eve at about 4:30 pm.

[joe fonebone]

i had a 1995 lumina that had the intake gasket, water pump go bad at 60000 miles, cost me a grand to fix.....

[nascarnation]

23 mil for the lawyers
not a bad payday

[joe fonebone]

and i can get a cool 400.00 ........

[BallyBill]

I have 2003 4.3L and it has the orange/red stuff in it. The article states only 4.3L's up to 2000 are affected.

Looks like I better do some more investigating.

[am452]

You should call Guiness, 155,000 miles on a Corsica might just be a record!

I had a '98 malibu with 189k on it when I sold it. No problems other than typica brakes, battery change/tires etc. One of the best cars I ever had.

[Responsibility2nd]

http://www.dexcoolsettlement.com./

My 2000 Pontiac Montanna needed $1100 in new head gaskets due to this crap. After just 65,000 miles. That was some 3 years ago and I don’t have receipts. I don’t even own the van anymore.

When the transmission went out at 93,000, I traded the POS in and bought a Nissan.

I’ll NEVER buy GM again.

[Petronski]

Leave it to General Mistake to fail miserably trying to reinvent the wheel.

Plain old green ethylene glycol isn’t good enough?

[AlaskaErik]

I have the orange stuff in my 2001 GMC Sierra 1500 with the 5.3 V-8 and so far I've never had a problem. I just hope my gaskets aren't rotting away. The truck only has 56,500 miles on it. I was planning on getting all the fluids changed at 60k, but that won't fix and damage that may have already occurred.

[tacticalogic]

If it’s the coolant, then why only settle with V6 owners?

I believe the problem is basically that the coolant and the head gasket material used in the V6's don't like each other very much.

[AlaskaErik]

I have a 1996 5.0 L

What country are you in? No such GM engine in the USA in the Suburban.

[sam_paine]

Then the problem is the silicone-nylon head gasket, not the coolant.

[tacticalogic]

Then the problem is the silicone-nylon head gasket, not the coolant.

Excpet the same gasket doesn't seem to have a problem with the old "green" coolant.

[TexasRedeye]

What country are you in? No such GM engine in the USA in the Suburban.

Excuse! Bad fingers on the keyboard. I guess it is a 5.7 L (350 c.i. SBC)!

[sam_paine]

Excpet the same gasket doesn't seem to have a problem with the old "green" coolant.

Well, the old "green" coolant sure did have several other problems.

It doesn't provide as much cooling in full strength, and when correctly diluted with water in the field, is hard on aluminum.

Dexcool is a good coolant in my truck.

There should be a "V6 gasket settlement site" for gaskets eaten up by whatever coolant was specd at the factory, not a "Dexcool settlement site."

Ah. Systems integration. The engineering finger-pointing nexus.