10 Apr 12 20:12, Mark Hofmann wrote to Roy Witt:



 RW>> The Dexcool in my Z28 was orange...hmmm, could be that it was more
 RW>> water than Dexcool.

 MH> I seem to remember my Monte Carlo's antifreeze was the red Dexcool
 MH> when I bought it brand new.  Later, it seemed to turn more orange and
 MH> got the notorious "goop" formations in it.  Looked like a brown
 MH> sludge.

I did a power flush with a system cleaner, so anything like that would
have ended up in the flush machine. Harry wouldn't have been a very happy
camper if that was the case.

 RW>> I've never had a problem with it and the Z28 has never given me
 RW>> anything to worry about in the cooling department. Early on, I
 RW>> replaced the 195 degree thermostat with a 180 and that was the only
 RW>> thing I've done to it in the cooling department up until the coolant
 RW>> flush and change.

 MH> I'm curious to know why some people didn't have problems with Dexcool
 MH> and many others did.  There are so many factors, it is difficult to
 MH> say.

The problem could have occured when people used tap water instead of
adding more Dexcool to the system when it was low on coolant.

 RW>> Chevys have been famous for that. The old cork type of gasket would
 RW>> shrink
 RW>> with age and the 4 screws would come loose, allowing oil to seep
 RW>> under the cover gasket. The rubber replacement gaskets were even
 RW>> worse, slipping out from under the cover when they got a dose of
 RW>> oil. I tend to stick with

 MH> I think my 80' Malibu has the cork value cover gasket.  It has a slow
 MH> leak for years, but not bad enough to make me have to replace it.

OTH, I would have fixed that leak when first detected.

 MH> I did have to have one of the value cover gaskets replaced on my
 MH> Monte Carlo just recently.  I saw some oil leaking recently, took it
 MH> back to where I had the engine installed, and they replaced the
 MH> gasket.

That's cool...

 MH> They have been great with the warranty.  Both problems were minor -
 MH> and both were gasket related.

If you spend a lot of money maintaining your vehicles with them, they're
going to take care of you as a good customer should be.

 RW>> My 55 Chevy had a 30-30 Duntov cam in it. Adjusting the valves (.03
 RW>> intake and .03 exhaust} with the engine running and the covers off
 RW>> allowed
 RW>> the oil to pump over the fenders. I found a set of rocker clips
 RW>> (still have them today) that covered the oil hole in the rocker
 RW>> which kept the oil in the engine, until it flooded the head and
 RW>> overflowed onto the exhaust. I learned to do only one bank at a
 RW>> time, shut it down, clean it up and re-install that cover before
 RW>> tackling the other bank of cyl.

 MH> I have never done anything like that, nor would be brave enough to
 MH> work on the open engine while it was running.

There's nothing to be afraid of, there's just a bunch of rocker arms
'rocking' away opening and closing valves under those covers. With
hydraulic lifters and after the initial adjustment with the engine
running, there's no need to R&R the covers again.

For solid lifter engines, especially that 30/30 Duntov cam, required valve
adjustments about once a week; or after a hard run on race day.

 RW>> That it will. Rather than service a PCV, I just replace them
 RW>> periodically.

 MH> Me too.  All that stuff in brand new in my Monte Carlo.

Same here.


                R\%/itt


  ... Only those who will risk going too far can possibly
  ... find out how far one can go ~ TS Eliot


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