Topic: Replaced wp, now the temp hits 232

[Critterman]

I believe 5 Years is the max life, but I would change it sooner.

[Sol Asylum]

I beleive 5 Years is the max life, but I would have DDM, or Joe change it sooner.

Fixed that for you.

[DeepBlueGXP]

Don't worry, your water pump will fail before that and you will get new fluid

[Carbon Sky]

Ha ha ha, good one DBGXP

But in all seriousness, from independent testing I've seen, Dexcool is a very good "long" service coolant (it's color denoting the use of a type of chemistry used to enhance its service life that differs from green (typical, 3-year, and Japanese (blue 5-year) coolant which use different chemistry as well).  But it seems to have had a bad history of associated issues like head gasket leaks initially on many GM V6s, and waterpump issues on both V6 and I4 engines in GM's lineup, and a common thread seems to be pushing that 5 year service interval.  Most of the failures rarely happen before 3 years for example if they are dexcool associated, and typically happen around 5. 

Now you have to remember, this is still a VERY small percentage of the dexcool running vehicles on the road today, but if it means flushing your coolant out every 4 years instead of 5, at about $20 a pop in coolant and distilled water or about $5/year, I consider it VERY cheap insurance.

Just my opinion, feel free to run your dexcool however long you like.