# AMSOIL Dominator Coolant Boost



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

_*AMSOIL Dominator Coolant Boost*_
AMSOIL Dominator Coolant Boost uses surfectants to improve thermal transfer between metal and liquid (coolant) by increasing surface tension. 

_*Specifications*_
Application: All Cruzes
Quantity Required: 1 fluid ounce per quart of 50/50 antifreeze Or...
1.4L Turbo: 5.8 ounces
1.8L: 6.9 ounces
2.0L Diesel: 9.5 ounces

Each bottle contains 16 ounces
Recommended application: every 30,000 miles

_*Benefits:*_
- Reduces warm-up times on 1.4L and 1.8L engines during winter driving conditions, providing heat in the cabin sooner. 
- Aids in cooling of the 1.4L turbocharger for improved longevity 
- Improves effectiveness of heater core and radiator
- Reduces cylinder head temperatures. This aids in valve cooling and reduces combustion chamber temperatures, which help prevent knock. 

AMSOIL Dominator Coolant Boost is similar to Redline's Water Wetter, but tested at ~2x as effective in transferring heat. It is compatible with DEXCOOL coolant/antifreeze and does not affect its rated service interval. This product will benefit anyone who wants to get heat into the cabin faster during the winter, participates in any racing with their 1.4 Turbo Cruze, or simply wants to improve the longevity of their turbo by keeping it running cooler.

_*Order Information and Pricing:*_
AMSOIL Dominator Coolant Boost

_*Warranty Information:*_
The AMSOIL warranty certificate can be found using the following URL: AMSOIL Warranty

_*Frequently Asked Questions:*_
*Q: Will my engine warm up faster in the winter?
*A: No, the engine itself will actually warm up slower in the winter when the heater is on, because more of the excess heat created by the engine will be dissipated by the heater core to warm up the cabin more quickly. This is a trade-off between fuel economy and comfort until the engine is fully warmed up. 

*Q: Will this void my warranty?*
A: Regardless of what your dealer tells you, the Magnuson-Moss act protects you from having your warranty voided by using a product other than what the dealer recommends. If there is a failure, GM has to prove that the fluid caused the failure. This product is compatible with the DEXCOOL and using it will not void your warranty.


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## NWOHCruze (Oct 28, 2013)

How much is it XR?


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

NWOHCruze said:


> How much is it XR?


Just follow the link here (I posted it in the initial post as well):
AMSOIL Dominator® Coolant Boost

It's $11.10 plus shipping. You need 6oz for the Cruze cooling system. The bottle has 16oz, so you can use it on another car as well.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

In case anyone wants to know exactly how it works, here's the old product description for it. 

Amsoil Dominator Coolant Boost is designed to reduce corrosion and significantly enhance heat transfer in cooling systems. One of the overlooked benefits of better heat transfer is much quicker engine warm-up in winter conditions, which is noticed when the vehicle's defroster works much sooner. 
To understand how Dominator Coolant Boost reduces engine warm-up times in cold weather, it is imperative to understand the fundamentals  of an engine's cooling system and how Coolant Boost's proprietary tiered-surfactant technology works. The same tiered-surfactant technology that aids in reducing engine operating temperatures also decreases engine warm-up times. 

In a vehicle's cooling system, the ultimate goal is to quickly and effectively move heat away from engine components, permitting the engine to run at a safe, controlled temperature. An effective cooling system reduces stress on all aspects of the engine, including the lubricating oil. Alternatively, a corroded cooling system that transfers heat ineffectively will eventually lead to engine overheating, breakdown of engine oil and catastrophic failure. 

Before studying tiered surfactants, it is important to understand what a surfactant does in a cooling system. A surfactant reduces the surface tension of water and antifreeze, allowing closer contact with metal parts. This closer contact increases the coolant's effi ciency in transferring heat away from hot engine parts and out through the radiator and fan. 

Many leading coolant additives contain only one surfactant, limiting their temperature ranges and ultimate effectiveness. AMSOIL Dominator Coolant Boost uses three surfactants, each designed to operate in a different temperature range to increase liquid-to-metal contact from the time the vehicle starts to the time it reaches operating temperature.

Graphic A (below) illustrates how each surfactant in Coolant Boost's tieredsurfactant technology is designed to provide optimal performance over a wide temperature range, while competing products with only one surfactant are limited to performance in a single temperature range. 

Graphic B (below) outlines controlled testing of AMSOIL Dominator Coolant Boost with a 50/50 antifreeze/water mix. When a cooling system reaches 120°F, the operator typically feels warm air coming out of the defroster. The time it takes to reach this temperature with Coolant Boost is reduced by 45 percent compared to the 50/50 antifreeze/water mix alone. 

Through the use of tiered surfactants, AMSOIL Dominator Coolant Boost delivers quicker warm-up times in the winter and reduced engine temperatures in the summer, making it an excellent choice for year-round use.


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## patrick186 (Nov 15, 2013)

I might try this, my cruze takes FOREVER to heat up in the mornings


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

patrick186 said:


> I might try this, my cruze takes FOREVER to heat up in the mornings


Mine did too. I bought it specifically for that reason. It would take me 5 minutes of in-town driving and 5 minutes of highway driving before I had any decent heat. This cut that down almost in half. I highly recommend it. 

Sent from mobile.


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## WhiteAndBright (Mar 4, 2013)

I know it is not as good but I have Water Wetter in right now.. Is that basically the same thing just not as good as the Amsoil?? 


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

What's the impact in the summer?


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## iKermit (Dec 13, 2010)

In the summer it cools down slower?

Does Amsoil make air for the tires? I am hopeful they can spin more efficiently.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

WhiteAndBright said:


> I know it is not as good but I have Water Wetter in right now.. Is that basically the same thing just not as good as the Amsoil??
> 
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


Not quite. Water wetter functions well in the top temperature end Omg the spectrum. It will not do much of anything in the bottom end. It is designed for racing applications, where as the Dominator coolant boost is designed for all applications. See the chart above. 



obermd said:


> What's the impact in the summer?


That's actually something that I'm very anxious to test. It will dissipate heat a lot faster through the radiator, but that would not do much but reduce the amount of time the thermostat stays open. However, pulling more heat from the cylinder head and turbo can do a lot for reducing knock. 
Sent from mobile.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

So it sounds like this may also improve engine performance in the summer, possibly allowing a lower octane to still use the high octane maps.


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## 14cruze1.4 (Oct 7, 2013)

Just ordered some so hopefully it works! My drive to work is only about 10 minutes and my car the last few days doesnt even get past the 1/4 mark on the gauge(halfway warmed up). So my heated seats are what keep me warm lol


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## HarleyGTP (Dec 14, 2013)

I'd be absolutely super hesitant to mix ANYTHING into dexcool............other than more dexcool.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

HarleyGTP said:


> I'd be absolutely super hesitant to mix ANYTHING into dexcool............other than more dexcool.


I will be switching at 50k miles in favor of Amsoil's low-toxicity antifreeze. I advise everyone else do the same. 

I am quite aware of the issues Dexcool had in the past with plastic framed intake manifold gaskets and sludging. I spent several years on W-Body.com and gmforum.com. There are a lot of wives tales regarding what caused the issues, and I can confidently tell you that after over 200k miles of experience with it, 90% of those issues are directly related to exceeding the service life of the coolant, using non-distilled water when diluting it, and air getting into the cooling system and oxidizing the fluid. All of those can be prevented with regular scheduled flushes and testing. 

I called Amsoil yesterday to confirm that this product is compatible with GM's Dexcool antifreeze before creating this thread. Amsoil maintains a warranty against any damage caused by any product of theirs. 

Sent from mobile.


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## KOBALT (Nov 19, 2013)

Holy crap. I need some of this. Badly. 

Sent from my Note 3


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## *tim* (Aug 7, 2013)

i just traded my ls with the 1.8 in for a eco. does the 1.4 heat up any faster with the turbo? cause the 1.8 was retarded in the cold. but will be ordering me some of this


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

obermd said:


> So it sounds like this may also improve engine performance in the summer, possibly allowing a lower octane to still use the high octane maps.


This could be true if the knock was caused by a hotspot in the combustion chamber, but I doubt that's the case.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

My ECO MT heats up, but it takes about 10 minutes. I also don't exceed 2,000 RPM until it's warmed up.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

XtremeRevolution said:


> ...I can confidently tell you that after over 200k miles of experience with it, 90% of those issues are directly related to exceeding the service life of the coolant, using non-distilled water when diluting it, and air getting into the cooling system and oxidizing the fluid.


Agreed. I tore my Vette engine down after 9 years and 110,000 miles of service on the original Dexcool and the coolant passages in that engine were SPOTLESS.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

*tim* said:


> i just traded my ls with the 1.8 in for a eco. does the 1.4 heat up any faster with the turbo? cause the 1.8 was retarded in the cold. but will be ordering me some of this


The 1.4T is slower to heat up than the 1.8. Definitely order some of this. 



Blue Angel said:


> This could be true if the knock was caused by a hotspot in the combustion chamber, but I doubt that's the case.


There's just something about a cooler combustion chamber that leads me to believe knock could be reduced a bit. That, and pulling more heat off the turbo. 



obermd said:


> My ECO MT heats up, but it takes about 10 minutes. I also don't exceed 2,000 RPM until it's warmed up.


10 minutes is not bad. It was taking me 15 minutes on some days.



Blue Angel said:


> Agreed. I tore my Vette engine down after 9 years and 110,000 miles of service on the original Dexcool and the coolant passages in that engine were SPOTLESS.


When maintained, Dexcool isn't all that bad. It serves its purpose for longevity where green coolant would pit aluminum heads. I'm looking forward to switching over to Amsoil's low-toxicity fluid. 

Sent from mobile.


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## MilTownSHO (Oct 9, 2013)

I don't have this issue mine is warm within a few minutes, slower than a gasser but not bad. 

Soon as it hits 1/4 on the temperature gauge, I crank it and it's good to go.


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## *tim* (Aug 7, 2013)

is one bottle enough for one treatment


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

*tim* said:


> is one bottle enough for one treatment


Yep. One bottle is 16oz and you need 6oz for the Cruze. 

Sent from mobile.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

DIC showed 17*F when starting this morning, 2012 2LT 1.4L Turbo, after 8 blocks of city driving, showed 117*F, clicked on the blower in recir mode. Certainly not a blast of hot air, but comfortable with the warm air blowing in your face.

In thermodynamics, heat transfers from hot cold, rate is determined by thermal conductivity or lack of resistance, whichever you prefer. But what effect could lowering thermal resistance have if you don't have heat to begin with?

Something else is missing from this equation. 

Ha, wife picks on me for not warming up the car first, dear, hardly a minute or two before we start getting heat, plus wasting gas. I do drop her off at work, if I didn't, she would have to find a place to park the car and walk three blocks. This way, only five feet from the front door. Of course when I pick her up, car is nice and warm.

If its taking your Cruze this long to heat up, may have other thermostat problems. Apparently lucky, my Cruze does not have this problem. In cold temperatures, that sucker should be closed tight.


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## HarleyGTP (Dec 14, 2013)

XtremeRevolution said:


> I will be switching at 50k miles in favor of Amsoil's low-toxicity antifreeze. I advise everyone else do the same.
> 
> I am quite aware of the issues Dexcool had in the past with plastic framed intake manifold gaskets and sludging. I spent several years on W-Body.com and gmforum.com. There are a lot of wives tales regarding what caused the issues, and I can confidently tell you that after over 200k miles of experience with it, 90% of those issues are directly related to exceeding the service life of the coolant, using non-distilled water when diluting it, and air getting into the cooling system and oxidizing the fluid. All of those can be prevented with regular scheduled flushes and testing.
> 
> ...


I've been inside engines that have done full antifreeze flushes, and I can say from my own personal experience, the only way to get rid of all of the dexcool contamination is to completely disassemble the system and rebuild it. 

I'm inclined to agree with you about the causes of dexcool deterioration. The addition of non-distilled water and unnecessary air in the system are problems with dexcool. But I firmly believe that the addition of any other type of coolant, and/or coolant additives, add to the problem, or at least accelerate it.

Anyone will tell you that oil additives are snake oil. Transmission "slip-be-gone" additives just make things worse. Octane booster really isn't boosting anything. 

Personally, I'm not a fan of additives. I feel like most of the time, they are, well, snake oil.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

> I've been inside engines that have done full antifreeze flushes, and I can say from my own personal experience, the only way to get rid of all of the dexcool contamination is to completely disassemble the system and rebuild it.


In your opinion, what's a "safe" time period/mileage to run DexCool before a complete flush? 3 yrs/50K? 

I don't trust the ridiculously long change interval on that stuff one bit...


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

I had a 3100 and I was not about to swap out LIM gaskets on the same spark plug replacement schedule since death cool didn't like that motor as it aged. I'm more confident of this system as it's a brand new car and haven't vented inside the car as previous years. I'll wait till you guys run it for the winter and see how it goes. Brake and coolant are fluids I rather not touch on a new car but I have came to terms with swapping the "lifetime" trans fluid. 


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Not disagreeing with Xtreme on this issue, very well possible this coolant boost has lubricating properties on the thermostat.

Sometime back, forgot when, GM was or should say we were having a problem with casting sand left in the engine block. That really made one heck of a mess mixing sand with Dexcool. Solution was a long power flush on the system. Also created thermostat and water pump problems.

Happened once, could happen again, just saying. I mean, taking an aspirin may give temporally relief for a broken ankle, but not a cure, when the key problem is a broken ankle.


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## HarleyGTP (Dec 14, 2013)

jblackburn said:


> In your opinion, what's a "safe" time period/mileage to run DexCool before a complete flush? 3 yrs/50K?
> 
> I don't trust the ridiculously long change interval on that stuff one bit...


I've always done coolant fluid changes at 30K intervals.


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## mcg75 (Mar 5, 2012)

It's been a very long time since I've seen someone come in the shop with coolant sludge issues. 

IMHO, anyone changing the dexcool before the 5 year mark (or if 100k before 5 years) is wasting their money unless the system was contaminated by some idiot adding the wrong stuff.


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## HarleyGTP (Dec 14, 2013)

mcg75 said:


> It's been a very long time since I've seen someone come in the shop with coolant sludge issues.
> 
> IMHO, anyone changing the dexcool before the 5 year mark (or if 100k before 5 years) is wasting their money unless the system was contaminated by some idiot adding the wrong stuff.


I'd say you can attribute this to owners understanding that you can't mix dexcool with anything other than, dexcool. That and quality has really improved over the last decade, eliminating the need to ever "add" coolant.

I suppose my 30K interval change is a bit excessive, especially if the system hasn't been compromised. Of course I don't do a flush, just drain the fluid and replace with new dexcool. 

I stand by my opinion of avoiding additives to pretty much any fluid that goes into any vehicle. Especially dexcool.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

HarleyGTP said:


> I'd say you can attribute this to owners understanding that you can't mix dexcool with anything other than, dexcool. That and quality has really improved over the last decade, eliminating the need to ever "add" coolant.
> 
> I suppose my 30K interval change is a bit excessive, especially if the system hasn't been compromised. Of course I don't do a flush, just drain the fluid and replace with new dexcool.
> 
> I stand by my opinion of avoiding additives to pretty much any fluid that goes into any vehicle. Especially dexcool.


This statement can be true so long as you aren't one of the lucky people who replaced 2 water pumps and thermostats. I haven't been one of these lucky lottery winners *knocks on material board.*


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

HarleyGTP said:


> I've been inside engines that have done full antifreeze flushes, and I can say from my own personal experience, the only way to get rid of all of the dexcool contamination is to completely disassemble the system and rebuild it.
> 
> I'm inclined to agree with you about the causes of dexcool deterioration. The addition of non-distilled water and unnecessary air in the system are problems with dexcool. But I firmly believe that the addition of any other type of coolant, and/or coolant additives, add to the problem, or at least accelerate it.
> 
> ...


Most of the time they are, but this one worked as advertised AND is protected by a warranty. When Amsoil says it is compatible with Dexcool, you can take that to the bank because if the coolant suffers any adverse effects, they will pay the bill to fix your car. 

That said, water wetter is very popular and also works, and this is an extended version of that. I've never seen an issue with anyone running water wetter. We have one guy running this Dominator coolant boost (the guy who compared it to another Cruze) and he is a courier with 95k miles on the dash. Has been using this since the car was new. No issues to speak of. 

I am strongly against "mechanic in a can" additives. If your coolant is leaking, fix the leak. If your oil is leaking, fix the leak. If your transmission is slipping, find out why. The only exception to this is power steering fluid, where the stop leak actually works long-term without adverse effects. We don't have power steering fluid. 

I wouldn't have recommended this as openly if we didn't have someone who put many, many miles on it with no trouble at all. 

Sent from mobile.


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## iKermit (Dec 13, 2010)

I just wanted to say my car warms up REAL fast. It's winter, and it is 80 degrees outside.

Thanks,
Danny


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

iKermit said:


> I just wanted to say my car warms up REAL fast. It's winter, and it is 80 degrees outside.
> 
> Thanks,
> Danny


Traitor! LOL. You and your BMW...


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

iKermit said:


> I just wanted to say my car warms up REAL fast. It's winter, and it is 80 degrees outside.
> 
> Thanks,
> Danny


I'm not sure the trade-off of having to deal with all the retirees in Florida is worth it.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

obermd said:


> I'm not sure the trade-off of having to deal with all the retirees in Florida is worth it.


Or the humidity. Blech. 


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

Bought into this idea as normally, I don't do a lot of highway travel so the car never really gets warmed up fully in these temps. Received the package today, and the product in the bottle was frozen solid. I have not added it yet as it is thawing out and it brings up a question. Any idea how much this (6oz) stuff will affect the freezing temp of the coolant? Additionally, will freezing of the product affect it adversely in any way? 

Thanks in advance for the answers, A!


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

The_Madcat said:


> Bought into this idea as normally, I don't do a lot of highway travel so the car never really gets warmed up fully in these temps. Received the package today, and the product in the bottle was frozen solid. I have not added it yet as it is thawing out and it brings up a question. Any idea how much this (6oz) stuff will affect the freezing temp of the coolant? Additionally, will freezing of the product affect it adversely in any way?
> 
> Thanks in advance for the answers, A!


The freezing of the product won't affect the way it works, nor will it affect the boiling or freezing point of the antifreeze by any significant amount. Your cooling system holds 5.8 quarts (185.6oz) give or take, so 6oz will not make a consequential difference. I would add it to your cooling system when the engine is hot so it mixes with the antifreeze in the surge tank and gets sucked back into the engine as it cools. 

Let us know your impressions after a few hot/cold cycles have given the coolant boost a chance to work its way through the cooling system.


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

Excellent, thanks for the info! I'll give it a go and give an opinion in a few days.


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## EcoDave (Mar 7, 2013)

Ordered.
MyLink Temp said 8* F on the way home from work just now. 30 minute commute, Froze my ass off for 20 minutes.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

I'm sceptical this or similar products do anything. Laws of physics, friction and heat generated by the combustion process is not enough to warm the engine adding something to the cooling system is not going to make a significant improvement. Besides I would never add anything to dexcool. 

I monitor the engine temperatures daily on my car, on these very cold days of -20F the motor is showing -15F when I start it. On a 15F day(engine around 19F starting) it takes 4-5minutes to be at 100 degrees, when -20F the engine is hitting 90F degrees after 8-9 minutes of idling. Sure driving generates heat faster but I'm trying to point out how outside temperature effects warm up time in a more controlled environment(both examples idling) for comparison. If people are seeing any marked improvement with this product I suspect there is some other variable at play. 


Have found some cases of this product becoming corrosive in the cooling system, which amsoil plays off as people using chlorinated water. 

http://www.cherokeesrt8.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63752

Corrosion after runing dionized water + amsoil coolant boost(similar to water wetter) [Archive] - GTA Motorcycle.com

http://www.amsoil.com/techservicesbulletin/other/tsb ps-2012-01-02_coolantboost.pdf


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

Those 2 posts are user error problems. I looked at these very posts before using the product.

The first, the guy used Aquafina in his radiator.... 

The second: If you put straight water in your system for any decent amount of time, without inhibitors, it will corrode.

No idea why AMS is recommending bottled water, this seems really bad to me.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

spacedout said:


> I'm sceptical this or similar products do anything. Laws of physics, friction and heat generated by the combustion process is not enough to warm the engine adding something to the cooling system is not going to make a significant improvement. Besides I would never add anything to dexcool.
> 
> I monitor the engine temperatures daily on my car, on these very cold days of -20F the motor is showing -15F when I start it. On a 15F day(engine around 19F starting) it takes 4-5minutes to be at 100 degrees, when -20F the engine is hitting 90F degrees after 8-9 minutes of idling. Sure driving generates heat faster but I'm trying to point out how outside temperature effects warm up time in a more controlled environment(both examples idling) for comparison. If people are seeing any marked improvement with this product I suspect there is some other variable at play.
> 
> ...


AMSOIL protects your vehicle with a warranty against any damage to your cooling system and states that it is compatible with DEX-COOL. I posted this earlier. 

I also demonstrated in the VIP section that your cylinder head operates at far higher temperatures than your coolant. We just don't have the sensors to be able to tell the difference. The difference is about 35 degrees, give or take. All we can measure is coolant temp, not cylinder head temp. Other cars are equipped to do both. I can post the datalog screenshot again if you need me to. 

Surfectants have been used in a number of products on the market to improve the heat transfer at the boundary layer between water/antifreeze and metal surfaces. If you can reduce the gap between the cylinder head temp and the coolant, you will in effect see a faster warm-up time for the coolant. By the same effect, you will have heat in the cabin faster as well as the heater core will also become more efficient at transferring heat from the coolant. 

This product and all products like it (including the wildly popular Redline Water Wetter) work. Every car enthusiast out there knows the Water Wetter name because it works. There's no doubt about that. I have personal friends with motorcycles (one of which is an active forum member) that use the AMSOIL product and report that their motorcycles in fact run cooler.

The DEX-COOL scare is overblown and heavily misunderstood. It is an ethylene glycol like most others on the market with high-mileage additives that require very specific operating conditions. Any conditions where sludging occurred can be attributed to either air in the system, contamination from non-distilled water, or failure to replace it at the manufacturer recommended interval. 

Sent from mobile.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

The_Madcat said:


> Those 2 posts are user error problems. I looked at these very posts before using the product.
> 
> The first, the guy used Aquafina in his radiator....
> 
> ...


Most bottled water goes through a reverse osmosis filtration that removes contaminants and contains a low chloride concentration. One of the guys in the SRT8 forum explained the situation pretty clearly as far as what went wrong and why.

Sent from mobile.


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## cyclewild (Aug 14, 2013)

Count me as another satisfied user, added Coolant Boost to mine and my wife's cars, my warmup time have been roughly cut in half.


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Most bottled water goes through a reverse osmosis filtration that removes contaminants and contains a low chloride concentration. One of the guys in the SRT8 forum explained the situation pretty clearly as far as what went wrong and why.
> 
> Sent from mobile.


Yeah, I read and absorbed that and as the guy states, you need to be reading the fine print on the bottled water to get the PPM count. Bottled water is a pretty general term. I guess I would have liked the AMS documents to be more specific. Aquafina is "bottled water" but I would never use it at all. Distilled and antifreeze is the proper mixture. Now, if the SRT guy would have used a conditioner with the Aquafina it would have been ok. I feel bad for the guy but it was his own fault really.


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

I've put about 60 miles and had several hot/cold cycles now. How long should this take to work in? Hate to say it but this has had 0 effect on how long it takes for the car to warm up. Just drove home (3 miles through [email protected] 25mph - 3rd gear to keep rpm up to 2k) with fan set to off, temp needle never moved from Cold. Had lunch with the wife for 30 min then drove back to work, needle managed to get just below 1/4 temp. Wondering if my thermostat is working at all...


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

The_Madcat said:


> I've put about 60 miles and had several hot/cold cycles now. How long should this take to work in? Hate to say it but this has had 0 effect on how long it takes for the car to warm up. Just drove home (3 miles through [email protected] 25mph - 3rd gear to keep rpm up to 2k) with fan set to off, temp needle never moved from Cold. Had lunch with the wife for 30 min then drove back to work, needle managed to get just below 1/4 temp. Wondering if my thermostat is working at all...


Took me about a week to a week and a half and one entire tank of gas to really start working. I didn't really pay attention to it till then expecting it to take a while. I put in half the bottle since I didn't care to measure it all. You basically end up with a mix of coolant and coolant boost in the surge tank which will take a while to work its way through. 

Start up your Cruze at the same time as another when they've been sitting overnight and you'll see the difference. Like I said, expect 35-45% reduction in warm-up time.

The bigger difference comes in how much heat you get in the cabin for a given temperature of the coolant. Because this improves the transfer of heat from the heater core, you will get warmer air faster. The biggest benefit is not in how long it takes your temp gauge to rise, but how much heat is produced by the car for a given coolant temp. 

My car starts to blow air in single digit temperatures by 110 degrees F.

My buddy has a 2012 Cruze Eco like mine so I may just try to get our cars together one night and start them at the same time to compare. 

Sent from mobile.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

The_Madcat said:


> I've put about 60 miles and had several hot/cold cycles now. How long should this take to work in?


If you look at the surge tank you'll see there's a small circular viewing window where the vapor line is plumbed into the top of the surge tank. With the engine running you can see coolant circulating through.

I would think that the coolant in the surge tank would be cycled completely every couple of hours or so. After 3-4 hours of run time I'd count on it being fully mixed into the coolant.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

spacedout said:


> If people are seeing any marked improvement with this product I suspect there is some other variable at play.


Yep. Heat doesn't come from nowhere, so if there's added cabin heat sooner in the warm-up process, that extra heat can only come from one place; the combustion gasses. This can happen in two ways, the first is drawing extra heat from the cylinder head, and two is the heater core drawing more heat from the coolant and cooling it further. This would send colder coolant back to the engine, absorbing more heat than hotter coolant would. The second would not cause the temperature gauge to climb faster, so I suspect it's a combination of the two. Based on the product claim of making heat transfer between metal and coolant more efficient, that would make sense.

Cooling the combustion process will reduce the engine's efficiency. Will this efficiency hit be enough for people to notice? I don't know. It will be a trade-off, as cooler combustion gasses mean cooler exhaust gasses, and that means longer warm-up times for the catalytic converters which will increase cold start emissions.

*Everyone reading this needs to keep it in perspective... *I'm not saying this will have a large noticeable detrimental impact on your car's fuel efficiency or cause some other catastrophic side effect - I'm sure it won't. I'm just trying to point out the physics behind what's going on here. Unless the car starts magically burning more fuel than before, there isn't any more heat energy to heat your car with than there was before. If this product increases the amount of heat you get in the car, just know the heat had to come from somewhere.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Blue Angel said:


> Yep. Heat doesn't come from nowhere, so if there's added cabin heat sooner in the warm-up process, that extra heat can only come from one place; the combustion gasses. This can happen in two ways, the first is drawing extra heat from the cylinder head, and two is the heater core drawing more heat from the coolant and cooling it further. This would send colder coolant back to the engine, absorbing more heat than hotter coolant would. The second would not cause the temperature gauge to climb faster, so I suspect it's a combination of the two. Based on the product claim of making heat transfer between metal and coolant more efficient, that would make sense.
> 
> Cooling the combustion process will reduce the engine's efficiency. Will this efficiency hit be enough for people to notice? I don't know. It will be a trade-off, as cooler combustion gasses mean cooler exhaust gasses, and that means longer warm-up times for the catalytic converters which will increase cold start emissions.
> 
> *Everyone reading this needs to keep it in perspective... *I'm not saying this will have a large noticeable detrimental impact on your car's fuel efficiency or cause some other catastrophic side effect - I'm sure it won't. I'm just trying to point out the physics behind what's going on here. Unless the car starts magically burning more fuel than before, there isn't any more heat energy to heat your car with than there was before. If this product increases the amount of heat you get in the car, just know the heat had to come from somewhere.


Precisely. This is exactly what is happening. It is good for people to understand the concepts behind how this is working. This product exists for people who don't mind trading a bit of efficiency during cold starts for faster heat in very cold conditions. Based on the threads and complaints that have been cropping up, I'd say there's a large number of people who fall under this category, like the fellow who had to get a rental car to get around because his Cruze didn't provide enough heat. If you are content with the warm-up time of your Cruze, this product is unnecessary.

One note: I suspect that the coolant will also pull more heat from the turbo and the oil, which is heated through the piston cooling jets and friction, so it's not just the combustion heat. It is minimal, but it's there.

Sent from mobile.


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## Hack (Jul 10, 2013)

I'm going to pick up a bottle. The last couple of days have been in the -20s for wind chill. It's been brutal. I had to modify my tune and crank up idle and some other tweaks just to make it bearable. Turning on the heat actually makes the coolant temp drop 10-30 degrees, and the car can barely reach and maintain operating temp (if ever) 

I was seriously considering sealing off the openings in both grilles like you see on older school buses to try to insulate the engine bay better. 
Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Blue Angel said:


> If you look at the surge tank you'll see there's a small circular viewing window where the vapor line is plumbed into the top of the surge tank. With the engine running you can see coolant circulating through.
> 
> I would think that the coolant in the surge tank would be cycled completely every couple of hours or so. After 3-4 hours of run time I'd count on it being fully mixed into the coolant.


I've only seen the dripping occur during warm-up times while the fluid expands. At full operating temperatures, I've watched it and not seen any fluid moving through. 

I also have a tune, which sticks the thermostat at a specific pressure with almost no fluctuation, so that may be a reason why it took my car so long to get the fluid to circulate. 

Sent from mobile.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Blue Angel said:


> If you look at the surge tank you'll see there's a small circular viewing window where the vapor line is plumbed into the top of the surge tank. With the engine running you can see coolant circulating through.
> 
> I would think that the coolant in the surge tank would be cycled completely every couple of hours or so. After 3-4 hours of run time I'd count on it being fully mixed into the coolant.


I only see coolant dripping through there during the warm-up cycle. Unless those hoses are run through the water pump in

Sent from mobile.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

XtremeRevolution said:


> I only see coolant dripping through there during the warm-up cycle. Unless those hoses are run through the water pump in
> 
> Sent from mobile.


Once the coolant is at full operating temperature, which may eventually happen during the ccccccooooollllllddddd winter we've been having, and after being on the highway a bit, when you get to your destination leave the engine running and open the hood.
Observe the little hose at the top of the tank and you will see full flow taking place.
The small hose, tank, and larger hose act as the bypass system and the flow is to guide any steam bubbles that have developed into the surge.
Standard cooling system design.

Rob


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Robby said:


> Once the coolant is at full operating temperature, which may eventually happen during the ccccccooooollllllddddd winter we've been having, and after being on the highway a bit, when you get to your destination leave the engine running and open the hood.
> Observe the little hose at the top of the tank and you will see full flow taking place.
> The small hose, tank, and larger hose act as the bypass system and the flow is to guide any steam bubbles that have developed into the surge.
> Standard cooling system design.
> ...


I'll check it out. If this is true, the additive should be well distributed in the system within two hot/cold cycles.

I need to get my buddy's Cruze parked next to mine overnight so I can test them both.

Sent from mobile.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Oh, for sure, it'll be fully distributed in probably 5 minutes or so once the system is flowing normally.

Rob


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Robby said:


> Oh, for sure, it'll be fully distributed in probably 5 minutes or so once the system is flowing normally.
> 
> Rob


Well that's good to know. I don't have to tell people to wait several hot/cold cycles then!

Sent from mobile.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

spacedout said:


> I'm sceptical this or similar products do anything. Laws of physics, friction and heat generated by the combustion process is not enough to warm the engine adding something to the cooling system is not going to make a significant improvement. Besides I would never add anything to dexcool.
> 
> I monitor the engine temperatures daily on my car, on these very cold days of -20F the motor is showing -15F when I start it. On a 15F day(engine around 19F starting) it takes 4-5minutes to be at 100 degrees, when -20F the engine is hitting 90F degrees after 8-9 minutes of idling. Sure driving generates heat faster but I'm trying to point out how outside temperature effects warm up time in a more controlled environment(both examples idling) for comparison. If people are seeing any marked improvement with this product I suspect there is some other variable at play.
> 
> ...


Did some more research on this since it is an area of concern, and I figured out the issue. 

AMSOIL recommends tap water or bottled water with this product if run in straight water applications. Why then did these owners have issues?

One ran Aquafina which I have read up on extensively. At first I was looking for corrosive elements like chlorine but found none. Then I realized it is about the most flat and bland tasting water because it has no minerals whatsoever. It is extremely well purified. 

Same with distilled water and ionized water. Since those have a polarity that isn't neutral, they will absorb minerals from surrounding metals. This includes aluminum. It will act like a solvent. The use of tap water in fact may be one of the reasons why this product shows so incredibly low corrosion numbers. 

50/50 antifreeze is fine with distilled water because it isn't straight water, but that doesn't apply with those cases you mentioned. In those cases, the incorrect type of water was used, which is what caused the corrosion.

Sent from mobile.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Robby said:


> Oh, for sure, it'll be fully distributed in probably 5 minutes or so once the system is flowing normally.
> 
> Rob


When I had the florescent dye put in my cooling system we watched it distribute and in just a few minutes it was coming back through the top return hose.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

XtremeRevolution said:


> This product exists for people who don't mind trading a bit of efficiency during cold starts for faster heat in very cold conditions. Based on the threads and complaints that have been cropping up, I'd say there's a large number of people who fall under this category....


I suspect you are 100% correct.


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

XtremeRevolution said:


> I need to get my buddy's Cruze parked next to mine overnight so I can test them both.


Invite him over, fill him full of beer, point him at the couch. Easy.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

Yuk yuk yuk.....you'll be in town all week, right?

Rob


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

Robby said:


> Yuk yuk yuk.....you'll be in town all week, right?


With interwebz on my phone I'm always in town!


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

On my way home from work, I set my heater on max and my fan on 2 (out of 4 settings) with recirculate off. I took a video of my temp gauge that was just over 10 minutes long on my phone until it filled up my SD card so I could plot the numbers when I got home. The results are pretty interesting. 










I started at 34 degrees F 45 seconds into the video. Ambient temp was 23 degrees, although I'm not sure why there was that discrepancy. The road was 45 mph speed limit in-town driving with stop lights regularly placed. I had to stop at a few. 

At 95 degrees, I turned my fan speed up to the 3rd setting. At 6:30, I hit stop and go traffic. 

For the next nearly 4 minutes, my car never went past 136 degrees F, although I did start picking up a bit of speed (steady in 2nd gear at 5-8mph, about 1000-1200RPM) at 8:30. My speed never exceeded 140 degrees until several minutes later when the traffic cleared up and I started gaining speed. 

What I realized is that this product only helps your car warm up faster _*if your heater is off*_ or if your engine is inefficient enough to not be affected by the heater core's transfer of heat. During this whole time though, I wasn't cold. In fact, by around 4:00 I started feeling warm air through the vents, and by 5:30 I was getting comfortable and took my leather gloves off. By the end of the recording, my temp gauge needle was right on the first small hash mark past "C", but I wasn't freezing my butt off. 

If I had run recirculate mode on like I usually do, I would have been pretty toasty by then, but I wanted to see what would happen under those specific conditions.


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## warplane95 (May 29, 2013)

So for a french noobie like me. What I need to do to see my car warm faster? 

When you start the car, what are you doing? Wich button you press? 


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

warplane95 said:


> So for a french noobie like me. What I need to do to see my car warm faster?
> 
> When you start the car, what are you doing? Wich button you press?
> 
> ...


This will get you heat into your cabin more quickly in the cold weather. It will warm up the engine more quickly when you're not using the heat, and it will pull more heat from the cylinder head and turbo in the summer (reducing knock under load and heat soak). When I personally start the car, I usually put the vents in recirculate mode and heat on max, fan on 2 or 3. This time, I had recirculate off just so I could see what would happen.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Did some more research on this since it is an area of concern, and I figured out the issue.
> 
> AMSOIL recommends tap water or bottled water with this product if run in straight water applications. Why then did these owners have issues?
> 
> ...



Just a thought why some bottled water might be an issue.... I have tested dozens of bottled water for PH level, low and behold those flat tasting waters like auquafina are slightly acidic. Tap water from most citys is sightly alkaline, distilled water is a neutral 7ph. Only bottled water I tested that had a 7ph was ice mountain.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

spacedout said:


> Just a thought why some bottled water might be an issue.... I have tested dozens of bottled water for PH level, low and behold those flat tasting waters like auquafina are slightly acidic. Tap water from most citys is sightly alkaline, distilled water is a neutral 7ph. Only bottled water I tested that had a 7ph was ice mountain.


You guys do know that one of the first extremely popular and advertised bottled waters, Evian, is "naive" spelled backwards.


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

Well I have to say this did improve things. I would not turn on the heat till the gauge would get over 1/4 temp so I did not notice the fact that the heat at 1/4 is now noticeably warmer than it used to be. For the money spent on this, I think I would recommend it. I am actually getting noticeable heat at about 1/8 on the gauge now, which has been very helpful getting the windshield cleared. This is not show stopping by any means but again, it is helping and I'm a bit happier now. If you live in the cold and have issues getting the car heated up on shorter/in town trips, this will for certain help out.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Cold weather is coming...


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Cold weather is coming...


Finally


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## grs1961 (Oct 23, 2012)

No it isn't, it's getting warmer!!!


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Cold weather is coming...


Shush. Let us enjoy fall before it's gone in 3 weeks.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

*Cruze taking too long to warm up in the winter?*



Cold weather? You mean Cleveland Winter is 16 days away. What was the Amsoil coolant additive to speed the process up again?

Waiting for winter wonderland thread to become active again.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Updated initial post.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Just sent you a PM on usage. Should have searched 1st.


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## cdb09007 (Aug 7, 2013)

Winter is among us here in CT...waking up to ~20*F already, yay! I put half a bottle of dominator last winter, havn't lost any measurable amount of coolant (knock on wood). Would it be necessary or beneficial at all to put in the other half this winter? It's just sitting on the shelf currently.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

cdb09007 said:


> Winter is among us here in CT...waking up to ~20*F already, yay! I put half a bottle of dominator last winter, havn't lost any measurable amount of coolant (knock on wood). Would it be necessary or beneficial at all to put in the other half this winter? It's just sitting on the shelf currently.


If you are still on the same water pump, I would say no. I'm running it for the 1st time this winter after a water pump replacement.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

cdb09007 said:


> Winter is among us here in CT...waking up to ~20*F already, yay! I put half a bottle of dominator last winter, havn't lost any measurable amount of coolant (knock on wood). Would it be necessary or beneficial at all to put in the other half this winter? It's just sitting on the shelf currently.


No need. The stuff is good for 30k miles. Keep the rest of it for the next time you need it.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

I don't know if I posted this before, but I figured I'd share this here so people would get a better understanding of how this product works. One misconception that people have is that your temperature gauge tells you the temperature of your engine. This is not true. The temp gauge simply tells you the temp of your coolant. The oil temp will be different, and the actual cylinder head or engine block temp will be different, with wildly varying temperature ranges depending on what part of the engine you're looking at. 

My buddy's car has the ability to scan for both water temp and cylinder head temp. Here's what his scan pulled up, WITH the use of the coolant boost. 










As you can see, cylinder head temp is actually 198F while coolant temp was only 165F. This means that there is a gap of 33 degrees between the coolant temp and the actual cylinder head temp, and would have been even higher without the coolant boost. Remember, it is the coolant that dissipates heat into the cabin through the heater core. It is the coolant that cools the turbo. It is the coolant that dissipates heat through the radiator. 

What this product does is that it closes that gap. More heat will be pulled from the cylinder head into the coolant, so the coolant will get warm sooner than it normally would. Not only will there be more heat to dissipate into the heater core to warm up the cabin in the winter, but the coolant boost will also allow more heat to be dissipated through the heater core. The end result is that your engine may take longer to warm up, but you will receive heat in the cabin faster.

Of course, this will also keep the engine and turbo running cooler, which reduces knock and improves turbo longevity.


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## Terryk2003 (Sep 22, 2014)

I just wanted to add to this. I purchased a bottle of this and split it between my cruze and my wife's sonic. It made a noticeable difference in the amount of time it took for the heat to get warm in both cars! I was very impressed by this product and would recommend it to anyone.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

obermd said:


> What's the impact in the summer?





XtremeRevolution said:


> That's actually something that I'm very anxious to test. It will dissipate heat a lot faster through the radiator, but that would not do much but reduce the amount of time the thermostat stays open. However, pulling more heat from the cylinder head and turbo can do a lot for reducing knock.
> Sent from mobile.


So how did your car handle the summer heat?


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

Interesting that the CV has a cylinder head temp sensor in addition to a coolant temp sensor. Never heard of that before...


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

obermd said:


> So how did your car handle the summer heat?


I ran 89 octane for a while to see what it would be like, and I didn't have any hesitation or throttle lag. Smooth power all the way to redline every time.

Knowing how big of a difference this makes in the winter, I'm just happy knowing my turbo is being cooled better.


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## GoColts570 (Feb 1, 2015)

My bottle of the coolant boost came in and I added it to my Cruze last night. The engine was still warm from my commute home, so I popped the hood and added it to the coolant reservoir (it did hiss at me lol, but I didn't get burned). I believe that I may have added slightly more than half the bottle, but by no means does it look like I overfilled it. After I added it, I ran the vehicle for a few minutes before shutting it down for the evening.

This morning was cold, windy, snowy and icy. I'm honestly amazed at how noticeable the difference was when using this product. My cabin was quicker to heat up than normal. It wasn't overwhelmingly hot at first, but the fact that it heats up faster on cold starts is worth the price. +1 I highly recommend Dominator coolant boost.


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## roadrunnerA12 (Jan 21, 2015)

Probably a dumb question but should you suck out an equivalent amount from the coolant tank before adding Dominator? Also, does coolant circulate through this tank when the engine is warmed up and the thermostat is open? If not, how does Dominator get mixed in with the DexCool?


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## Blue Angel (Feb 18, 2011)

Coolant circulates through the tank, it will mix.

Yes, the coolant level should be corrected for anything added to the system.


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## GoColts570 (Feb 1, 2015)

Blue Angel said:


> Coolant circulates through the tank, it will mix.
> 
> Yes, the coolant level should be corrected for anything added to the system.


Do you think I'm risking anything with an extra 6+ ounces flowing in the system?


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## BowtieGuy (Jan 4, 2013)

How much longer does it take for the engine to reach operating temperature using this product in the winter? These cars take a decent amount of time to reach operating temperature in winter as is without pulling even more heat out.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

BowtieGuy said:


> How much longer does it take for the engine to reach operating temperature using this product in the winter? These cars take a decent amount of time to reach operating temperature in winter as is without pulling even more heat out.


I haven't really kept track, but the engine gets up to temp within 5-10 minutes of actual driving. Once you hit highway speeds, you're up to temp in no time. It's city traffic that varies. If you're blasting the heat in stop and go traffic on a single digit day, you're not going to be able to get past the 1/4 mark till you get moving. 

There's also the benefit of cooling the turbo better in the summer.


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## Terryk2003 (Sep 22, 2014)

I added it to what was already in my tank. Don't think that small amount is going to do any damage.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Check the level. If it's too high, adjust it. It won't do any harm. If anything, running it too low could cause a problem. Running a bit higher won't harm anything.


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## GoColts570 (Feb 1, 2015)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Check the level. If it's too high, adjust it. It won't do any harm. If anything, running it too low could cause a problem. Running a bit higher won't harm anything.


I tried shooting you a PM with a picture of my coolant tank after my drive home from work, don't know if it went through or not, but I figured it would be helpful to others if I just posted it in this thread. Anyway, here's a picture of my coolant levels on my 2015 Cruze LT after my 18 mile ride home from work. Keep in mind I added the coolant boost a couple of nights ago, and ended up adding a little more than half the bottle. Too much? Looks good? Do I have to remove some? What does everyone think?


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

GoColts570 said:


> I tried shooting you a PM with a picture of my coolant tank after my drive home from work, don't know if it went through or not, but I figured it would be helpful to others if I just posted it in this thread. Anyway, here's a picture of my coolant levels on my 2015 Cruze LT after my 18 mile ride home from work. Keep in mind I added the coolant boost a couple of nights ago, and ended up adding a little more than half the bottle. Too much? Looks good? Do I have to remove some? What does everyone think?
> 
> View attachment 136761


That's fine. The full line is for a cold system.


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## cruzer1026 (May 12, 2012)

I still have a half bottle of coolant boost. Probably been sitting in the closet for a year and I noticed it has white flakes inside bottle. Does this mean it's no good anymore?


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

cruzer1026 said:


> I still have a half bottle of coolant boost. Probably been sitting in the closet for a year and I noticed it has white flakes inside bottle. Does this mean it's no good anymore?


Mind taking a photo of that? I haven't had one sitting around for any length of time so I don't know what it would look like in storage once opened. It could have gone bad. I'm not exactly sure.


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## cruzer1026 (May 12, 2012)

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab334/jonblaze1026/20150308_215406.jpg


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

cruzer1026 said:


> http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab334/jonblaze1026/20150308_215406.jpg


Oh, I thought you meant it was sitting at the top. That's most likely some of the top layer of fluid that oxidized and settled at the bottom. I wouldn't be worried about using the rest of it. I'd probably filter it through a paper towel first.


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