It'* pretty blatantly obvious, you said water.

I guess some will get the context in which it was said and some won't.

I believe the biggest offer for DexCool sludge is mixing it with 'conventional' coolant (green). The 'mixes with any' type is generally not a big concern, you just begin to gradually lose the extended life benefit of the dexcool as more and more is lost.

And just about any liquid can work as a coolant, including water. Heck, even coffee can work (now there'* an idea). But just because it can work, doesn't necessarily mean that it should be used, a distinction that was perhaps overlooked earlier in this thread that may not have been clearly spelled out for everyone.

Sounds like I'll just be adding more of the 50/50 universal (I think it'* yellow is what the autozone website says, I'm out of it and can't remember) until the leak gets bad enough to have to drain the system.

Yeah, probably due for a radiator-tank crack.

Mine was a tiny crack about an inch under the upper radiator hose neck. I could only really see it leaking after the car had been driven enough to warm up, then parked for a few minutes.

I'd stay away from Dexcool. The big deal with it is that it interacts unpleasantly with nylon 66 and silicone. Nylon 66 is the stuff they make your hard-plastic parts out of like the upper intake manifold and the like. Meanwhile, a decent 50/50 coolant will work fine . . . like the universal stuff.

When I first got the Pk.Ave it was original dexcool as well. First thing I did was replace water pump & upper/lower rad hoses and flushed the system out.
The recovery tank inside was nasty. Took quite a while to get it clean inside, super hot water flush time.
For coolant I now use Prestone long life (5 years) works perfect with no more residue.
With fall/ winter ahead don't forget to use your antifreeze tester ! It is good to know what temperature your actual anti-freeze reading is.
Mine is now set at -45c

Same here. Good stuff.