Orange/Dex-Cool Coolant
 

So I need to change the coolant in my F150, which is still on the factory fill, 11 years and 98,000 miles later (Dad wasn't much of a car guy...just turn the key and go).

That is about as far as I made it before I became extremely confused. The owner's manual (which is the original that came with the truck, complete with yellowing pages) states that if the truck came with orange coolant, I should use Ford Extended Life Engine Coolant (Ford specification WSS-M97B44-D or Dex-Cool equivalent).

However, while surfing the boards (seeing what others used/recommend), it seems like orange coolant/Dex-Cool is berated for causing water pump failures, clogging heater cores, being more expensive, and so on and so fourth. Suffice to say, my F150 has had zero cooling-related issues in the 11 years and 98,000 miles we've had it.

What I also found interesting is that the supposed orange coolant was only used in the '99-02 Cougar, but my '99 F150 has the orange stuff as a factory fill. Truck has nothing special on it, except for a 6300# GVWR package (according to the window sticker) which includes a 9.75" axle. No towing package, no HD anything, nothing.

That said, is it suggested that I use Extended Life/Dex-Cool coolant (like Prestone Extended Life), or should I change over to the green stuff (Ford Premium Engine Coolant, spec ESE-M97B44-A)?

I mean, if the owner's manual suggests that I use the orange stuff and my truck came with it, then why is it berated for being sub-par and furthermore, why did Ford supposedly change coolants? I'm just trying to figure out why some of the info I'm reading is contradicting.

I've always used the Preston in the 98, - never had orange in it, - green when new. I've NEVER had a coolant issue as well. 272,000 same everything. The only PITA is getting the air totally purged.

Ford has this to say if that problem occurs -

https://www.f150online.com/forums/me...olant-fill.jpg

hahaha I just run the Green Preston coolant or whatever cheapest.
You can run what you want.
all I've heard is if you switch from the orange to the green. Be sure to flush out the old stuff good.

Phil :wave:

Ford has a PDF chart showing the correct coolant for each year & model since the early 90s. Click this link, then Quick Reference Charts, then the one for Service Coolant types. For more, read this article.

Ford uses a gold coolant form 2002+ trucks and 2003+ cars. It is their long life fluid and is shared with Chrysler. You can get it from the dealer or NAPA. If you go to NAPA and they don't have it, they can order it. Zerex is the brand (made by Valvoline) and the part number is zxg051. You'll want to completely flush the cooling system first to get rid of all of the green coolant.

The gold is good for 150,000 miles according to Zerex.

http://www.valvoline.com/products/br.../antifreeze/42

Note that Dexcool is also gold/orange, and you should NEVER use it in a Ford. It's nasty stuff.

dexacool is gasket eating garbage. do not use it.

That's interesting. According to that chart, it says that my truck should be filled with either green or yellow, but the manual says that it's either filled with green or orange.

Attachment 33119

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0/aed2b781.jpg

And unless my eyes are deceiving me, the coolant in the truck is definitely not green and not yellow.

But if Dex-Cool isn't good for Fords, then why does the manual suggest that I use Dex-Cool equivalent coolant?

Ford offered it, but it was not used at the factory. Once they had a good extended lift formula of their own to use, they did. The yellow/gold didn't exist back then.

Well, apparently not only did they offer it, but they filled my truck with it and it's printed in the manual that they filled the truck with it. So now that leaves me at a cross-roads as to what the "proper" coolant is since different documents suggest different coolants.

Well, the 99 shows "Green" from service -

https://www.f150online.com/forums/me...eencoolant.jpg

Nice :thumbsup:

This should be all the info you need on the subject!

10. Other than collision, the most common cause for coolant leaks & blockages is corrosion. Corrosion is a natural effect of pure metals & alloys being exposed to water, which naturally absorbs oxygen. It is also caused by dissimilar metals (iron, steel, aluminum, etc.) being in contact with an electrolyte (water with ions), called "Galvanic action". Both of these act continually in varying degrees to eat away at most metal components exposed to the coolant. Pump impeller blades, radiator cores, heater cores, steel pipe nipples, & thermostat housings are susceptible. The results of unchecked corrosion are leaks in the affected parts (usually the thin steel & soft aluminum ones go first) & sedimentation in the radiator, blocking the lower tubes. To combat their effects, various compounds are blended with the coolant. But they don't last forever, especially when the vehicle is NOT operated (stored/abandoned). So regardless of mileage, COOLANT MUST BE CHANGED REGULARLY. And despite its intentionally-misleading name, long-life coolant must be changed on the SAME schedule, if not sooner. The "long-life" terminology only applies to its antifreeze/antiboil characteristics; its corrosion-inhibitors are consumed even faster than standard coolant, making it "short-life" coolant. Another marketing ploy is "ready-mix" coolant, which has gained much popularity over the typical concentrated (half-&-half) coolant previously available. A quick comparison of price (often higher for a gallon of ready-mix than for concentrate) shows that a vehicle requiring 2 gallons of coolant will cost more than twice as much to fill using ready-mix as with concentrate + distilled water.
There's a sucker born every minute - don't be one. Buy only normal-life concentrated coolant, and mix it yourself with distilled water.
11. If you have a leak, don't waste time or contaminate your cooling system with any "trick fixes" like cracking a raw egg or dumping pepper into the radiator. They don't usually work for long (if at all), and they cause problems later after the leaking part is replaced. Just START by replacing the leaky part, and you'll save money, time, & sweat. If you absolutely have to use a temporary fix, use Bar's Stop-Leak, which is a neutralized sawdust tablet.

12. COLOR When GM introduced its ill-fated (like so many other GM innovations) Dex-Cool coolant, it chose to distinguish its product (thankfully) by using an orange dye, instead of the common green. Both colors are intended to be detectable by UV light for tracing leaks, but Dex-Cool's formula failed for 2 reasons: 1) it contains a compound that is apparently very nutritious for certain bacteria, & 2) the tap water used at many GM factories for coolant mixing contained those bacteria. The resulting slime from the flourishing bacteria created an effective glue, which blocked up the coolant passages in the radiators & heater cores, causing mass overheating for several years. The problem has since been eliminated, but the color remained, causing more confusion. Ford went to a yellow dye (also UV-detectable) to distinguish its bittering agent (& a few other chemical changes), and now some aftermarket coolants contain other colors in an attempt to indicate compatibility with certain OE coolants. The typical result is simply MORE confusion, and the only remedy is to carefully read the labelling, since no standard has yet emerged. Ford offers a quick-reference chart for Service Coolant Usage on this page, along with several other useful PDFs. Many European brands require O.A.T. (organic acid technology) which is a red coolant. Some BMWs (including some Land Rovers) use a blue type. In most cases, common green coolant is the best, and will do everything that needs to be done in any engine, with no side-effects.

More info -

https://www.f150online.com/forums/me...46-capture.jpg

Your coolant is orange/brown from rust, not dex-cool. That's what happens when you go 11 years on coolant originally designed for 3 years.

What was the color 11 years ago? I've seen unchanged green go all different colors in that amount of time. What's the history on the truck, bought new by you, someone you knew etc. Maybe a "universal" coolant was added along the way. I don't know why it'd be any color but green honestly until 2002ish. Fully flush the old, change the t-stat and o-ring and fill with green 50/50 mix. Call it a day after that. Also a good idea is to change the hoses if in rough shape or at the very least the crap clamps to better screw type ones.

Now that seems reasonable, but that still doesn't answer the question about why the manual says that the truck either came with green or orange, while the Motorcraft sheet said it came with green or yellow.

I have no idea what the color was 11 years ago. Truck was bought brand new by my parents. As I mentioned before, my Dad isn't much of a car guy so he took it to Wal-Mart for oil changes and got the transmission fluid changed once at 50K at a Ford dealership. Other than that, it was pretty much untouched as far as maintenance.

In the last year, among other things, I have: replaced the fuel filter, changed the gear oil (once, before 4.56s...have to do it again), changed the engine oil (twice), change the transmission fluid, changed the power steering fluid, changed the brake fluid, installed the Camburg 6.5 kit and Deavers, replaced the lower ball joints, and removed the sway bar.

For all I know, the coolant could have been green to start out with, but the stuff in the degas bottle now is orange. So I guess I'll just drain it out and refill it with green coolant.

Don't use 11-year-old coolant, or instructions. The PDF from the Ford website is their latest recommendation, and it's the last word in "proper" coolant for your truck.

If this helps, I just had the dealer do a flush and coolant replacement, and they used GREEN stuff. Regardless of what it came with, you can't go wrong with a complete flush and GREEN coolant. If yours came with yellow/gold/orange and you want to use it again, the bottle better say Motorcraft on it.

I have used the orange Dex Cool in the past in my wife's '95 Taurus and my '95 Eddie Bauer. Worst garbage I've ever seen. I guess you could expect GM would use something like that. I was working for a large govt. trans. agency and we had a LOT of Chebby's. That stuff ate the radiators out of those things as early as 35k mi. Ate heater cores out too and the heater hose fittings on the intake manifold. Does anyone remember when they bought back a few hundred Saturns and crushed 'em because they were filled with Dex Cool that didn't have the inhibitor in it ? They could have just replaced engines, but they were trying to project a "different kind of car company" Ford SPECIFICALLY told us they did not want the orange coolant used in their vehicles. If I remember, I think it even said that in the owners manual in the front. DON"T use that crap! I'm SURE the ORANGE they're suggesting in that chart ISN'T DEX COOL. Or not the old Dex Cool anyway.

If I wanted to flush my own, how are those plastic tools that Prestone sells that are used for flushing? Worth it or junk?

The Prestone flushing tee kits work very well.

To give some closure to this, I just called the dealership and they did a VIN search and confirmed that the truck was filled with...GREEN!

They said that since the truck is a '99 and not a '98, I can switch over to yellow, but only if ALL the old crap is flushed out. So I'm just gonna go with green. Thanks again everyone.

Very very true. Ive seen it eat through gaskets, aluminum intakes, heads, blocks etc. Its HORRIBLE. Stay away as far as you can. Either go with the green stuff (if it is older) or go with ford gold. I put gold in my truck. Dexcool is a major part of GMs problems.

Nobody was doubting that :thumbsup:

Maybe I just got really lucky. When I swapped in my 5.4 I just filled the thing up while it was running, and didn't have a single issue with air:confused:

The only thing on the cooling system I modified was the water passage tube on the rear of the intake manifold. comes out and turns 90 degrees. Anyway the one on my intake was rusty and corroded to the point when I tried to remove the hose that goes to the heater core it was bending this pipe. So i spent about 2 hours removing it from the manifold. I then used a 3/8 NPT tap and threaded it, and threaded in a new pipe. This new piece is straight.

Maybe that helped:confused:

Any way no cooling issues, and no problem with air in the system during fill.:smoke:

Truths been told. - :thumbsup:

It is always suggested to use what your car came with and what is recommended in the owner's manual. The only thing I would add would be Purple Ice or Water Wetter. And don't forget to use distilled water when mixing your coolant.

No, Ford revises its recommendations every few years; not only for coolant, but other fluids, too. Check their website, linked in post #4.

this is obviously just a fight for money...
 

Every manufacturer is going to tell you to use theirs if they come up with a new one and then you're going to hear Fanatics and ignorant idiots say oh no you can't use that you should use this because Grandpa told me or because I read it was somewhere the fact is that all you have to do is literally make sure it's meeting the standards the industry standards as well as meeting the approved recommendation and as long as you cycle everything out and flush everything out you can use either or don't listen to that hillbilly bul****... To me it's just like Ford Fanatics defending Ford and Chevy Fanatics defending Chevy's you even have people out there defending the colors of their vehicles okay it's the same thing to me...