Hi,

I have a few questions regarding antifreeze (coolant) and additives for my 2001 F250 Crewcab 7.3L PSD truck.

I'm sure that these questions,or ones like it,have been posed here before,but I'd like to relate my situation,and hopefully get some feedback from the very helpful crowd here.

About 18 month's ago, I had a cooling system flush done ,to my truck,at Jiffylube. At that time,I was not aware of any additives that should be added,nor did I know that the coolant for diesels is somewhat special.

A couple months ago,a friend pointed out that diesels require special additives for the coolant,and asked if mine had been treated as such.
I did not know,and kind of let it go until last week,when I had the oil changed at Jiffylube and decided to ask the tech what coolant they would use in my truck,and if they were aware of an additive for it, specific to diesels.He was not aware of any additives that they should or would add,and assured me that the coolant that they used was compatible with my light truck application,even if it was a diesel.

I wasn't really satisfied with his answer,and asked him for some product data.

He said that they used Peak Full Force (Long Life) antifreeze,with no additive and that none was required.Since Jiffylube ,like many bussinesses nowadays ,is computerized,I guess that I thought that they should/would know what was required for a diesel.

I've since looked at a little information on the web,and still cannot decide if this coolant is what my diesel needs? It looks like Peak (Fleet charge) would have been a better alternative,but that is NOT what they used.

While at the Ford dealer today,I picked up Motorcraft Diesel coolant additive ,part number ESN-M99-B169-A.

Here's my questions:

1) Is the Peak Full Force (long life)(ASTM D 4340) good for my 2001 7.3 L diesel?
If not,should I use the Motorcraft Diesel Coolant Additive # ESN-M99-B169-A to bring it up to spec. ?

2) If above is not good,should I have it changed out for the Peak Fleet Charge coolant,and not use the additive. Should I use the additive with this regardless?

3) Is it likely that my 7.3 or it's cooling system ,has been harmed ,with the use of the Peak Full Force?

The truck has 118K on it now,and I'd like to keep it around for long long time,so I want to maintain the best way possible.

Any guidance here would be greatly appreciated.

Rick

 

What you need to do is buy some test strips. Most stores don't stock them anymore, but can get them for you in a day or two. NAPA and Carquest are 2 places that's usually easy to order them from. The more popular chains just stare at you dumbfounded. Also fleet shops or farm tractor dealers might have them.

Don't buy any fancy kit, get the cheapest one they have. It will be a bottle or package with little strips of paper inside. It will come with a color chart and instructions. Basically dip a strip of paper into your coolant and match it up to the color chart per the directions. If needed, add your bottle of SCA, drive around a while and re-test. Repeat this process until the SCA levels look good on the test strip.

 

I use pre mix antifreeze. never have trouble

 

Moved to 1999 - 2003 7.3 Powerstroke Diesel forum.

 

It looks like they used this coolant... PEAK Long Life® Antifreeze & Coolant

A silicated Hybrid Organic Acid Technology coolant (H-OAT) uses an inorganic inhibitor silicate. According to the MSDS sheet on the PEAK coolant in the link in my above paragraph, the PEAK contains hydrated inorganic acid, which tells me it's a H-OAT coolant.

Ford started using their version of a H-OAT (sometimes referred to as the gold coolant) starting with the '02 model year I believe.

A H-OAT coolant is better than the conventional "green" coolant that was used before the switch to a H-OAT coolant, but not as good as a Heavy Duty Extended Life Coolant (ELC).

Here is some good reading for you regarding coolants in our rigs. The first post is a detailed procedure for back-flushing an engine. You can skip that if you want, as the info I refer to is found in subsequent posts. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ml#post8935201

Stewart

 

We switched over to 'final charge' (basically the same thing as the Peak) several years ago - nice no more additives, test strips, no more 2yr coolant changes but we still run coolant filters w/ annual changes.