That's correct. Ya don't wanna use ELC in pre-'99 trucks, including E99 rigs.

Yes and no.

"Improvements compared to ELC coolant include enhanced oxidation control and corrosion protection of aluminum alloys and lead solder, as well as better elastomer compatibility with silicone seals".
TheTrucker.com - America's Trucking Newspaper

But Ultra ELC is still not recommended for pre-'99 rigs.

"Q. Can I use the new coolant with older engines and cooling packages?
A. Any vehicle approved for use with OAT coolants are approved to run Rotella Ultra ELC, the new coolant is backwards compatible with current OAT coolants. It cannot be used with very old systems where traditional IAT coolant was used."
Shell Rotella Ultra ELC nitrite free Coolant at Clear Choice Antifreeze

IAT coolant is the traditional "green" coolant maintained with SCA's.

Good plan of action.

Stewart

 

Thanks for the info, all. sounds like i won't have done much damage if i get the fancy stuff out and go back to ethylene glycol + SCA before 1,000 miles. i was toying with the idea of staying with the new-fangled antifreeze and just doing the injector cup job while changing my glow plugs, but its sounding like its better to trade the $ for new antifreeze for the time and headache of doing 8 injector cups. ...anyone interested in ~6 gallons of premixed, lightly used Ultra ELC antifreeze?

JCart, i feel better about the odds of having a porosity issue - being slim, that is. however, i could still convince myself that its a possibility as some of the symptoms you describe could be present, but also could be due to all kinds of different sources it seems.

I do get white smoke after start-up, but only when cold, and it smells like unburnt diesel to me (stings the nose), not antifreeze, so i'm thinking its glowplugs... and of course, the start-up is 'lumpy' in these cold start cases, but again, that would also be caused by half of my glowplugs being dead, right? most concerningly, the mechanic did find the coolant system 1/2 gallon low upon inspection, but said that could be due to a small hidden leak anywhere in the system. since then, i've read enough posts on here about such phantom leaks that i'm crossing my fingers that its something like that and not leaking cylinder walls... i guess we'll see.

and yeah, i prob will change the GP relay out to the upgraded one as well.

pjwoolw: Thanks for the specific temp gauge description. sounds like my tstat is definitely stuck open. i had the same thing on an old explorer and a new tstat fixed it right quick. i actually have a new motorcraft t'stat (w/ gasket) and housing in the back seat waiting to be installed as we speak. i'll need to run out in the wife's car mid-job, though to get the new screws if the old ones are completely rusted (as they appear). i'm sure the screws are metric and not something i'd have laying around... I haven't done the job yet, though as i need to at least partially drain the coolant to do the job and, i figured i'd make the final decision to stay with the new stuff or go back to ethylene glycol + SCA and do the coolant swap and tstat all at once. the coolant filter will probably have to wait a few weeks though... a garage door spring (where the wife parks her car) just popped tonight , so replacing that'll eat into my truck-work time tomorrow and Sunday.

Anyway, sounds like i have my answers on all fronts. Thanks gents.

 

Finally changed out the Ultra-ELC in favor of the old school FleetCharge. The new thermostat warms the engine right up - except i killed the block heater (read below to see how dumb i was), so now we'll see if she starts at all on 2 glow plugs, when it gets into January in PA.

A few notes about the process for anyone else going through it, though:

1. The local Ransome-Cat International dealer had no clue what i was talking about when i asked for the old-style cavitation protection antifreeze. they just kept trying to get me to buy an ELC, despite the fact that i told them that's what i was taking out of the engine
2. Napa knew what i was talking about and had FleetCharge in stock for $22/gallon. Tractor supply had it for $15, so i bought it there instead.
3. draining the radiator was easy, as was disconnecting the T that connected to de-gas bottle to the big tube on the bottom of the radiator (it was easier to disconnect that 1" tube than the big incher on the radiator, plus it was the lowest point on the whole system, so figured that'd be where all the crap was).
4. after about an hour soaking in PB blaster the thermostat housing bolts came right out. i had new stainless socket cap screws ready to replace the originals, but the original hex flange screws were in such good shape, i just reused them. Looks like the previous owner/mechanic 'played it safe' though and filled the gap between the water pump flange and tstat housing with RTV, though - probably how the old tstat got stuck open. I was careful to remove all the RTV with the dull side of an old carpet knife - leaving the old tstat undisturbed until i was done with this job, so as to not drop any scrapings down into the water pump. then, pulled the old ater pump, made sure the new one was the correct/same length, and put the new motorcraft one in. and yes, the two-sided gasket on the motorcraft made the install easy. just dropped it in, put the NEW housing back on and torqued the 3 screws. Of note, though: i couldnt pull the hose off the top of the housing on the engine. had to remove the housing bolts first (which was a pain with the hose in place), then pull the hose of the radiator. Even with this subassembly off the truck, it was a bear getting the hose off the old t-stat housing. replacing the hose crossed my mind, but i was too cheap/lazy, and the rubber wasn't hard or cracked at all. i just scraped off all the old rust and made sure it seated on the new housing properly.
5. the driver side engine block plug came out no problem, but it was getting dark when i got to the passenger side AND, in reaching up there all i could feel was a hex head bolt - or so i thought. so i got lazy and figured that draining the radiator and half the block was probably good enough, so i filled the system with DI and intended to drain it again, then fill with the Fleetcharge. BUT, my wife said i had to come in and watch the baby so she could clean for a party we were having, and since it was going down below freezing, i pluggedin the block heater as to not crack the engine over night. and, yes, you guessed it - i drained the block again next morning without unplugging the block heater. i knew something went wrong when the music in the garage died - on the same circuit as the block heater was. i was hoping it was just that i got the connection wet, but i did eventually confirm that the two terminals on the heater itself (in the block screw connection) were reading >10 MOhms (i.e. the element melted). NOTE TO SELF - be sure to unplug block heater before draining coolan!!!
On a brighter note, elsewhere on this forum, i was able to confirm that others have had the hex head plug on the passenger side of the block, so i pulled that out and found that it was a true pipe plug - someone before me probably buggered the original plug. so, i drained the whole thing again, flushed with DI completely for good measure, and filled her up with 4 gallons of fleet charge, and topped off wit DI. she only took about 2.25 gallons of DI though - i know you can't drain the block completely, but 1.75 gallons left in the system is a little much, i thought. whatever the case, i've been checking the level every few days and its been pretty steady. i added about a quart once, but that was it.

also - no leaks yet, but i'm fully expecting something soon.

OK - hope this info helps someone in the future, maybe.

And thanks to everyone on here for all the info before i got started.

 

Good deal! Glad you got it squared away.

 

I too had the two different plugs in the block that you have mentioned. One was a 1/4" square plug, one was a hex head plug.

I wasn't able to get a full 8 gallons into mine either, but over time, I was able to get about 7 into it. I am guessing that the remaining coolant was in the block and heater core and just didn't drain out all the way.

I am assuming that the Napa Fleet Charge is the coolant you are using and not the NAPA Kool additive correct? So that must be the pre-charged coolant? I chose to go a little different direction with mine, and used the regular old green Prestone and then added NAPA Kool as the SCA additive. Here is a thread on what I did.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-kool-sca.html

At any rate, glad to hear you got things going!

 

Correct - just the FleetCharge cooland, and did not add the napakool (or other) SCA. i plan to check the nitrites with a test strip in the coming weeks - just for my own peace of mind - but i figured i'd save the step of adding the coolant myself upon the first fill.

Kind of dumb in my opinion that FleetCharge is pink though. i guess it came out before all these ELC's, but now all the colors are so mixed up you can't tell a darn thing just by color. oh well...

 

That's what I figured you did.

Yeah the NAPA Kool is pink too, wish it wasn't, but it is. As long as I know what is in there and nobody else is working on the truck (which they won't be) I guess it isn't a big deal though.

 

That's my exact thinking as well. Except for PA inspection where i have to let a mechanic touch my truck, i'll be doing everything myself.

so, what color is your antifreeze now - green + pink = brown? or maybe there's not enough pink added to make a big difference.

 

No, it definitely has a pink hue to it, but the green and pink together almost made it an orange (I guess it's close to brown) color. Next step is to get a coolant filter and put it on there to keep the junk out of my water pump.

 

hey is anyone running the motocraft gold coolant, it is ran in the 02-03 7.3s but is there any harm done by running it in our trucks

 

The Ford gold is a hybrid OAT coolant. It still contains some of the same chemical make up of the heavy duty OAT ELC's, so I wouldn't recommend it based on that.

Stewart

 

Just now - almost a year later - got around to changing the block heater that i burned out. i was concerned it would be a bear to get the old one out as the old threads were all corroded on the outside. and with the oil cooler ends being aluminum, i was fearing some threads coming out with the old heater and a new oil cooler being part of the job.

none of that happened though. old block heater came right out with a 1-1/4 (i think) box wrench and i caught 95% of the falling coolant with a funnel into a 10 gallon storage tub. i didnt drain any coolant ahead of time and was surprised to catch about 5 gallons in the tub - though it'd have been less.

anyway, i snugged up the new block heater from international , then i got to adding my coolant filtration system. i'll post another thread on this, but i wound up squeezing it right behind the de-gas bottle, next to the windshield washer bottle. it was nice and close to a heaterline for the filter inlet and right near the degass bottle line for outlet, so i didnt have to run hoses all over the place. and a little piece of 1/8" scrap steel made a good adapter to the few inches of mounting plate sticking out from beside the degass bottle - just had to be careful to keep it clear of the hood hinge spring when everything was closed up.

i put all the coolant back in, let her sit for about a week - as i was doing other work - started her up last night, drove to work this morning and no leaks yet (fingers crossed)

i'll change the filter in about a month (as i've read is recommended with newly installed coolant filter systems) and report my findings here.

as always - thanks for all the advice and encouragement, folks.