First off, its 2003 Sport Trac XLT 4x4 with almost 300K miles and only minor Maint issues. Ive always been real good about all areas of Maint except one. Its been almost 150k miles since my coolant was flushed or changed. I know, dumb mistake. When I dropped it off to have it inspected I told them to change the coolant. When I picked the truck up the manager told me 3 separate times that they had used the correct ford gold coolant. I thought that was kind of odd but never gave it anymore thought. When I got home I noticed coolant all over the fenders. I opened the hood and there was coolant everywhere on the engine. Long story short I cleaned the engine and after it dried I saw that the thermostat housing was leaking. Easy fix but I also noticed that there was something in the coolant reservoir that looked like mud. After doing some research I found out that it was possible tranny fluid or oil. I used a Combustion Leak Detector to test coolant and found no signs of leaking head gasket. There wasnt any coolant in the oil or transmission. I pulled and pressure tested radiator and internal cooler and everything pressure tested fine. I replaced all hoses and used ford flush to remove all residue but I am still getting a tannish color water and small particles in the coolant (Currently just water) A friend of mine who is a GM tech said that if they had used a non compatible coolant with the ford gold especially old coolant could cause this. Any truth to this??

 

Most of the extended life and green normal antifreezes are compatable.. The one exception is DEXCOL that is used in GM vehicles. It is not compatable with the standard and extended life stuff that FORD uses. You would have to know EXACTLY what then installed and what was in the truck (that they drained) to know for sure.
The GM DEXCOL turns to jello when mixed with FORD fluid.

 

From FORD site-------

Motorcraft® Premium Antifreeze/Coolant Concentrated

• Recommended by Ford Motor Company; meets warranty requirements
• Fluorescent green-colored, conventional, ethylene glycol-based antifreeze/coolant for use in gasoline and diesel engines
• Provides year-round antifreeze, anti-boil and corrosion protection
• A 50/50 mixture of coolant and distilled water provides freeze protection down to -34°F (-37°C) and boiling protection up to 265°F (129°C)
• Use only when specified
  • Use when Ford Specification ESE-M97B44-A is specified
  • Do not mix different colors or types of coolant in your vehicle. Make sure the correct coolant is used. Mixing of engine coolants may harm your engine’s cooling system. The use of an improper coolant may harm engine and cooling system components and may void the warranty.
  • Do not use this product in systems originally equipped with the orange-colored Motorcraft® Orange Antifreeze/Coolant, meeting Ford Specifications WSS-M97B44-D or -D2, or with the yellow-colored Motorcraft® Gold Antifreeze/Coolant, meeting Ford Specification WSS-M97B51-A1, or with the dark green-colored Motorcraft® Specialty Green Engine Coolant, meeting Ford Specification WSS-M97B55-A
• Meets or exceeds the requirements of ESE-M97B44-A, ASTM D 3306, Chrysler MS-7170, and ASTM D 4985
• Contains a bittering agent
• Available in one-gallon bottles

 

Thanks Steve. I probably should have been more clear in my post that the 03 Sport trac uses Motorcraft Premium Gold and not the green coolant. I think the manager repeating the fact that they had used the correct coolant meant that they had not initially and realizing their mistake tried doing a quick flush and put the correct stuff in. Because of the coolants high mileage it didnt react well to the other coolant and gelled up into a tannish mud. I used Motorcraft flush and did a water hose flush several times and it finally cleared most of it out but I think Im just going to take it to the dealer and have them do a VC9 flush and coolant replacement. BTW that GM tech friend of mine had told me about the original DEXCOOL and the problems they had with that stuff. He really hated it and the dealership he worked for replaced it with aftermarket coolant at the first opportunity. I still think the coolant crystalizing the way that stuff did caused my daughters Z24 to overheat and cook the motor.