Had a anti freeze leak. The second shop found the leak but they put in Ford Gold. I had already changed the anti freeze to Chevron Ext. life Diesel anti freeze which is not a silicate base. They put in about a gallon. I would have thought the mechanic would have notice bright red anti freeze and not put in gold color anti freeze. I told the service manager what I had in there but the bill said they put in Gold. What should I do?

 

Tell them they get to flush it for free.

Sean

 

Yup. They screwed up and installed the wrong thing. They should flush and fill on THEIR dime.

 

and by flush they mean not a spill and fill. everything has to get worked out and refilled

 

I would question all the work they did if the tech did that. What leak did they fix and did they do anything else?

 

It does not leak anymore. It was a hose that leaked only in cool down. Not hot and not under pressure or cold. A real pain. It leaked for over 4 months and left about a 1oz on the ground at night after it ran.
So does it need the two step flush out like when I changed it over? Thanks

 

YES !!! I would definitely have a talk with the Manager and get them to flush it and put the antifreeze you had in their or just one good brand not 2 different ones. They made the mistake they need to make it right...

 

The 6.0L motor should only have the Ford Gold coolant or a coolant meeting the exact same specification..... a mechanic that is any good would agree and made good on this.

This means some extra time on his part to flush your cooling system with 100% water (distilled is preferred, but non use).... to ensure that all traces of the mixed fluid is removed, then add the proper ratio of GOLD coolant to your system to get a 50/50 mixture of coolant and water.

If the cooling system is flushed with 100% water (I just drop the lower radiator hose after several driving cycles)... then the total coolant to add is 3-1/2 gallons for a 50/50 mixture (this is due to the fact that water is still in the block). You should use 3.5 - 3.7 gallons of coolant for a 6.0L motor... if you need to raise the level up, then add more water.

This is calculated by looking in your manual for the total capacity of your cooling system and dividing by 2, this is how much plain coolant you need to add (the balance is the water already in motor or that you will had... but do coolant first after a complete lower radiator removal to drain system).

Good luck,

 

Normally I recommend flushing with chemicals anytime the coolant is change to another type but this situation is a little different. If the no silicate Chevron fluid was in there for a month or more, the chemical process the protects the iron has a good start. Topping off wit the gold -which has a silicate but in a very small amount- was not in there long enough to ruin the protection started by the Chevron stuff in my opinion. A good fresh water flush to make sure all the mixed coolant is out, then chase that with some distilled should leave you ready to fill back up with the Chevron stuff.

I'm pretty uptight about doing stuff right and wouldn't have a problem doing a flush that way in this situation, but if it's going to worry you, it's still not a big deal to do a VC9 flush and start over. Either way I agree with everyone else who recommend flushing your current mix of coolants and servicing it correctly.