Hey guys. Haven't been on the forum in a while. Hope that everyone is doing well and had a nice holiday/new years!

Truck is still going strong. Has 20k miles on it now as I've been commuting more with the new job. Had to have the rotors turned under warranty 5k miles ago for vibration under braking, but otherwise everything has been in good shape (knock on wood). I installed a Borla S-type cat-back system last year but I don't think I did a review (loving it).

Question: So in prep for the arctic blast that we're getting up here, I've been checking a couple things over on the truck. I noticed my coolant was a little low (about half-inch from bottom of cold fill). The bottle says to only fill with Ford-Specialty orange coolant, however they also want $27 a bottle for the pre-mix at a Ford dealer that isn't even convient to get to.

I looked in the manual and it states:
VC-3DIL-B (US)
CVC-3DIL-B (Canada) /
WSS-M97B44-D2

The last number is the interesting one. It's the exact same spec listed on Prestone's Dexcool 50/50 that I can get cheap at my local walmart. I couldn't find the specs listed on prestones site, but here they are on autozones site:
Prestone/50/50 Dex-Cool antifreeze specs (scroll down to standards)

If this meets the same standard listed in the manual, I see no issue in using it. I can get it for about $14 at my local walmart. Cost is not a big deal, but I don't exactly have a local Ford dealer.

Thoughts? Comments?

Thanks guys.

 

Yea, its the same, don't tell anyone, makes it less "special".

 

O'Reilly's sells it too.

 

The dexcool 50/50 will do fine. The "DIL" in the Ford part number stands for diluted....lol. You could use the straight Dexcool also and mix it if it is cheaper to purchase.

 

Thanks guys. Picked up some 50/50 pre-diluted dexcool at walmart and topper her off.

 

We just had this talk in the 6.7L information. Couple of the guys brought up some good information, so I added it to the tech folder. Might be worth a look:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post14956468

 

concentrated # is vc-3-b2 (cvc3b2-canada)

 

Thanks Tom. Appreciate the link for the info

 

Well shucks. I just got rid of approx. 1/2 gal. of full strength dex cool that I had from my past vehicle (2002 Pontiac grand prix) because I didn't' figure i'd ever need it again. I guess you live and you learn.

 

I really hope they fixed the Dexcool. Many a GM product has had issues from the stuff. Friends of mine had clogged heater cores, junked intake gaskets, etc from the stuff. Several local mechanics advised them to do a full flush and convert to the regular glycol antifreeze. I remember helping a coworker on his ZR2 GMC. He told me he had no heat in the cab. Temp gauge was normal. It was 20 degrees outside. We went out to look at it and I felt the 2 hoses going to the heater core. One was hot and one was cold. He took it to a garage and they told him it was typical Dexcool. They back flushed the heater core and the whole system and changed it to green. I remember seeing pink powdery paste around his radiator cap.

 

I agree with Dave, My son had the same problem. Pontiac GP

 

Couple problems with Dexcool that really required no change to the coolant itself. Aeration seems to cause problems... and contamination. GM introduced it back with some of the worst intake gaskets ever that made it famous. Every 3.1, 3.4, 3.8, 4.3, 5.0, 5.7 all had terrible intake gaskets that failed because they were plastic garbage... not the coolant. Mix the wrong stuff with dexcool you get sludge. Aerate it badly enough... you have sludge. Modern times have fixed this... and most coolants are universal to keep Jethro from throwing the wrong color in.

 

never had any problems with dexcool, though I seem to be in the minority.


this year I finally flushed out the original dexcool on the wife's 1997 cavalier. The thermostat was sticking closed, or I probably wouldn't have touched it.


ended up refilling it with Prestone Orange Dexcool which I've had on the shelf for about a decade. nice to finally use it up!


the reference to the "orange" dexcool is the only reason I mention it.... that and the original coolant it seems to have done it's job for about 17 years and 220,000 miles.

 

I have a 2013 F-150 with the 5.0.

Does anyone know if a standard hydrometer anti-freeze tester works on the Orange coolant or does it require a special coolant tester ?

 

My question is why is the reserve bottle low? I noticed mine is low at about exactly the same point;about a half inch or so below the cold full mark. It was not like that when i bought it. Is it leaking out somewhere? I need to top mine up too.