Got a 2002 7.3L I bought antifreeze from the dealer a while back and haven't put it in yet. the parts guy seemed confused about a couple of things; how much and what type. What I bought was two gallons of Motocraft Premium Antifreeze/Coolant Concentrated. I believe it is the green. I understand that I need to mix 50/50 so I actually have 4 gallons once I add water. Is 4 gallons what it requires or 8? What color should I be using? Somewhere I read that it's orange to a certain date and green afterward. Can someone shed some light for me?

 

Gooch's radiator flush

This should answer all your questions.

 

The link above will give you all the info.
2002 MY 7.3's came with motorcraft gold coolant. The green was used up to 2000 or 2001 but someone will correct me if I'm wrong. I would do a full flush and use ELC coolant, its red in color.

 

ELC's aren't always red. Shell Rotella ELC ultra is gold/yellow IIRC. Just look for cat ec-1 or cummins 14603 ratings.

 

so how about this one:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pro...tifreeze-1-gal

Also, I don't know if I can get ELC in my town without ordering it and it is suppose to turn off cold. I either need a strategy to keep my block from cracking or use some other antifreeze tomorrow. What can I use that is common?

 

i use the motorcraft gold GO5 coolant that ford recommends using.

 

The rotella ELC from tsc will work fine. You can run an elc or gold or green with SCA's in a 7.3. They aren't that picky just whatever flavor of Kool aid you run keeping it clean and maintain it accorsing to the coolant specs iamore important IMHO.

 

Is it OK to mix? If my truck is full of green and it's a little low, is it OK to top off with ELC?

 

No, the different types do not play well together and can cause all types of problems, hence the complete flushing several times in the change procedure. If you want to change you need to do a complete flush.

 

The thing about using the green stuff is you have to also use this special compound that prevents cavitation. These engines will eat themselves alive with all the shock waves generated by the diesel knocking that occurs under normal operation. The ELC and Motorcraft gold has the anti-cavitation compound already built into the mix, but the green does not.
But that's not really answering your original question is it?
I've found through experience at work, that it's very bad to mix different brands, compounds, ect. of different antifreezes. It creates a chemical fallout that generates sediment and sludge that ends up in places that it doesn't belong like the heater core.
If you have green in there already, use green for now, but there are FAR BETTER alternatives out there, you just have to get every drop of the old stuff out of the system first.

 

Honestly you can, most ELC manufacturers state right on the PDS that you can mix it with other coolants. However it would be pointless mixing the more expensive ELC with cheaper green since the green will be limited your intervals anyways.

MC gold does have some anti-cavitation additives in it however Ford still recommends the use of SCAs with them.

 

I would not recommend that. I'm about as thick skulled as they come and I am still in attendance at the school of hard knocks. That being said I have already read that label, been there and done that...it did not pan out well but it could have been worse. I had an older vehicle that I was not too worried about (but it did work and I still used it). Shortly after mixing them I sensed a cooling problem (yep, that temp gauge on the dash). My radiator was shot (all the aluminum cooling fins pretty much disintegrated). When I took drained the radiator I found a gel in there, one that would not flow through the cooling system.

 

And I can recall several heater cores at work that were filled up with sludge that I had to clear out with a combo water hose compressed air gizmo that I built.

 

Generally speaking, I concur and don't like to mix coolants... just one more thing that could go wrong.

However in a pinch, I don't have any huge issues topping off with an OAT coolant on a conventional silicate based coolant in a system that can handle an OAT coolant.

One issue to keep in mind with ELCs or any OAT based coolant is that 2-EHA ( 2-ethylhexanoic acid) is a corrosion inhibitor in many, but not all, of them. 2-EHA works very well however finds some seals and sealants (ala the injector cup loctite on E99 trucks) delicious. Therefore if you put it in a cooling system that doesn't have 2-EHA compliant seals and sealants it will devour them and give you the goop that you have described above. 2-EHA is the reason that GM had a nightmare when they first rolled out Dex-Cool back in 1996 since some vehicles had seals that 2-EHA ate and it destroyed cooling systems and engines.

 

I may as well ask while we're on the subject. My E99 has green coolant in it. What additive(s) should I be adding?