Proper coolant
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Freshman User
Joined: Oct 2006
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Proper coolant
Ok. Since the search is disabled and I've been on vacation for 2 weeks (hunting in Montana) I have a question that I know has already been answered but since I cant search for the info I need, I'm just going to ask again... Sorry in advance!
I'm going to flush the coolant on my '97 f25o psd. I went to the local ford dealer and asked for some coolant. The reason I went there for the coolant was: while on my flight to MT. I sat next to a 7.3 psd tech from Napa who politely let me bend his ear for 5 hrs. He said Motorcraft Premium Engine Coolant was the only way to go...Not to go the CAT coolant way becouse you need to flush the system regularly any way. I thought the CAT Coolant was the cats mee-yow
The coolant I got was the Premium Engine Coolant (3 gal.) and a bottle of additive. Is this the right stuff? I'm not too sure I have the proper level of confidence in the lady that was helping me. And is it enough?
I know there are 100s of post on this very subject but without the search, I'm clueless.....I'm clueless anyway...
I'm going to flush the coolant on my '97 f25o psd. I went to the local ford dealer and asked for some coolant. The reason I went there for the coolant was: while on my flight to MT. I sat next to a 7.3 psd tech from Napa who politely let me bend his ear for 5 hrs. He said Motorcraft Premium Engine Coolant was the only way to go...Not to go the CAT coolant way becouse you need to flush the system regularly any way. I thought the CAT Coolant was the cats mee-yow
The coolant I got was the Premium Engine Coolant (3 gal.) and a bottle of additive. Is this the right stuff? I'm not too sure I have the proper level of confidence in the lady that was helping me. And is it enough?
I know there are 100s of post on this very subject but without the search, I'm clueless.....I'm clueless anyway...
Senior User
Joined: Feb 2005
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I think the additive is to be used after a few years, its an anti-scale mixture. Never changed the coolant yet becouse it still tests ok. I put the motorcraft coolant additive in just to be safe becouse a service tech told me it could not hurt. I was told that they make test strips that reveal the condition of the coolant but they were only available in bulk probably for fleet maint. If CAT coolant is good enough for the high $$$ machines I would not hesitate to put it in my powerstroke. I recall it being stated here as being heavy duty and providing a long life.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Apr 2004
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From: NJ where fun comes to die
I got the heavy duty stuff from Wal Mart. Called Final...... something I think. It comes in a black bottle for about $9.95. I always flush but this said it mixes with eveything and has the additive in it already.
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I went with the Motorcraft coolant...However, when I was refilling my system its like I had a block, air bubble, or the thermostat would not open....I let the truck idle for 30 min...still cold air...I drove the truck...temp gauge came up...really up (almost past L on NORMAL mark)...stopped and checked...still cold air but coolant tank was completely full....touched top...was cold...so I started to open...had pressure..let pressure release (all coolant comming out was cold to cool) and top radiator hose started burping (contracting and release, several time like the truck was possessed). Then what ever was holding up system let go. I had heat and truck ran at N mark on Normal. I topped off with about 3/4 gal. of water. All seems good.....Anyone had this happen before...or any idea what I did wrong?
Elder User
Joined: Oct 2004
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Sounds like the water pump was airlocked. Hohnestly, never heard of it happening before but I guess anything is possible. As far as the brand of coolant goes, back when these trucks were new, getting a separate bottle of addative was mandatory regardless of what brand you used. As bridgeman stated, it had to do with scaling, but it also provided extra lubrication for the pump. Nowdays, the superdutys use this "gold" coolant, nothing extra required. I don't know if you can use it in the OBS trucks with no additive or not. It would probably be worth a call to ford though.
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We use CAT coolant in non Cat applications, some trucks come back with 10,000hrs on it with still the same CAT coolant from the day it was put in, the worst I've seen is the texaco extended service coolant for diesils, thiers something in it that was eating out the head gaskets and recently was blowing out all the rads in the firetrucks. drained and switched to green coolant for those viechles and stopped changing head gaskets and rads almost instantly.
My personal opinion, I use green just because I dont put many miles on the truck and I dont have an issue with changing out the coolant every couple of years.
As for the test strips that are mentioned, a worthy investment, the additive is put in to prevent cavitation. They come in little boddles with like 100 strips in it, they do have an expiry date on them as I found out recently cause the reading were way off and was not showing a reading after I added a full bottle of the additive which now my system is overcharged with additive.
My personal opinion, I use green just because I dont put many miles on the truck and I dont have an issue with changing out the coolant every couple of years.
As for the test strips that are mentioned, a worthy investment, the additive is put in to prevent cavitation. They come in little boddles with like 100 strips in it, they do have an expiry date on them as I found out recently cause the reading were way off and was not showing a reading after I added a full bottle of the additive which now my system is overcharged with additive.
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