So I see recommendations of Motorcraft Extended life (5 yr 150K mile coolant) in these trucks... That sounds awfully a lot like Dex-Cool, which I've seen turn to complete gunk before those intervals. I'm NEVER putting Dex-Cool in ANYTHING that's worth driving. (Probably why it's in GM vehicles only.)

But the appeal of not needing anti-cavitation additives and the long lifespan making flushing not so frequent (That's a HUGE radiator!) kinda makes me want to look into it. Besides, it's yellow, not orange.

It Prestone Extended life yellow type coolant the same stuff?



As far as oil goes, I've had people tell me to use "Rotella" by Shell brand.

At work, there's a diesel tech that told me he uses regular Synthetic car type oil in his diesel vehicles. They put the cheapest stuff they can find in the diesels at work. (I work for a local Mass transit organization. We have track construction equipment, tow trucks for moving trains, and other such heavy duty diesels.)

As far as filters go, I'm DEFINITELY NOT using FRAM. Purolator or Wix seem like good stuff to me. How about Motorcraft? (They sell Motorcraft at Wal*Mart now!)

Is there a larger than stock filter I can put on? Or should I look into a remote mount dual filter pedistal?

 

I've read that you can put a powerstroke filter on, and gain an extra qt of oil capacity, but I've never done it.

As far a coolant goes, when I did my radiator, I looked for low silicate coolant with an astm 4985 rating. Then I used distilled water and added a sca. The only coolant I could find like that around here at the time was a texaxo heavy duty in a black bottle. Most are astm 3306.

From what I read recently, you can use a astm 6210, and it already has the sca in it. Some coolants may be both astm 6210 and 4985, which is what I will look for next time..

 

i always use the larger filter it is the one for the 1994.5 and up diesels(power strokes) with it you need 11 qts instead of 10. i always use rotella in my truck, i would not uses oil for gasser motors in my truck. fliter wise i have to go with wix but i have heard that the fram extra guard is comparable to wix you can get them at walmarts so they are cheaper but i like and trust wix so no need to change to save a few bucks not worth it. as far as coolant goes you want to use a diesel rated anti-freeze with sca in it

 

Most definately you can use the Powerstroke filter on your IDI as a matter of fact there is one on my summer rig. 93 f-250 4x2 ext. cab. I just keep adding the coolant supplement from motorcraft just wish they would stop changing the part number. No big deal really every 6 months gets half a bottle. Fresh coolant once a year.

 

Oil must be rated API CD or CF for the IDI diesel.
It should be on the label somewhere in a little circle.

 

I looked on the bottles of Prestone that I have been buying and I don't see anything about a rating at all. Is Prestone a good antifreeze for our diesels? Would their site have this information?

 

He was talking of the oil rating. In the first post they was talking of a teck using CAR oil in a diesel.. BAD BAD....

 

Preferred antifreeze is usually not green.
Low silicates and SCA precharged or added after the install.

I am currently running Fleetcharge with the SCA premixed from NAPA.
The antifreeze is purple.
They have it either full strength of 50/50 pre diluted.

 

Sorry, my mistake about the ratings. I don't exactly know the coolant rate system by heart. I assumed since the first post here talked first about coolant that the question was being answered. Yes, I know not to use car oil in a diesel . Shell brand Rotella-T Heavy Duty oil is the only kind that goes in my rig.

 

Yea sometimes things get messed up and we all have to re read the whole post to see where we left off at. Been there done that.