I have searched this a little and it appears that the gold coolant offered by ford is better then the old school green coolant, but when i talked to the diesel mechanic at the stealership, he said if i had green in it before, then stick with it. I would really prefer not to have to spend the money on test strips and additives all the time and just run the gold coolant, will this cause any problems?? I dont want to gunk up the coolant system, but if the gold is supposed to be better, i dont see why i cant just change over to it. I am not going to just top it off, i was going to completly empty it, and refill. I have no idea how long since the stuff in it now has been checked or changed and i would rather play it safe. Any suggestions??
thanks

 

Its really tough to get all the coolant out. I just did a home flush deal on my 302, and still didn't get it all out.
But its atleast green colored now, isntead of barsleak colored.

If your going to switch, it will be really tough to evacuate your system of the old product.

even if you run the gold coolant, which i have no clue what it is, you still should test it no matter what.

I'd stick with the green,
If your going to switch to gold. you'll have to run water in it for a while, and keep flushing it after x hours of use.
Once you start getting clear water on a drain, then you can add the gold in if you still mix it 50/50.

But running just water might cause problems.
Especially if you forget addititive if you can even do that.

 

From what I have read, the stealership is not giving you bad info (for once). It is not recommended that if you have an older truck that has had green in it, you should not try and switch it to the gold. I may be off here, but I dont think so.

 

if the gold you are talking about is "extended life coolant". USE IT, unless you really babysit that cooling system and take care of the green stuff. i repair and rebuild diesel engines and i can pretty much tell you by looking at the coolant passages and internal parts what kind of coolant it had in it. talyn's right, you want to do a good flush on the system. drain. fill with water and some kind of flushing agent. get it real hot, and keep it hot, with the heater on. drain and repeat a few times. eventually running plain water through. you do still need to monitor the condition of the extended life. it should last the life of the engine if it doesn't get contaminated somehow.

 

You will need to babysit the gold coolant too. The SCA's deplete over time no matter which coolant you use. I use the cheapest stuff you can buy and add FW16 as needed. The real secret is using distilled water (no minerals).

BTW: You can get all (except 1 or 2 oz's) the old stuff out by pulling the block drains down by the oil pan rail.

 

Water is very important.

there are differnt kinds that you can buy, and use. I deal with this in computer water cooling systems. They are really finicky about what you use, due to buildups, and corrosion of copper and such.

Pure water can be corrosive though.
Pure water is corrosive to metals due to the very low dissolved solids content (ions)
Water promotes oxidation of metals also known as corrosion
Water typically contains small quantities of various microorganisms, which may grow and multiply over time

This is a really good article on Distilled and ionized water, and the different effects of them on metals.

I know its a computer link, but, its about water. And a watercooling system is more touchy then a diesel. So applying advanced knowlege, we can be more successfull in our cooling systems. =)

(yes, i use hose water in my gas engine. hahaha)

http://www.overclockers.com/tips1153/

If your asking, where is part one.
well here ya go
http://www.overclockers.com/articles993/

Feel free to ask me computer stuff via PM. =)