yellowish-brown, slimy crap in degas bottle.

[funn3wds]

Hi all. New to the world of Diesels. Just bought an 04 F350 with an 05 6.0L in it. I've noticed my coolant leaking from my upper rad hose (i think) and plan to fix this weekend. I have some yellowish-brown, slimy gunk in my degas bottle and was wondering what it was from and if its a problem in the making?

Also, what type of coolant should i use. What ever is in there now is Red in color. I need to top it off tonight but not sure what type of coolant to use.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ruizhernandeztrust]

A photo of your problem will help us.

The coolant recommended by ford is gold coolant part number VC-7-B BUT some people here are using coolant with CAT EC-1 spec. with good results.

[southend]

Sounds like you oil cooler is busted, was it overfilling? It should be just below the min mark. Red coolant could be elc. Elc with the cat ec-1 rating is suggested.

Sent from my phone that somebody didn't help me get.

[funn3wds]

Thanks Ruiz. I'll get pictures of it tomorrow for you guys. I read on here that the "new" proper level for the degas bottle is about an inch below the mark on the side of the bottle. When warm that's exactly where it's at.

Southend... I don't THINK my oil cooler is bad but I'm really not sure. When i can see the coolant, it looks clean. No visual evidence of oil in the fluid. Just "slimy" stuff on the sides of the bottle. Kind of up high near the mating surfaces between the bottle and lid.

I'll post the pics tomorrow afternoon for you guys. Thanks again for the help. I'm really enjoying this site.

[ruizhernandeztrust]

Originally Posted by funn3wds

Thanks Ruiz. I'll get pictures of it tomorrow for you guys. I read on here that the "new" proper level for the degas bottle is about an inch below the mark on the side of the bottle. When warm that's exactly where it's at.

Southend... I don't THINK my oil cooler is bad but I'm really not sure. When i can see the coolant, it looks clean. No visual evidence of oil in the fluid. Just "slimy" stuff on the sides of the bottle. Kind of up high near the mating surfaces between the bottle and lid.

I'll post the pics tomorrow afternoon for you guys. Thanks again for the help. I'm really enjoying this site.

this site is the best.

[mhatlen]

It may even be slime left over from Ford Gold coolant, it would have a goldish yellow color to it but I would think color would be hard to determine with the CAT EC1 coolant in there now.
Rule out oil in your cooling system and then do a good coolant flush on your truck. Myself I have used cascade dishwasher liquid soap to get a clean cooling sytem instead of the acid procedure when I changed from Ford Gold to a CAT EC-1 type which is surely what's in you truck now. Good Luck with it............

[southend]

Originally Posted by mhatlen

It may even be slime left over from Ford Gold coolant, it would have a goldish yellow color to it but I would think color would be hard to determine with the CAT EC1 coolant in there now.
Rule out oil in your cooling system and then do a good coolant flush on your truck. Myself I have used cascade dishwasher liquid soap to get a clean cooling sytem instead of the acid procedure when I changed from Ford Gold to a CAT EC-1 type which is surely what's in you truck now. Good Luck with it............

True^^^^^

Sent from my phone that somebody didn't help me get.

[funn3wds]

Ok ladies and gentlemen,
Here are some pictures of what I'm seeing. I have a question about the third picture though. Is that the original cap or the updated degas bottle cap? How would i know?

Thanks again guys.

[southend]

Well darn, you could have opened the cap and gave us a pic. An original cap will have a oem pn printed on it, iirc.

Sent from my phone that somebody didn't help me get.

[funn3wds]

Oh. Ok. Give me a few minutes.