WHICH COOLANT??

[shawnking350]

Just need to know "bottom line" which coolant to switch to.

[7.3ericpaul]

regular auto zone any mix in the whole system, orange leaves corrosion. green that says mix with any color, also stops others from making mistakes, such as a shop, cheap, trust me it dosn't corrode, it is easy to find leaks from white residue that will show in black light better than other residue.

[PGreenSVT]

Originally Posted by shawnking350

Just need to know "bottom line" which coolant to switch to.

You definitely don't want to listen to the advice above.

What you want to do is flush the system with Restore and Restore Plus and then fill with any CAT EC-1 rated ELC coolant such as Fleetguard, Rotella, Delo, CAT, Zerex, Prestone, Texaco.

Do a search on ELC and you'll find all the info you would ever want.

[topdwg]

Haha, yea don't listen the that dude. Go with what Mitch said, he want steer you wrong...

[tanFx4]

Originally Posted by PGreenSVT

You definitely don't want to listen to the advice above.

What you want to do is flush the system with Restore and Restore Plus and then fill with any CAT EC-1 rated ELC coolant such as Fleetguard, Rotella, Delo, CAT, Zerex, Prestone, Texaco.

Do a search on ELC and you'll find all the info you would ever want.

I believe u.. and goin to try it when I get all the stuff.. but I seen I thnk in the discussion part that red causes problems.. something w copper?? and there is alot of complaints and w it's not only mechanics saying this.. jus wondering what ur input is on that??

[BryanDowdy]

I'd suggest doing a VC-9 flush, then filling with Zerex GO-5.

[losbanosf250]

I'm not trying to convince anyone which coolant to use. I do think that ELC is the better choice, considering it doesn't contain any silicates. Here is a pdf of Rotella ELC's pamphlet that includes long term corrosion protection to... copper. If that weren't the case, that would be false advertising.

http://www-static.shell.com/static/c...cants/5-14.pdf

[Pipewelder71]

Flush the system with VC-9, then flush with water until the water is clear. I have flushed my system at least several times to make sure that the old coolant and the VC-9 is flushed out.

Then I filled the system with a CAT EC-1 coolant (premix), and I also bought a jug of EC-1 consentrate (whatever) to balance the coolant. Because you will have leftover water in the system. I did this in one afternoon, pretty easy. If you're not comfortable with doing this, then have a tech do it.

[Pipewelder71]

Originally Posted by tanFx4

I believe u.. and goin to try it when I get all the stuff.. but I seen I thnk in the discussion part that red causes problems.. something w copper?? and there is alot of complaints and w it's not only mechanics saying this.. jus wondering what ur input is on that??

That's funny because EC-1 is becoming the standard in the OTR big rigs, being used in the Cummins, Cats, Detroits, and other diesels. I did mine sometime ago it's best thing I've ever done. That Ford Gold coolant is crap.

[tanFx4]

Originally Posted by BigEZ

Ok, devil's advocate questions from a newbie.*

This morning I called and spoke with a diesel mechanic at Gillette Diesel in the Salt Lake area and asked if they performed the flush to get rid of the old gold Ford coolant and add an ELC. He told me that the folks who change to ELC are the ones having the problems as the ELC eats away at the copper components internal. He says folks flush out the ELC coolant like crazy and go back to the gold coolant because of the issues they have.*

Ok, so maybe the opinion of one diesel truck mechanic is a small sample set. But it does give me pause. Who is right?

Originally Posted by anesthes

I've actually spoken to a number of Diesel techs now on the issue.

I too, read lots of posts from owners (not mechanics, but just average guys who happen to like trucks) suggesting the switch to ELC.

Every powerstroke tech I spoke to said it was a bad idea. They all gave the same reasons. *The all explained the #1 reason for the faults is owners not servicing their vehicles. The coolant should be flushed regularly if the truck is used in 'extreme' conditions. I.e, 40-45k.*

Their is also a percentage of people that will have problems because they cranked up the boost and beat on the truck. The truck was designed around certain parameters. If you exceed those you will have trouble. I'm not a diesel guy, I must disclaim. But when I build a race car I select components based on how much power the car will make. I.e, what type of steel the crank will be forged in, which block (splayed caps or not), what my ring clearances will be based on turbo/blower/na, which pistons and compression ratio to use, etc. * If I stuck a big turbo or a blower on a stock engine I'd expect it to eventually explode.

Then of course their is the third issue, which is that these trucks are turds.

I've spoken to NUMEROUS techs since I bought my truck. They all said the 6.0 was a problematic engine. There is other design flaws around the truck as well, and I'm starting to hit a lot of them. Frozen caliper slides, EGR valve sticking (twice this year), front leaf springs are almost junk, ball joints, factory shocks blown, and rear leaf spring problems. *

The truck can't actually be loaded to the GVWR because while the axles and tires can handle it, both the braking system, frame, and springs cannot. Loaded the truck cannot be driven on uneven road surface or the trailer hitch will hit the ground, nor can the brakes stop you in a reasonable amount of time should someone cut you off.


However - for pulling a 7500lbs trailer, I'll admit it's got more power than any of my other trucks..

Just keep an eye on it, because it just isn't happy unless it's at the dealer every other weekend!

-- Joe

this is what I came acrossed.. PGreenSVT seems to know alot bout the red so I was jus wondering bout his input on it.. not saying at all that I believe this