Coolant filtration and coolant question

[dragrazor]

Hello, I have a 2005 ford f250 with the 6.0l with 37700 miles. I have been reading a lot on the problems with these trucks including the egr,head gaskets etc. I just bought the dieselsite coolant filtration system. I flushed my coolant about 1500 miles ago with ford coolant. I have been reading about the issues with the ford coolant having silicates and turning to gel after a while around the egr and oil cooler among other issues with it. I am thinking about changing the coolant to an ELC coolant with no silicates but i have a few questions. I am hoping you guys can enlighten me.

1) Why would ford continue using the ford gold coolant if it supposedly causes issues with these motors? Wouldn't they do a recall flushing the coolant out and using something else? Did they and I am not aware?
2) If it is causing harm to the egr, water pump,oil cooler,etc.. why is it not causing any issues anywhere else?
3) What ELC coolant are you guys using and where locally did you find it? I believe i read that it needs to be EC1. I believe international uses fleetrite.

Thank you in advance for any help.

[Fin-Doctor]

Thats an excellent question. Why is Ford still using the gold coolant?
I would think the Ford engineers with all the egr problems with the 6.0 would know what is best?

[caissiel]

This in my 3rd diesel, 2 GM and this one is a Ford.
All trucks needed repairs and modifications in order to make them last longer.
For me its no news because I was a maintenance supervisor for years and we had the same problem with OEM suppliers.
I always tried to improve the rebuilds and seldom had support from the OEM because they operated on cost VS Service.

This Coolant story don't surprise me at all, and for Ford to do something about it would prove their guilt. Recalls are only required for safety, and this is a Cash Cow for service deptments.

Just like my previous GM's were cash cows for all diesel mechanics in the country. I was able to prevent the breakdowns and had great service out of my 6.2L and 6.5L.

[Banshee365]

First I'll say that I still use gold coolant. I run a coolant filter and don't mind maintaining the SCA in my coolant. I enjoy taking good care of my investment. The gold coolant is thought to have alot of problems that there seems to be alot of proof of. There are alot of 6.0's running around with gold coolant with tons and tons and tons of miles so I'm not worried about the gold coolant causing premature wear. I'll flush my coolant every 50k, no big deal to me. I'll also change my oil every 5k regardless of all the fancy filtration setups out there. The ELC in these motors seems to be gaining quite a bit of momentum if you run the correct spec stuff. I'm just not quite convinced yet as I've seen inside of my oil cooler, egr cooler, various heater hoses, thermostat housing, inside of degas bottle, etc... and have no build up of any sort of any kind of silicates. My coolant filter catches alot of scale and sand that I am fairly certain is what clogged my first oil cooler and ruptured my first EGR cooler. A coolant filter was installed after I got the truck back from the dealer under warranty and my cooling system is clean as a whistle now.

NOW, with all that said. I think Ford continues to use the gold coolant because they generally spec a coolant for all of there engines. The diesel's need the SCA, which the gold coolant has in it. This means that all other of there gas engines that spec the gold coolant will have SCA in them. They don't need the SCA but it won't hurt to have them anyway's. It complicates things over the spectrum if they spec a special coolant for the diesel engines like they spec the Mercon LV/SP for the torqshift trans. It would really take alot to spec a new coolant, most likely a motorcraft branded ELC coolant. There are many conspiracies out there as to why they still spec the gold coolant but, like with most things with your truck you'll just have to do your own research and come up with your own opinion.

[smokersteve]

If ford did take out the silicates, how would we know?

[2 stroker]

This is my take on the ELC coolant--Ford Gold Cxxp coolant
The Gold can not take the heat so what happens the silicates drop out and the first stop is the oil cooler, with the ELC coolant you do not have that problem so if you use your truck to drive your wife to the store and take your kids to school the Gold may work just fine but if you use your truck to pull a 5er and it is working like the 6.0 needs to the Gold will not last because it can't take the heat caused by the EGR cooler and if someone adds a tuner that may add more heat dumping more fuel in why at todays fuel prices. Why would ford kill a cash cow and do a recall on the 6.0 and 6.4 to do a coolant flush and install the right coolant. I pull a 14k 5er with mine when it runs it works hard sometime my temps will go to EOT 228* ECT 218* on a 6-7 mile pull at a 6% grade. I use my 97 7.3 as a town driver so when summer comes it takes a rest and my 06 starts to sweet. I'm running the Delo ELC coolant good for 350k then check it. I got my 97 new so i know all about checking the coolant yes you have to buy test strips and change the coolent all the time with 123k on it the coolant has been changed 3 times then you have to get rid of it.
2 stroker

[PGreenSVT]

Ford is in fact revamping their coolant strategies for all the new vehicles to meet world wide demands with the least number of products. Here we go again.

[caissiel]

After 40 years of flushing the coolant in my cars.
I have never seen the crap I found in my truck this fall.
The crap will get stuck in the oil cooler as fast as it gets stuck in the filter.
If you remove sludge in the filter, the same amount goes through the cooler.
And if there are some in the filter, my conclusion is the coolant is crap.

The ELC I have in the truck now has cleaned all the crap that was left in some of the hoses.
And after 500 miles there was hardly anything in the filter.
Conclusion the ELC is also cleaning my cooling system that the crap left in earlier.

[dragrazor]

caissiel, what elc do you use?

[bull36575]

I just switched to Cat ELC last week. Ford did my head gaskets 6 months ago. 2 months ago I added a coolant filter. After flushing system with restore last week this is what my coolant filter looked like after 2 months of ford gold coolant. Keep in mind that coolant had only been in the truck 6 months.