6.0 coolant type

[ronnie32567]

I read a post that said the ford coolant caused silicates to settle in the oil cooler. I have a 2003 6.0 with 188,000 mi of hard towing with no problem with the oil cooler. I also deleted the egr crap about 30,000 ago, a world of difference in the engine. I put a new radiator in about 20,000 mi ago and used just regular tap water and a store brand elc. I just put a new water pump in and the coolant looked clean with no discoleration or scale or rust. My question is, would it be ok to use a cat ec-1 elc from O'riley's auto called final fill, i think. I can't find the fleetrite elc that international uses in their 6.0 engines.

[Ricemiester]

All i use is any yellow coolant, no green and ive never had any problems. Prime is a brand that has yellow

[Lilfarmrboy]

I run a coolant filter from Sinister MFG. It does a good job of keeping the Ford gold coolant clean. It was fairly simple to install, should not take more than 15 minutes tops. I bought mine off of amazon since I already had an account with them. Honestly as long as the coolant looks clean I wouldn't worry about it to much. I pull mine out about every 6 months with a antifreeze checker and hold it up to the sunlight to see if it has anything floating in it. Not the scientific way of doing it but it works.

[dazdillenger]

I'm running prestone ELC formulated to CAT EC-1 specifications. It's purple, and makes finding leaks EASY! You wouldn't believe how many cracks were in my DEGAS bottle that it penetrated!

[Lilfarmrboy]

FYI Zerex G-05 coolant is the same as the Ford gold coolant, if you want to save some pennies the next time you buy some. Ford doesn't approve any other coolant but International approves ELC coolants that are CAT approved.

[Lilpooh]

Originally Posted by ronnie32567

I read a post that said the ford coolant caused silicates to settle in the oil cooler. I have a 2003 6.0 with 188,000 mi of hard towing with no problem with the oil cooler. I also deleted the egr crap about 30,000 ago, a world of difference in the engine. I put a new radiator in about 20,000 mi ago and used just regular tap water and a store brand elc. I just put a new water pump in and the coolant looked clean with no discoleration or scale or rust. My question is, would it be ok to use a cat ec-1 elc from O'riley's auto called final fill, i think. I can't find the fleetrite elc that international uses in their 6.0 engines.

If you don't know the ECT and EOT delta, then you don't know if the oil cooler is bad until its too late and causes other damage to the motor.

[Lilpooh]

Originally Posted by Lilfarmrboy

I run a coolant filter from Sinister MFG. It does a good job of keeping the Ford gold coolant clean. It was fairly simple to install, should not take more than 15 minutes tops. I bought mine off of amazon since I already had an account with them. Honestly as long as the coolant looks clean I wouldn't worry about it to much. I pull mine out about every 6 months with a antifreeze checker and hold it up to the sunlight to see if it has anything floating in it. Not the scientific way of doing it but it works.

A coolant filter isn't gonna stop or prevent silicate drop out. Coolant filters are a bypass system, which means its only filtering about 10% of the coolant, so if the other 90% of the coolant is pushing thru the oil cooler, there still is a chance of the oil cooler getting blocked up.

One of the benefits from switching form the Ford gold or G-05 to a ELC is to cut down on coolant maintenence. Ford now recommends to change out the gold coolant every 50k miles (I wonder why?) (sarcasm).

[Dave]

Originally Posted by ronnie32567

I read a post that said the ford coolant caused silicates to settle in the oil cooler. I have a 2003 6.0 with 188,000 mi of hard towing with no problem with the oil cooler. I also deleted the egr crap about 30,000 ago, a world of difference in the engine. I put a new radiator in about 20,000 mi ago and used just regular tap water and a store brand elc. I just put a new water pump in and the coolant looked clean with no discoleration or scale or rust. My question is, would it be ok to use a cat ec-1 elc from O'riley's auto called final fill, i think. I can't find the fleetrite elc that international uses in their 6.0 engines.

Yes you can use the EC 1 but you have to flush the gold out first and mix with distilled water

[Galaxie]

Dave said it. Please make sure you study how to really do the flush correctly!

[ronnie32567]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the responses they sure helped make my mind up. I don't believe anything ford says when it comes to the status of the engines. At about 160,000 mi the engine started loosing power, took it to ford dealer I was told the engine was totally shot but they could PATCH it for 3500.00 Told them nope. I put in 3 injectors and deleted the egr myself for about 600.00 or so. Short time later it was still weak, took it back to ford They told me my engine was completely shot but could PATCH it for 3000.00 this time, I said nope, I bought a new FICM, Wiring harness and ICP sensor for about 650.00 or so on ebay (new ford parts). now 30,000 mi later it uses NO oil between 6,000 mi changes, you cant make it smoke and I'm getting 18+ mpg. I've made 5 3,000 mi trips pulling 30 ft trailer loaded to the gills, I just cant comprehend how a completely shot engine can do that.