2008 F-250 213K miles...6 radiators???

[fletch0467]

Bought this truck last week from a dealer, did some investigating, found this truck went through 6 radiators talked to previous owner and said most were covered on warranty. This truck was part of his leased fleet of trucks from enterprise, said the 4X4 trucks no radiator problems at all. Why only 2 WD trucks had this problem? any ideas?

[PolarBear]

That was probably just his luck of the draw. There are thousands of 4x4 6.4 trucks that also went through radiators.

[fletch0467]

ohh, ok I was thinking the same thing, but just wanted to throw it out there. Do you think that ford gold coolant is good or bad ? or should i flush it out and change it, then install a coolant filter? Thank You PolarBear

[PolarBear]

I don't prefer the gold coolant. I much rather have an ELC coolant that's rated for these trucks and has a strong reputation. I run the red Fleetrite coolant in both my trucks. I would hope that your coolant has been maintained but you never know. I flushed my 6.4 at just over 100k miles and it was pretty dirty. A flush and coolant filter would be great for the truck. My 7.3 has a coolant filter and if I end up keeping my 6.4 it will soon have one as well.

[04hdfatboy]

i also flushed at around 100,000 miles to an ELC coolant. It was pretty nasty. I went with the peak final charge. I also installed a coolant filter.

[04hdfatboy]

Oh and about the radiators the good thing is that the aftermarket is coming out with some better/stronger radiators to fix the problem.

[DieselFam]

My framer had an 08 that kept eating radiators. 5 in 180,000. All ended up being fixed under warranty. Frustrated he took it to a diesel specialist and the guy told him it was electrolysis in the engine. The next week he took it back to the dealership he bought it from and they took the truck back. He is now driving a 6.7.

[Shake]

The problem is not with the electrolysis. It is to much pressure in the cooling system (hense the recall/tsb was to install a "T" valve off the coolant fill tank) to relieve some of the high pressure. It was creating leaks in the gaskets of the side plastic tanks. Mine has had 4 rads and is 4x4 so the 2wd mith is not true. There are some aftermaket companies that make replacement rads they are a bit pricey