Got the "Check Coolant Additive" Message today

[ceking35]

Needs some help here guys. I got the "check coolant additive" message this morning. What I need to know is, Is this normal for a truck with 12K miles on it? If so, is it something I can take care of or does it need to go to the stealership? Hopefully it is not big deal!!

Thankks Guys!!!

[Bryce18]

Originally Posted by ceking35

Needs some help here guys. I got the "check coolant additive" message this morning. What I need to know is, Is this normal for a truck with 12K miles on it? If so, is it something I can take care of or does it need to go to the stealership? Hopefully it is not big deal!!

Thankks Guys!!!

Do you take your rig to your dealership for maintenance service? If so they forgot to reset your in dash display for the Copland additive. Mine did this 2 weeks ago. Took my service manager 2 mins to reset.

You can reset it somehow in the in dash display. I'm not exactly sure how though

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[Painted Horse]

You can reset it, Go to command center under coolant and press and hold to reset.

The message will pop up about ever 600 hours ( which 12,000 to 14,000 miles)

Its a reminder to check you coolant for
1. Freeze protection
2. Nitrate presence
3. Contaminate protection

If any nitrates are present, You need to flush and refill coolant system
The new OAT coolant contains NO Nitrates, The old style coolants were nitrate based. So if somebody "Topped" off your coolant with the old style coolant, You will test positive to this.

The contamate test is looking for a chemical in your coolant that protects against corrision. You can add VC-12 twice during the coolants life ( 105,000 miles) to refresh or restore the comtaminate protection. The VC-12 is about $14 a quart at the Ford Dealer. DO- NOT put in the older style coolant rejuvinator VC-8. This is a Nitrate based rejuvinator and will cause you to test positive nitrates and need to flush and refill.

You have two coolant systems, Make sure to test both. Depending on the instruction your read. Take the coolant from the Pet****s on the bottom of the radiators or from the Degas bottle. But there are some instruction that say not to use the Degas bottle as the coolant is not as circulated as what in in your radiators. The two coolant systems are not inter-connected so any additive you add must be added to both.

[ceking35]

Originally Posted by Painted Horse

You can reset it, Go to command center under coolant and press and hold to reset.

The message will pop up about ever 600 hours ( which 12,000 to 14,000 miles)

Its a reminder to check you coolant for
1. Freeze protection
2. Nitrate presence
3. Contaminate protection

If any nitrates are present, You need to flush and refill coolant system
The new OAT coolant contains NO Nitrates, The old style coolants were nitrate based. So if somebody "Topped" off your coolant with the old style coolant, You will test positive to this.

The contamate test is looking for a chemical in your coolant that protects against corrision. You can add VC-12 twice during the coolants life ( 105,000 miles) to refresh or restore the comtaminate protection. The VC-12 is about $14 a quart at the Ford Dealer. DO- NOT put in the older style coolant rejuvinator VC-8. This is a Nitrate based rejuvinator and will cause you to test positive nitrates and need to flush and refill.

You have two coolant systems, Make sure to test both. Depending on the instruction your read. Take the coolant from the Pet****s on the bottom of the radiators or from the Degas bottle. But there are some instruction that say not to use the Degas bottle as the coolant is not as circulated as what in in your radiators. The two coolant systems are not inter-connected so any additive you add must be added to both.

Thanks Guys. I didn't realize it was just a "Reminder" message. Almost due for the second oil change, so I will get the coolant tested then.

Appreciate the response.

[Painted Horse]

The chances of something being wrong with your coolant at 13,000 miles is really small, UNLESS somebody added the wrong coolant when topping off your coolant. You could probably just clear it and check it at 25,000-28,000 when it pop's up again.

The main problem seems to be folks adding the old green or gold coolant to the newer speciality Orange coolant when they top off a system. Or adding the wrong VC-8 rejuvintizer instead of the VC-12. If you are pretty sure that there is no possibility of that, I'd just clear it and wait till the next message.

I'm not suggesting you ignor it every time the message pops. The coolant has a 105,000 mile life and you can add the VC-12 twice during that life. So if you divide it out, you can kinda expect to add the additive at 35,000, 70,000 and replace coolant at 105,000.

["Stroker 8"]

Just curious, whats the worst thing that can happen if you add it more than twice during it's lifetime???

[ProjecT 9]

Just got this message last night. Good to know its not a level issue. I thought I might be pushing coolant like the 6.0's. I was a little nervous.

["Stroker 8"]

Originally Posted by ProjecT 9

Just got this message last night. Good to know its not a level issue. I thought I might be pushing coolant like the 6.0's. I was a little nervous.

Just curious, whats your current mileage?

[ProjecT 9]

Just turned 12k something.

["Stroker 8"]

I'm right at the same mileage as you but haven't got this message yet.