check coolant additive

[Cobrajd78]

at about 13,000 miles i had a notice come up on the screen saying to checknthe coolant additive. the dealer says this is normal and that i have to bring it in for them to check the chemistry of the coolant. it coss $40 is this really needed? can i reset the warning?

[Painted Horse]

The test checks several components of the coolant.

The first is for Nitrites in the coolant. All previous Powerstrokes used a Nitrite based coolant. The 6.7L uses a OAT based coolant. Which has ZERO nitrites. If somebody added the wrong type of coolant to your cooling systems, This test would test positive and you would need to flush and refill your system. If you are positive that nobody has added anything to your coolant system, This would not be very necessary. But if there is any chance that somebody topped off your coolant. I would definitely do this test to make sure the proper coolant was added.

The second test is for Freeze Protection. And at 14,000 miles your coolant should still should be good for freeze protection. These 1st two test are down with basic sticks that are dipped into the coolant solution and compared to a chart. The same test stripped used on all previous Powerstroke engines, But you are looking for no nitrites vs the old engines wanted to see nitrites.

The 3rd test is for contaminate protection. This is a new test that has not been done on previous Powerstroke engines. Your coolant has a 105,000 mile life expectancy, You can rejuvenate it twice during that 105,000 miles by adding the VC-12 additive. Which improves the Contaminate protection. You can kinda think of that as something you might add at 35,000, 70,000 and then a full flush and refill at 105,000 miles.

When my 1st message came up, I called the service manager and he told me to just clear it. I did test it when the 2nd message and 4th message came up. And I added the VC-12 at 28,000 miles because the test showed it was kinda of marginal.

The test kits contain enough material to test your engine 5 times. But unless you drive a lot, They will expire before most folks drive enough miles to require five test. Remember your engine has two cooling systems, So the test need to be repeated on BOTH systems. It does no good to only test one system.

Hopefully that will give you enough information to make an informed decision about taking the truck in for the test.

[Cobrajd78]

Thank you so much for the great reply. How do you reset the warning though?

[Painted Horse]

It's in the command center, Just scroll through to the Coolant and press and hold to reset.

[wheels4]

thank you for that info Painted Horse... i am getting the same message with my truck.

[dbj216]

Thank you Painted Horse! I did not know this about the coolant.

The manual says to use Ford orange coolant only. I fugured this was a way to sell Motorcraft parts. How often have I added a bit of aftermarket coolant to my vehicles. I assumed the additive package was for corrsion protection. I did not know I could nitrite contaminate the Super Duty cooling systems by doing this.

If I think I need a little coolant to get to the MIN mark on the overflow bottle, I am better off adding a little pure water.

[Painted Horse]

The factory uses Ionized water, But Distilled water will work. Don't use straight tap water.

There is some speculation that the reason the oem coolant last 105,000 mile and any flush and refill is only good for 50,000 miles is the difference between Ionized and distilled water.

[wheels4]

figured i would add a quick update... i took my truck in and got the coolant checked(39k miles) and it failed. had the additived added and was told the next time it fails, i will have to get a flush done(1200 dollars).

my question is... is 1200.00 the normal price for a coolant flush? dang. i was thinking 3-400.

[psi_2_high]

Super odd that this was just posted, Mine just came on today as well, and my Tech at ford said just clear it, and i asked if it was doing it because it was low and was informed that this truck doesn't even have a Coolant level sensor??? True?

[ucpa111]

Are you serious? HOW MUCH FOR A COOLANT FLUSH!? Holy crap...time to trade when the coolant's dead and use that for a downpayment LOL!