My 03 coolant had about 120,000 miles on it and I read here it was time to change. I read a lot of back and forth about the ford gold and decided it had lasted this long it might be the way to go.
:rofl::hehe: Did you test the coolant with the test strips to see just how it "lasted" all that many miles? Ford recommends that you test the coolant and Nitrite strength every
15,000 miles..and
REPLACE the coolant every 45,000 miles....(from Ford TSB 09-8-5)
I did the flush procedure where you drain half, add two quarts of ford iron cleaner and run it a while (about 50 miles, then start draining and refilling with distilled water to flush system. I drove to work and back about 70 miles between flushes. After flushing about 20 gallons through it I refilled with ford gold.
I took truck on a 3 hour drive pulling travel trailer. Woke up next morning and engine was hydrolocked. Took to local diesel mechanic who found blown head gasket. He studded it and did an egr delete. I also had him install a new ford oil cooler while in there just to be safe. He also added the regular green antifreeze to my gold that was already in the system to top off what was lost in the procedure. :doh: I haven't used it much this year, but it is time to fix this problem. I have flushed it with 20 gallons of distilled water to clean out all the green gold mix, and figured the iron cleaner from before probably has it clean already. I have put very few miles on the truck this year.
Do I need to do anything else to clean it?
Should I go with ford gold again? I know it's a hot topic but I have to ask.
Any other advice appreciated. This is one expensive truck to repair.
Lack of understanding what it takes to properly maintain the truck will result in hefty repair bills, no doubt about that.
The Ford gold, and your lack of understanding of what it takes to maintain that coolant led to your result (blown head gaskets).
First, google the above Ford TSB number, read exactly what it takes to maintain the Ford Gold Coolant, and make an INFORMED decision on whether or not you
really want to run that coolant again. I doubt you will want to.
Get an ELC style coolant that meets the CAT EC-1 rating. NAPA sells a Zerex ELC that meets the CAT EC-1. International truck dealerships will have what the manufacturer of the engine uses in it, the Fleetrite (or Rotella) ELC that also meets the CAT EC-1. This style of coolant is much better suited to the needs of your engine..and require no maintenance (though replacing it every 2 years would be best).
I think that the faster you get the existing coolant out of your engine, the better. I would just go ahead and flush that out with straight distilled water until the flush water coming out was as clean as the flush water going in.
