Properly maintained, the gold coolant should be fine. The problem is the people don't maintain their coolant. Most just change it at some random interval (yearly, every 30k miles, etc). To be properly maintained, you have to verify whether it still is able to provide adequate cooling performance while minimizing the negative affects of the combustion (corrosion) and circulation (pitting and cavitation) processes. EC-1 is designed for people who need the protection but don't want to constantly maintain it.

Antifreeze

 

I agree, properly maintained is Gold Coolant is fine. It turned out a lot of the ELC-CAT-1 coolant put in after a coolant swap may actually contain silicates. I added Zerex Extended Life like a lot of people do, and two weeks later someone posted a pdf of it having silicates. Most Cat 1 ELC don't, but that does. Get a monitor and it's really an issue if the ECT and EOT are >15. Otherwise, take your time figuring out if you want to do the swap, and then how. The gold has been in there for 10+ years, so a few more weeks won't hurt it. I do have the CAT 1 ELC in my truck, but I am starting to wonder if this is a low hanging fruit to make us feel like we can do something to prevent something bad from happening in the future.

As far as maintenance, download the Ford Owners Manual with diesel supplement for intervals. You'll probably see coolant is 30k or 2 years, and differentials are at 150k, but the manual will give the proper interval. If it is past that, spend a little bit of time figuring how you will change it, and don't rush into it, a few more weeks won't hurt it.

The only thing I'd make time for is a coolant filter, and if your Dad did not do it, then Stand Pipe, Dummy Plugs, and STC fittings. If you look at the turbo oil feed tube and it has a flexible piece on it, there's a new part to replace that.

If the truck is running fine, than then don't rush into things. You can spend $15k bulletproofing the truck to find out something not part of bulletproofing went bad soon after, like your starter and alternator, so be sure you're putting the money where it's needed when it's needed.

 

I respectfully disagree
I had Zerex G05 experience massive silicate drop and it had less than 10K on it.
it had less than 10k on that coolant because I am a preventive maintenance fanatic and had just done the radiator,water pump,hoses,

i was driving up north so i experienced overnight freezing temps to over 112 ambient in just a few hours

in the days following that trip My EOT temps went nuts and i was at over 230+ /200 split, ( related to the temp swings ??)

i did back flushes and a cascade with dawn flushes distiled and then the Cat EC1 ELC ( whatever you use make sure it is silicate free and states this fact )

my temps came back to within a few degrees and I had a bunch of silicate as evidence, I would not use the restore i would use the cascade DW liquid ( with DAWN )
prediluted and a large bottle will give you 3 flushes. the cascade with dawn dissolves the drop out chunks ( i cup tested multiple additives before i settled on this )


FYI

thank you for contacting Zerex Product Support with your question.





Yes, the Zerex Extended Life would have silicates. If you are looking for a heavy duty coolant that does not have these, then we suggest the Zerex Nitrate Free Extended Life.

EDIT = I see Chriski mentioned this and maybe my G05 crapped out so soon because it was Zerex ?IDK
but I was Glad I bought real CAT cat ec1 rated ELC after I heard about and contacted Zerex about their ELC EC1 Having Silicates

 

Nothing aftermarket or upgrades have been done to this truck other than a K&N air intake filter.

this is not an upgrade it is a dangerous downgrade

 

I was just referring to it as and aftermarket part more so than an upgrade. What makes this filter dangerous and what damage could be causing? Any recommendations for what to replace it with?

 

they are proven to let fine particles past the element

hold one up to the light you can see thru it

spray a hose at it you can hydro lock a motor

run one in dusty environments and you can see your impeller wearing

run one is a gasser and wonder why your cleaning your MAF sensor often but never had to with the stock filter

 

I'll start by saying ZMANN and I already somewhat disagree on this. I think I could sway more his way than he could sway mine, but I have ran G-05 in my truck for over 11 years. I also run in a hot climate. BUT, until lately I havn't towed a really heavy load. I believe the ELC coolant thing is probably the most blown out of proportion topic about the 6.0. And your post proves it. You're absolutely freaking out over nothing. I've seen people who accidentally put unleaded in their trucks have milder reactions than you're having to your coolant.

Don't worry so much about it. Obtain a means to watch your oil and coolant temps. That will tell you your oil cooler health. I would do that before messing with the coolant. My oil cooler is about 8 years old and runs about the oil runs about 3 degrees higher than my coolant. I run a coolant filter and change the coolant every couple years. I am going to watch my oil cooler when I start towing this 13k lb 5er around but I'm not anticipating any issues just yet. If I do, I'll try the ELC and see if I get more of a warm fuzzy. At this present moment, I think there is SOMETHING to the ELC thing but not NEAR as much as the forums make it out to be. I see so many new owners that jump on the forums ranting and raving like OMG MY TRUCK HAS GOLD COOLANT IS IT GONNA BLOW UP!?!?!, and it's just not even close to that big of a deal.

Much of the time, people have head gasket issues after running their truck a while with a clogged oil cooler and possibly cracked EGR cooler. If you keep your oil cooler in good health I believe you have much worse odds of having head gasket troubles.


As ZMANN said, what you REALLY worry about is that POS intake. Get a stock setup or at least something that filters better.

 

I used to think ELC was another flavor Kool-Aid and I wasn't falling for it
I was happy with Fresh G05
I felt almost betrayed when it had the silicate drop out all over my system
i had a coolant filter in place that did 0 good and probably filled up bypassed in short order

maybe it is the Zerex Brand that was the real culprit IDK ?

 

As far as I can tell I would bet Zerex makes the coolant for Ford. Did you have the issues when towing heavy or something? I can't remember.

 

I suspect the Zerex coolant has some "problems" as well. My first 100k miles was with Ford Gold and never had a problem. The issue becomes (as a truck/engine ages), how do you ensure that it never overheats, never leaks coolant and runs on a low level, never gets exposed to even minor combustion amounts of combustion gas, etc. It is not very "robust" IMO. That is where the EC-1 rated Extended Life Coolants come in.

Regarding silicates in Extended Life Coolants that carry the Cat EC-1 rating (some don't) ...................

(from the "6.0L early days" - see attached brochure from Catepillar)

The discussion on EC-1 coolants begins on page 71 I believe, with the most details on page 75. The coolant section begins on page 67.

Some of their statements:

EC-1 rating is Cat saying that it conforms with certain ASTM standards: ASTM E1177 and D6210. Also D3306, but not D3306 alone.

Also, page 71 specifically states that OAT and HOAT coolants that contain silicates do not meet the EC-1 standard.

On page 75 it states:

"Note: The CAT EC-1 specification describes the minimum requirements for Extended Life Coolants."

Table 29 (also on page 75) gives more details, and the discussion below Table 29 describes the required testing for the EC-1 rating.

 

ZMANN can you elaborate on this procedure or point me in the right direction?

i would use the cascade DW liquid ( with DAWN )
prediluted and a large bottle will give you 3 flushes. the cascade with dawn dissolves the drop out chunks ( i cup tested multiple additives before i settled on this )

Thanks