03/04 coolant advice required

[Storm728]

I just picked up an 03 with ~80k miles on it, fairly bone stock, owned for all but 2000 miles by a grown woman. car is a production date 09/02 veichle and has a sticker of an X through a bottle of gold coolant on top of the resevoir. the coolant inside of said container is fairly brown for whatever reason. im aware there was a variance in gold/green coolant early on in production and im assuimg my car was a green only one. as to the brown coolant id guess either corrosion, mixture or just old coolant. curious as to what route should i go from here. i have a reische 170 thermostat waiting around and im trying to decide on either doing a basic radiator only flush with green and swapping the thermostats or doing a total flush with gold and the thermostat as well. ive heard mixing the two is a bad idea and ive also heard it doesnt matter. i would like to use gold but im unsure if thats even in the cards. the other threads ive read did not shed much direct light on this subject, just more scattered opinions. if i could be pointed in the right direction i would much appreciate it :thumbsup:

 

[P49Y-CY]

green or gold - doesn't matter - but if i was you since it sounds like a lot of brown crap in there, i would do a flush on it asap!

and yes you are right, the first production run used green coolant, then ford switched over to gold for the second and third runs. but essentially they are the same, gold is considered "long life". i try not to let my coolant go for more than a couple of years regardless

best of luck with it, and congrats on getting a terminator! :beer:

 

[Storm728]

green or gold - doesn't matter - but if i was you since it sounds like a lot of brown crap in there, i would do a flush on it asap!

and yes you are right, the first production run used green coolant, then ford switched over to gold for the second and third runs. but essentially they are the same, gold is considered "long life". i try not to let my coolant go for more than a couple of years regardless

best of luck with it, and congrats on getting a terminator! :beer:

a

ah thanks for clearing that up. wonder why they put a no gold warning on it? what would be the best way to go about a flush. cooling systems have never been my forte.

also thanks its been a great accomplishment for me

 

[SID297]

I'm not a fan the Ford gold coolant. I'm in the process of changing all my vehicles to Rotella ELC.

 

[03cobra#694]

This is one of the ones I used when doing mine, and I put the green stuff back in, as that's what mine came with.
http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/terminator-talk-229/573955-help-flushing-coolant-system.html

 

[suaveflooder]

I try and change all my fluids once a year. I agree with above, a good flush is in order

 

[UnleashedBeast]

I try and change all my fluids once a year. I agree with above, a good flush is in order

I drink beer, changing my fluids every weekend. :-D

 

[Storm728]

I drink beer, changing my fluids every weekend. :-D

lmao

 

[Storm728]

looks like the stealer will do it for 145. any thoughts if i should just stick with the green stuff or switch it up to gold

 

[SC Heaven]

I was always told stick with what it came with. Mine came with gold so I stuck with gold. In your case I would probably stick with green. But not knowing a lot about these cooling systems I didn't want to risk anything. And I would do it yourself, can be done with a basic set of tools in ~2 hours or less.

EDIT: Congrats on the Cobra :beer:

 

[Storm728]

I was always told stick with what it came with. Mine came with gold so I stuck with gold. In your case I would probably stick with green. But not knowing a lot about these cooling systems I didn't want to risk anything. And I would do it yourself, can be done with a basic set of tools in ~2 hours or less.

EDIT: Congrats on the Cobra :beer:

i know it can be done. but im looking for a full flush. i thought having it done via vacuum pump would be easier and save me the trouble of messing with the block plug and cycling all of the old stuff out

 

[SC Heaven]

Yeah, it can be a hassle. I did mine the hard way. Drained, filled with distilled water, ran for 15 minutes, drained, repeated at least 5 times to get all the crap out. Of course this was before the weather turned cold and shitty and I didn't mind being under the car all day. In this weather it may be worth the $145 to have it done.

 

[Storm728]

Yeah, it can be a hassle. I did mine the hard way. Drained, filled with distilled water, ran for 15 minutes, drained, repeated at least 5 times to get all the crap out. Of course this was before the weather turned cold and shitty and I didn't mind being under the car all day. In this weather it may be worth the $145 to have it done.

the weather isnt too bad out here but that is a bitch. do you leave the crossover cap off during runs

 

[SC Heaven]

I did until it got warm, and then of course forgot to check it on the final fill. Overheating on the way home from a first date, really impresses the ladies. :lol:

 

[Rambro]

I want to do a flush as well but I don't know what to do with the old coolant. I don't want to just pour the coolant out in the front yard. Then you hafto do something with the water you run through it when flushing it. Sounds like a messy job but I really don't want to take the car to a dealer or shop to get it done.

 

[SC Heaven]

Rambro, I don't know about where you live, but here it can be flushed down the toilet.

 

[P49Y-CY]

toilet would be much better than the front yard. sewage water treatment plants can process it... runoff water which goes straight to a lake or ocean doesn't.

but the best bet would be to bring it to a municipal household waste diposal station.

 

[Rambro]

Down the toilet huh? I like to work on my car but I just might let ford handle this one for me, sounds like a mess.

 

[SID297]

You should be able to find a place to dispose of it properly. My local dump takes it for free and then sends it for processing. Ford makes a flush that should be able to clean all the sludge out of the system. Or you could buy some Fleetguard Restore to do the same.

 

[Storm728]

Down the toilet huh? I like to work on my car but I just might let ford handle this one for me, sounds like a mess.

ford quoted me 190$ to do it tommorow all materials included along with the ford brand name flushing agent in which i was assured no stop leak or pellet crap would be used like they are at many of your local service chains... also im having my reische tstat put in along with the bundle for no tack on fee. figure id rather have a machine do it for me than a hose and my dumbass self who would probably find someway to screw it up. besides cooling systems were never really my forte