Coolant Questions - Green /Yellow - Drain-Fill / Flush ?

[1004ron]

15 minutes ago, The Blue Wedge said:

I just did this a few months ago, added Orange pre-diluted anti-freeze in my 14 3.5, exactly what came out from the factory. 

Must have bought the Orange stuff before it became obsolete.

[The Blue Wedge]

Hmmm. didn't know it was obsolete, since I bought the stuff from a local Ford dealer in Buffalo Mn.

[enigma-2]

Went through this with local dealer. Your dealer may have had some orange in stock. My dealer showed me a Ford memo stating they want all cars to go to new light green. (My dealer told me they are unable to even buy any old coolant, as its obsolete).

 

They switched my 09 mkx with original gold over to the new stuff at last drain. Made certain they did a full chemical flush. 

[Edgingage]

Enigma, just for all to be on the same page: the new coolant "official" color is not green but yellow, even thought it does look green, and even though the designated letter at the end is "G", I know .

Also, my dealer refused to do a chemical flush on mine, even after they admitted refilling the system with the wrong VC-5 coolant in.  As I reported before, they told me not to do a real flush "...because some old engines have had some hick ups after that..."  I also asked them what "treatment" then they will do/did and they also refused to tell me...  All I got was the invoice for the use of three gallons of factory-diluted VC-DL13-G free of charge, that's it.

 

Now, even though this appears to be a "local" issue, I just want to share my "investigation" with you all, and I encourage you to share your opinions or conclusions, whatever you think it happened, feel free to comment, please.

To help you interpret the below results correctly: the blueish optical field represents water content; the whitish optical field represents non-water content (coolant as ethylene glycol in these cases); the horizontal line dividing the two optical fields is the actual reading (result):

1.- Picture # 1 shows the water content of a sample of just pure water (pun intended).  This sample is important for checking the instrument calibration before you take any further samples.  It must read 0 (0%).  The first number is the sample freezing point in degrees Celsius.  The second number (between brackets) is the percentage of coolant (ethylene glycol %) in the sample.

2.- Picture # 2 shows the water content and percentage of the wrong VC-5 coolant "mixture" the dealer put in the system.  I'd really like you all to pay close attention and analyze this picture: I took this sample just before I drove the car back to the dealer (yap, like forensic science, my favorite TV genre ).  Please keep in mind that when the dealer put the wrong VC-5 coolant in I got invoiced for only one (1) gallon of concentrated VC-5 (plus labor and taxes).  The dealer told me they diluted it with tap water 50/50 and the invoice also shows they checked the mixture good for up to -40 degrees (Celsius).

3.- Picture # 3 shows the water content and percentage of the 50/50 factory-diluted VC-DL13-G coolant.  I took this sample right after they replaced the wrong coolant and I drove the car back home.

4.- Picture # 4 shows the water content and percentage of the concentrated VC-13-G.  I went back to the dealer a few days after and bought a gallon of concentrated VC-13-G, just to complete my "investigation"

 

I'll never forget the phrase the service person told me to make me aware that the new coolant color is similar to the wrong coolant color: "... because I know you're going to look under the hood..."

 

Consumers BE AWARE: please look under the hood

 

Thank you.

 

Picture # 1 - pure water

 

Picture # 2 - wrong VC-5 coolant dealer-diluted w/ tap water 50/50 (?):

 

Picture # 3 - correct VC-DL13-G coolant factory-diluted w/ distilled water 50/50 (!):

 

Picture # 4 - concentrated VC-13-G coolant:

Edited February 8, 2021 by Edgingage
Wording clarification