Opinions on Motorcraft Orange vs Yellow

[ssamaroo01]

Hey guys. I have 3 Fords that came with Motorcraft Orange FF. On the Fusion and Escape, coolant has been changed multiple times over the course of their lives but have always been filled with Motorcraft Orange. Ford discontinued Orange and superseded it with Yellow around 2019. I have about 5 gallons left in my stock.

I have drained and filled the coolant on the Explorer with Motorcraft Yellow twice this year. With the issues of an internal water pump, to me, it seems more critical to replace the coolant in that one to Yellow sooner rather than later. I’m not sure if the coolant even makes a difference, especially after running Orange for 4 years.

So my question is, should I be doing the same for my other two cars or should I just use up my stock and then move on to Yellow? The other 2 are older, 2015 and 2012, and neither has never leaked coolant. I’m pretty sure most will say use up my stock and move on, but I just want to see what everyone’s take on this is.

 

[dnewton3]

The "orange" isn't a bad coolant in any manner.
It's still available from many other sources (Peak, Zerex, and my fav is ST, etc).
I'd just keep doing those with the orange.

I'm not convinced that the "yellow" is going to stop the water pump issue in the Cyclone engines. It certainly can't hurt to change it over, but there's no documented test/study proof that doing so actually extends the 3.5L/3.7L pump lifespan.

 

[thastinger]

I also have 3 Fords that came with Orange, they have all been switched over to Genuine Yellow or Zerex Z05.

 

[AJB0009]

A good, thorough explanation of the Ford coolants. I switched my 2012 Fusion from the factory fill Specialty Dark Green to the new yellow after watching this video.

 

[AJB0009]

Hey guys. I have 3 Fords that came with Motorcraft Orange FF. On the Fusion and Escape, coolant has been changed multiple times over the course of their lives but have always been filled with Motorcraft Orange. Ford discontinued Orange and superseded it with Yellow around 2019. I have about 5 gallons left in my stock.

I have drained and filled the coolant on the Explorer with Motorcraft Yellow twice this year. With the issues of an internal water pump, to me, it seems more critical to replace the coolant in that one to Yellow sooner rather than later. I’m not sure if the coolant even makes a difference, especially after running Orange for 4 years.

So my question is, should I be doing the same for my other two cars or should I just use up my stock and then move on to Yellow? The other 2 are older, 2015 and 2012, and neither has never leaked coolant. I’m pretty sure most will say use up my stock and move on, but I just want to see what everyone’s take on this is.

How old is your stash? Is there a shelf life?

 

[tmorris1]

I also have 3 Fords that came with Orange, they have all been switched over to Genuine Yellow or Zerex Z05.

ZO5 is different than the Orange (DexCool). Yellow and Orange are compatible and can be mixed. Ford just says that you won't get the full benefit of the long life Yellow if they are mixed.

 

[pbm]

From what I've read the Ford Orange is basically Dexcool....the newer Ford Yellow (not older GO-5) is similar to Orange but has Phosphate added. It's pretty much the new 300K Prestone coolant.
I'd say the added phosphate is a benefit but I'd use up the Orange stuff before I'd switch over.

 

[thastinger]

ZO5 is different than the Orange (DexCool). Yellow and Orange are compatible and can be mixed. Ford just says that you won't get the full benefit of the long life Yellow if they are mixed.

Yeah my mistake, Z05 is the MC "Gold", which is what my 98F150 came with and why it has Z05 now, the other 2 came with Orange and now have Yellow.

 

[bullwinkle]

Orange is basically Dexcool, I used them interchangeably with Yellow interchangeably in the company 3.7 Transits with no ill effects. Gold/G-05, I keep by itself, seen too many messes with green & Dex mixed, although the Yellow/Prestone likely would be OK.

 

[ssamaroo01]

How old is your stash? Is there a shelf life?

I think i bought a 6 pack from RA in 2019. Idk about the shelf life of coolant, although i’m sure that its probably close to the end of it by now.

 

[mr_boring]

Orange is dexcool, used to say so on the bottle. Yellow is Zerex something or other, or is chemically close enough to Zerex something or other to call it the same. Before Ford 'invented' Yellow, the official Ford line was to use G05 in certain applications. Transit vans if I recall correctly. Was eating up cores like it was 1998. Which is to say, it affected a few but was a real enough problem for Ford to address.

I thought it was G05 zerex but I may be wrong.


EDIT - Prestone Cor-guard, not a Zerex at all.