What coolant should I use in my iron block Ford ranger

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I have a 98 Ford ranger with the 3 liter engine. The original radiator side tank cracked so I bought another radiator. I am going to do a citric acid flush on the system before I put the new radiator in. I am looking for a cheap reliable coolant to use. It has always had conventional green. I see Walmart has all makes coolant for 9.88, is that ok to use? I'm not up on coolant's and I know there are oat and hoat and many others. I am just looking for something cheap that will offer good protection and not eat my gaskets like those early gm cars with the v6.
 
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I use this in my two Ford 3 liter engines. No problems.



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That product is a dex-cool clone. 99% of the time it would be ok to switch if all the old coolant was removed. However, your truck is old enough that it doesn't have a now mandatory pressurized overflow reservoir. When air and dex-cool mix, bad things can happen. For cheap and effective use the old school green. For long life use motorcraft gold or G-05.
 
Originally Posted by Jethro_Bob
That product is a dex-cool clone. 99% of the time it would be ok to switch if all the old coolant was removed. However, your truck is old enough that it doesn't have a now mandatory pressurized overflow reservoir. When air and dex-cool mix, bad things can happen. For cheap and effective use the old school green. For long life use motorcraft gold or G-05.


Here is the Dex-Cool Clone. Prestone with Core-Guard will be fine.
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I always used conventional green(w/distilled water) in my 97 Ranger ( Peak, Prestone and Zerex) and changed it every 5 years..I never had a problem during the 16 years I owned it. Makes sense to use what has gotten you to this point. No need for anything else.
 
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Originally Posted by Jethro_Bob
When air and dex-cool mix, bad things can happen.


Fake news. Dexcool is the factory fill for GM and Ford vehicles.
 
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DEXCOOL will be fine as mentioned above, as will any of the universals. I just picked up a few jugs of Peak Long Life at Target, where the concentrate is currently on sale for $10.99...add the $5/jug rebate and it is far less than others.
 
Stay with what you have been using. Ethylene Glycol. Peak brand Green original or equivalent.
 
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Walmart all makes. That's what I used in my Taurus with the 3.0. I back flushed the heater core and then added 50/50 all makes Walmart. Zero problems.
 
NAPA sales the old style conventional green which I have used in my 96 Taurus and I think your other choice would be the Motorcraft Gold or Zerex G-05 . My question is since you are going to install an all new radiator then what is the purpose of the citric acid flush ?
 
I used OAT based coolant just fine when I owned a Ranger with the 3.0. Store brand or prestone with distilled water.
 
Originally Posted by dlundblad
Originally Posted by Jethro_Bob
When air and dex-cool mix, bad things can happen.


Fake news. Dexcool is the factory fill for GM and Ford vehicles.

It's fine with a pressured bottle. Not with a raditor cap on the radiator and a vented overflow bottle.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Originally Posted by dlundblad
Originally Posted by Jethro_Bob
When air and dex-cool mix, bad things can happen.


Fake news. Dexcool is the factory fill for GM and Ford vehicles.

It's fine with a pressured bottle. Not with a raditor cap on the radiator and a vented overflow bottle.

My buick is set up like this with just an overflow. It's 12 years old with a very clean system.
 
As long as you don't have the "quality" GM plastic radiator cap nor nylon intake manifold gaskets... Seriously, original green or GO-5 would both work just fine in it. Yellow Prestone isn't going to kill it either, I wouldn't put Dex in it, though, it's too hard to get all the green out. Might end up with a plugged heater core or gunk somewhere else.
 
Originally Posted by mctmatt
NAPA sales the old style conventional green which I have used in my 96 Taurus and I think your other choice would be the Motorcraft Gold or Zerex G-05 . My question is since you are going to install an all new radiator then what is the purpose of the citric acid flush ?

The citric acid flush will still clean out the engine, heater core, and other various piping in the system.
 
If I had to choose one, either the conventional green or the Prestone with cor-guard. The Prestone formulation has phosphates in it for immediate protection of iron.

Conventional green was getting hard to come by around here at a reasonable price until Rural King opened. Rural King sells Duron brand conventional green that is made by Peak at a reasonable price. Almost the same part numbers as Peak, and the rebates are Peak too.

PQIA Prestone test.
 
Originally Posted by joegreen
Originally Posted by mctmatt
NAPA sales the old style conventional green which I have used in my 96 Taurus and I think your other choice would be the Motorcraft Gold or Zerex G-05 . My question is since you are going to install an all new radiator then what is the purpose of the citric acid flush ?

The citric acid flush will still clean out the engine, heater core, and other various piping in the system.


That is good to know Joe as I wasn't even thinking about the other parts that need to be flushed.
 
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