What coolant should I use in my iron block Ford ranger

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Thanks for the input. I think i am going to stick with green coolant.
 
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.


PQIA analysis of the yellow bottle Prestone Cor-Guard showed phosphate which means it isn't a dex-cool clone anymore. It does still have 2-Ethylhexanoic acid in it, but I'm not convinced this stuff is evil. GM's intake manifold gaskets from the time Dex-Cool was introduced are another story. I think Dex-Cool isn't a bad chemistry, but it did get caught up in some of GM's quality issues in the mid-90's.

There are plenty of vehicles with unpressurized reservoirs with perfectly clean cooling systems on Dex-Cool. The red sludge issue is often from rust formation when iron block engines are run low on coolant. The surfaces inside the engine that aren't left in contact with the coolant develop rust. Silicates in conventional green create fast acting corrosion protection and that protection builds up very quickly, making under-filled systems less likely to experience corrosion. Phosphates serve a similar role. OAT chemistries have neither of these and it takes longer for the corrosion protection to build up, which makes it even more important for the surfaces inside the engine to always be filled with coolant. The overflow bottle is not where the issue occurs.

Asian and European manufacturers prefer a HOAT technology with silicates or phosphates to provide a balance of long life (OAT) and fast acting corrosion protection (IAT - silicates or phosphates). So the yellow bottle Prestone will provide both of these benefits. Of course, conventional green is still sold by Zerex and Peak, as well as some private labels. It worked fine for decades as long as it was changed on schedule.
 
Originally Posted by joegreen
I have a 98 Ford ranger with the 3 liter engine. 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?...
Walmart AF is as noted a Dexclone, ie, an OAT AF containing 2eha found in DexCool. As for the newer Prestone AF, even though it's been noted to now contain phosphate which is also found in Asian PHoat AF, it still contains 2eha found in Dex. So because of that, I'll call it a modified Dexclone.

Also I have lost some trust in the Prestone brand since they introduced two Prestone AF premix in half gallon jugs, one labeled for Toyota, one for Honda. Both use 2eha as inhibitor which no Asian vehicle AF contains, uses or recommends. I would not use it, or advise anyone to use it in an Asian vehicle. Not to mention there are true (no 2eha) Asian PHoat premixes like WM Valvoline Asian Vehicle, ZAF readily available for the same or less money.

To the topic, Ford still specs Conventional/Original Green for the topic vehicle. For whatever reason(s) they didn't back spec any of their current AFs including the Dex Orange they now use. So, I'd just continue to use a Conventional Green. It can still be found in a concentrate for a reasonable price
 
Since you're doing a citric acid flush, go with G-05. While I'm leery of 2-EHA, Mercedes back-speced G-48 for all their G-05 applications and Prestone Cor-Guard seems to be more than just 2-EHA these days. You can in theory use those.

Good old green is an option but needs more care.
 
I have an all-iron engine Ford Capri and i've switched it over to VW G12++ Silicated OAT.
After much research i found it is an excellent universal coolant.
Lasts 5 years, gives better protection to Alu and solder than Non-silicate coolants and has no 2-EHA.
 
update. I stopped by advance auto to get my alternator tested today and i wanted to look at some coolant prices. They had there store brand conventional green for 14.99 a gallon which i thought was to much money. They did have peak fleetcharge on sale for $8 something. I use this coolant in my 84 Mercedes diesel so i thought to my self this must be very similar to conventional green just with the sca added. I read the bottle and the ingredients looked very similar to conventional green. When i got home i compared the sds for both the peak conventional green and the fleetcharge and the sds were the same for the ingredients and the amounts. I bought three gallons so this is what i will be using.
 
I use WalMart SuperTech coolant in everything I own. No problems. I used to buy the concentrate and mix with distilled water. I'm old and lazy now so I buy the pre-mix. My Ranger came with the Ford long life coolant but it's been running fine with the SuperTech. I used to change my coolant(s) every 3 years. Now I use test strips (recommend them to anyone) and have found the Supertech can go the 150k miles or 5 years it says on the bottle. It's green but not the old green stuff from years past.
 
I've been using the yellow bottle Prestone for decades now, 100% troublefree. Not once has there been a issue of any sort. No corrosion, no failed water pumps, no clogged radiators, no failed turbochargers, or leaking radiators.

My F150's get it as does my Jag.
 
I suggest sticking with the regular green coolant, it has served you well so far. Long-life versions of the green are available, good for 5 years or 150,000 miles although I'd never push them that far. 3-4 years or 75k is about my limit on the long life stuff. Lately I have been using Peak long life, it is good.
 
I certainly would not use a Dexclone like modt of the Long life or universal all makes and models coolants if you have a system with lead solder, as they usually contain 2-Eha which is known to be very agressive towards solder.

I wouldn't use a 2-Eha containing coolant in any engine for that matter....
 
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