I wanted some reassurance from the brain trust here. 2017 3.5 TT with 90K. Came from factory with orange coolant. Unfortunately I've been trying to locate a nagging intermittent leak. My local shop found the problem which is the thermostat housing assembly.

Obviously the majority of the coolant will drain during the repair. I say to refill with the same product. The shop says theirs is interchangeable with my coolant. Am I just **** about this or didn't I read here that switching brands isn't recommended?

Any input welcome.

Thanks

 

Refill with the same stuff. You can refill with different coolant, but you will need to do a full flush.

 

Original factory fill was an orange color. Any coolant approved to Ford specification WSS-M97B44-D or WSS-M97B44-D2 will work. There are lots of aftermarket brands that meet the spec.

Now, there has been some issues with the orange coolant causing some heater cores to plug up and there are several TSBs regarding this. The TSBs recommend refilling with yellow-colored engine coolant approved to Ford specification WSS-M97B51-A1. I would do a complete flush of the orange before switching to yellow (aka: gold).

I've not had any issues and still run orange in my truck.

 

Agree with both of the above. I also have heard of the TSB on the heater core, and one of these days I'm going to flush & refill with yellow.

 

Motorcraft coolant application guide:


https://www.fcsdchemicalsandlubrican...coolantsEN.pdf

 

Thanks for everyone's input. Do you have access to the TSB for the heater cores? I'm thinking switching might be the best option. I'm referring to using the gold you mentioned.

 

https://www.f150forum.com/f118/winte...p-task-459104/

 

Yes and take note carefully reading the above application guide.
The old Motorcraft Gold is NOT the new yellow specification.

 

Thanks for sharing this.

 

I hope you realize that the color of an anti-freeze does NOT determine its chemistry...