2011 3.5 five years old 80K. (Great vehicle).

Should my engine coolant be changed now or wait another year?

(Yes I read the manual. Real world experience/opinion means more to me).

Thanks!

 

Well if you are dealing with a truck that is in warranty, then you should have that done according to what Ford recommends, to not jeopardize a future claim.


AT 5/80K, its a cheap DIY project. I say do it.

 

I would recommend you change the transmission fluid now, wait a year or ten thousand miles then have the coolant changed. My 2011, 5.0 is at 80K and that is exactly what I am planning to do. I figure trans fluid is under a heavier duty/wear cycle than coolant. Both of these are recommended for change at 100k. I like to be a little out front of recommended service

 

Pretty sure this was about coolant and not the trans..Not sure what the trans had to do with the coolant...

Ford can not deny warranty for changing fluids more then required. (at least not in the US) I would look at the condition of your fluid and make that determination. When it doubt, change it out. I rather change my fluid than my radiator.

 

My point is that it might be money better spent to change the trans fluid before coolant if you are interested in servicing out front of the 100K recommended intervals. If you have the bucks and like to service your truck like that, do both. Not that hard to understand.

 

Too late to consider spending coolant change money on tranny oil....did a full flush at 60K (I tow regularly).

Decided to go ahead and replace coolant now and insure corrosion protection level is well maintained. Extending to 100k doesn't save that much money.

 

There is an easy way to determine if the coolant is still good or not at any mileage.

Get a DVOM, put the meter on the dcv scale for 12v and place the positive lead into the degas bottle, place the negative lead to the negative lead of the battery or engine block, if the coolant has broken down it will take on electrolyte properties and conduct voltage, if the meter reads more than 1 volt it's time to change it. Otherwise leave it be.


EDIT: I was taught this 30+ years ago with that era technology in place, from what I understand now anything above .7v is the limit.
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Using this method my coolant reads just 70 mV, 10x less than a .7v limit. Thanks this is exactly the information I was missing!

 

This is a trick I was taught too but with all of the different coolants on the market these days with widely varying pH levels and compositions, some of which truly cannot be mixed at all, and others where the aftermarket says it's ok while OEMs still advise that you don't I often find myself wondering if this test is accurate for all the coolants out there.

I'm sure someone more educated on the matter could tell me which coolants this test doesn't apply to if any, but as for myself I've switched to pH strip testing and making sure the recorded value falls inline with the pH listed on the coolant MSDS just to cover my bases; if the MSDS for a particular coolant lists a pH of 7-8 and the strip reads a pH of 6 it's pretty cut and dry.

 

Back when I learned that method, mismatched metals for an engine was almost unheard of, with the advent of aluminum heads/iron engine blocks etc.... I'm really not sure if even a ph test/specific gravity would give a definitive answer, need a chemist/metallurgist to join the forum. lol.
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