Ford Green vs. Ford Gold

[Junior]

Ok this question may have been asked before but I couldn't find the answer. I have a 1998 F-150 which originally came with Ford green coolant. I have changed the coolant with the Ford green coolant about every 3 years. Haven't had any cooling system problems.

I'm going to be changing the thermostate one of these days and though maybe I would switch to the Ford Gold coolant which is G-05. I did a little researching and found that Ford does not recommend the gold coolant in pre-1999 vehicles. I'm wondering why and what the risks would be to change and would I be gaining anything if I did?

 

[JasonC]

my guess is that it would eat away at the gaskets that it comes in contact with.

 

[JustinH]

We put the gold coolant in two cars that we swapped the motors out of.

No problems at all.

Make sure you flush out all the old stuff, until you get it pure clean water, then refill.

Ford just doesn't want someone dumping gold in with the green.

 

[Rolf]

Originally Posted By: Junior
I did a little researching and found that Ford does not recommend the gold coolant in pre-1999 vehicles.


The new Gold G-05 is the same product that Mercedes has used for many years.

It is a low-silicate HOAT that should last 5 years or 100,000 miles according to Zerex.

If you do a thorough flush (I recommend distilled water) two or three times to get all of the old green out, it should work fine.

Ford and other manufacturers generally don't recommend doing this because normally the system is not properly flushed, and the old green and the new G-05 do not play well together.

Given the Zerex green lasts almost as long, the only advantage I can see doing this would be if you have multiple vehicles and want one coolant you can use in all of them.

G-05 makes a fairly good all-makes replacement coolant.

 

[doitmyself]

Quote:
Ford and other manufacturers generally don't recommend doing this because normally the system is not properly flushed, and the old green and the new G-05 do not play well together.



Rolf, I'm going to challenge your statement just a bit because it contradicts what the Ford site says.

Besides Mercedes, I "think" that John Deere has also been using G05 for the past 20 years or so, which supports your logic that G05 has been doing an excellent job for many years.

However, at the bottom of the Motorcraft chart that you posted in a recent thread:

http://www.fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.com/supplier/quickref/scuc.pdf

Ford DOES recommend switching from original green to G05 in '99 to 2002 vehicles that originally had green.

But, item 3 states ALL pre-1999 vehicles must be serviced with green.

This still leads me to think that they are concerned about possible issues with G05 in older vehicles. Why else would they not back-recommend it further?

 

[rumple]

There are some possible issues I vaguely remember reading about with the use of OAT and HOAT coolants with copper radiators with lead based solder. For cars with these radiators I would stick with IAT green coolant.

The only advantage of G-05 and other HOAT and OAT coolants over the older IAT coolants is longer service life. If you drain and fill every other year or so with IAT green, no reason to switch.

I have a 2002 V6 Ford Explorer that came from the factory with IAT green coolant. Ford switched over to HOAT yellow for the 2003 model year and possible for some later 2002 Explorers. I have continued to use IAT green coolant because it's a pain getting all the old green out and as I don't mind draining/refilling every other year so there is no advantage of the HOAT G-05 yellow for my Explorer.

Rumple

 

[Junior]

Thanks, I'll stick with the green since I has provided good service this long.

 

[Big Jim]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Quote:
Ford and other manufacturers generally don't recommend doing this because normally the system is not properly flushed, and the old green and the new G-05 do not play well together.



Rolf, I'm going to challenge your statement just a bit because it contradicts what the Ford site says.

Besides Mercedes, I "think" that John Deere has also been using G05 for the past 20 years or so, which supports your logic that G05 has been doing an excellent job for many years.

However, at the bottom of the Motorcraft chart that you posted in a recent thread:

http://www.fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.com/supplier/quickref/scuc.pdf

Ford DOES recommend switching from original green to G05 in '99 to 2002 vehicles that originally had green.

But, item 3 states ALL pre-1999 vehicles must be serviced with green.

This still leads me to think that they are concerned about possible issues with G05 in older vehicles. Why else would they not back-recommend it further?






I suspect that the cut off date had more to do with Ford's willingness to do validation for older cars than that.

I run G05 in my 98 Contour with no problems. The cooling system is identical to the 99 and 00 models.

 

[onion]

I'd go with G05. Problem with traditional green is that it's nearly impossible to find these days.

 

[rumple]

That's a good point. When I can't find the green anymore I'll switch over to yellow G-05.

Rumple

Originally Posted By: onion
I'd go with G05. Problem with traditional green is that it's nearly impossible to find these days.

 

[Rolf]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Rolf, I'm going to challenge your statement just a bit because it contradicts what the Ford site says. .....

This still leads me to think that they are concerned about possible issues with G05 in older vehicles. Why else would they not back-recommend it further?


Because the older cars used a high silicate green coolant.

In order to flush that out properly you need distilled water, the heater on, and at least a triple flush.

The odds of that being done are next to zero.

Result: a mess and coolant failure.

I would generally not recommend G-05 in those applications for the same reason - *unless* you're a perfectionist and are willing to really get the old gunk out of there.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Rolf
Because the older cars used a high silicate green coolant.

In order to flush that out properly you need distilled water, the heater on, and at least a triple flush.

The odds of that being done are next to zero.

Result: a mess and coolant failure.

I would generally not recommend G-05 in those applications for the same reason - *unless* you're a perfectionist and are willing to really get the old gunk out of there.




Why do you need distilled water to properly flush the green coolant? If you don't have hard water in your area I'd imagine regular tap water is fine (or water that went pass a home use reverse osmosis filter).

 

[Big Jim]

I've never used distilled water in a cooling system. Unless your drinking water is really crummy it is more than acceptable.

 

[Rolf]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Why do you need distilled water to properly flush the green coolant? If you don't have hard water in your area I'd imagine regular tap water is fine (or water that went pass a home use reverse osmosis filter).


The average Joe has no idea what is in his tap water.

How does chlorine sound as something you might add to your coolant?

Or fluoride?

Both are in nearly every water supply in the US.

The safe thing to do is to eliminate all the additives, chemicals, and what not from the coolant.

You accomplish this by first draining the system, then filling it with distilled water, than with the heater on running it to operating temperature. Drain and repeat. Drain and repeat.

At that point you should have: clear water, few contaminants, and as much crud out of the system as you can get with water.

I add enough coolant to make a 60/40 coolant/water solution, top it off with distilled water, and then run it until quite hot and let it cool off, topping it off with a 60/40 coolant/distilled water mix.

Distilled water has basically nothing in it - no chlorine, no calcium, iron, or fluoride.

 

[beanoil]

In my 99 F250, I did the switch from green to G-05. I removed a heater hose from the stub at the firewall and inserted a tee and a short length of hose. I flushed with the engine and heater running from the garden hose, removed the tee, replaced the hose on the stub, drained, refilled with RO water, ran until hot, drained, and added G-05 and RO. This was a little over a year ago. the coolant is still yellow gold, and hasn't lost a drop. I'm sure there was a percentage of tap left in the system, but not much. I think G-05 is a fine substitute for nearly any application. I will have no issues putting it in my wifes Envoy in the spring to replace the Dexcool in it.

 

[bdcardinal]

beanoil is it a 7.3 or a mod motor?

 

[aaxb970]

I just drained the Gold out of my Focus and replaced it with Prestone 250,000KM Green...seems fine...but I did notice on the filler cap that it shows gold or green...but no red (which I assume is Dexcool.

 

[Lost Pup]

I changed over my 2002 F150 from the Ford Green to G-05. The change was done in concert with a bypass filter install.

Original Install Thread

First Coolant Bypass Filter Change

I installed a tee into the heater core and flushed tap water through the entire system quite a few times. Emptied the radiator by pulling the bottom hose off and refilled the entire system with just distilled water. Cycled and flushed just the distilled water approx. 3 times before topping the radiator up with my 50-50 G-05 mix.

The bypass filter was in operation almost a year untouched before the filter was changed. You can see the results for yourself in the second set of photos.