2018 Ford F150 3.3L NA Coolant swap from orange to yellow.

[Fordiesel69]

Im considering a purchase on a 2018 Ford F150 and it comes with orange coolant. Ford has no more old stock of their orange left over, and I am aware I can buy valvoline or zerex branded orange deathcool and use that instead. What I want to know specifically is because there is no way to drain the entire engine block, can I switch over to the yellow ford coolant with the cor guard?

I will not flush a system that has 140k on it, I just want to do a dump and fill. Will the little bit left in the engine hurt anything?

 

[cb_13]

Yes. I’ve don’t exactly that on multiple Fords. The remaining coolant from not flushing is a non issue.

 

[b_b]

it doesn't matter that it has 140k on it. pull the thermostat, drain radiator fill with new coolant (pre mix or distilled water only), run for a min or two and repeat until coolant is nearly the same color as the new yellow coolant. done.

 

[tmorris1]

Ford says Orange and Yellow are compatible. Yellow is the new preferred.

 

[nwjones18]

Prestone 10yr/300k is waiting for you at Walmart.. Curious as to why you don't want to do a full flush? You should be fine regardless.

Ford yellow coolant

I accidentally came across this observation when I purchased some Prestone Dexcool for my 2008 Chev Suburban. On the back of the jug, it showed a chart of the years that Prestone recommended their Dexcool for GM, Chrysler and Ford products. In 2018 Ford switched to their yellow coolant and now...

bobistheoilguy.com

 

[dnewton3]

There's nothing wrong with the orange HOAT, if you have a well-functioning cooling system and change the fluid at reasonable intervals.
Plus, even WM has their ST brand offering the generic orange coolant; so it's inexpensive and easy to find for most folks.

Because you're not going to flush, why not do a a few drain/fill cycles with the orange from the ST brand?

 

[MNgopher]

The new Ford yellow is the replacement for the orange and is fully compatible for use in systems that currently have the orange in it.

No issues with a dump and fill, that's what I've done on my 2016 F150. Nice only keeping the yellow on hand now as it was what my 21 Explorer came from the factory with, and works in my 2016 and 2017 ford products.

 

[Donald]

Im considering a purchase on a 2018 Ford F150 and it comes with orange coolant. Ford has no more old stock of their orange left over, and I am aware I can buy valvoline or zerex branded orange deathcool and use that instead. What I want to know specifically is because there is no way to drain the entire engine block, can I switch over to the yellow ford coolant with the cor guard?

I will not flush a system that has 140k on it, I just want to do a dump and fill. Will the little bit left in the engine hurt anything?

Why is there no way to drain? No block drains?

 

[wtd]

I just did this on my fiancé's 2017 F150 with the 5.0. I did not do a full flush. I drained the original orange coolant out and refilled with distilled water and ran the truck until it warmed up and then let it cool down. I drained it again and refilled with distilled water again and did the warm up and cool down procedure again. I then refilled with the full concentrate of Motorcraft yellow and that was it. I did have to add some more after it cooled down. I used a Robinair refractometer to check the concentration and it was good. Her truck only has about 50,000 miles on it but it's six years old.

 

[nate379]

Ford says Orange and Yellow are compatible. Yellow is the new preferred.

Yup.

FMC VC-3 and VC-13

 

[Fordiesel69]

On vehicles that I have greatly disrupted the coolant on, the heater fails shortly after. Since I have transitioned to just drain and refill I have never had issues. Not to get into it, but I think my local area has low quality distilled or deionized waters available.

I just waste my money on the premixed even though the full concentrate is a better value.