Question about which coolant to use...

[Brandaloo]

Hello, first time poster here.

I bought some coolant for my 2003 Ford Expedition 4X4 XLT 5.4L.

I brought in the manual to the auto parts store and had the page tagged about the type of coolant that can and can't be used in my vehicle. He took a very quick glance at it and the grabbed me a bottle.

After I got home I started to worry that it was the kind that is specifically stated not to be used in my expedition.

Attached is the manual, the front of the bottle of the coolant and the back label of the coolant that i got.


To start, I am in the US so i'm going to leave out the canadian parts of the manual.

The wording under the Do not use section is a little confusing to me.

It says not to mix an orange colored (the color of the coolant I bought is orange) Extended life (mine is NOT extended) such as Motor Crat Specialty orange coolant, VC-2 (mine says VC-3) meeting ford specification WSS-M97B44-D (the back of the coolant bottle I have matches this number and says for use in Ford meeting Ford Specification WSS-M97B44-D or WSS-M97B44-D2.

The confusing part to me is that I'm not sure if it's telling me I can or can not use WSS-M97B44-D.

The manual says it's ok to use Motorcraft premium engine coolant (green colored) VC-4-A OR Motorcraft Premium Gold Engine Colloant VC-7-A (My bottle says VC-3DIL-B).


Can someone please help me decifer this and tell me if the kind of coolant I have is OK to use in my expedition?

Thank you for any and all input.

 

[Adieu]

You need to backflush if you use any color other than what's in there

Since what's in there is likely crap after all these years, you need to backflush it anyway

AFTER said backflush, use motorcraft Gold. Not premix either, because a backflush will leave a significant quantity of water in your cooling system.

Do NOT use the one you got, at all


PS the add gold to gold, green to green thing pertains to newish, well-maintained vehicles and topping off.... with an old vehicle where you don't even know what the heck is in there, you need to flush it and replace it all.

 

[Brandaloo]

You need to backflush if you use any color other than what's in there

Since what's in there is likely crap after all these years, you need to backflush it anyway

AFTER said backflush, use motorcraft Gold. Not premix either, because a backflush will leave a significant quantity of water in your cooling system.

Do NOT use the one you got, at all


PS the add gold to gold, green to green thing pertains to newish, well-maintained vehicles and topping off.... with an old vehicle where you don't even know what the heck is in there, you need to flush it and replace it all.

Thank you for the info. I'll have to check what is already in there. I bought the car less than a year ago so it's possible that the previous owner already did a flush and replacement so it's not certain that what's in there now is the same thing that was put in it when the vehicle was put together back in 2003.

 

[Brandaloo]

The coolant that is currently in my expedition is green. Does that change anything?

 

[JExpedition07]

The coolant that is currently in my expedition is green. Does that change anything?

Yes, do not use orange coolant in that vehicle. Green isn’t acid based like the orange and your system isn’t compatible with orange. You can use green or flush it out and use gold.