[MoneyPit1946]

There has been so much discussion about coolant, blown head gaskets and destroyed engines, I'd like present day opinion on what coolant I should be using now? I have the reddish/orange coolant (factory installed) now and I'm wondering if I should replace it in the hopes of avoiding engine damage? I only have 40K kms on it but it's mostly used for short trips. What would you do in my circumstances? Thanks: Dave

 

[KY.BORN]

There has been so much discussion about coolant, blown head gaskets and destroyed engines, I'd like present day opinion on what coolant I should be using now? I have the reddish/orange coolant (factory installed) now and I'm wondering if I should replace it in the hopes of avoiding engine damage? I only have 40K kms on it but it's mostly used for short trips. What would you do in my circumstances? Thanks: Dave

Well Ford dropped the Orange coolant this last summer for their Yellow..I replaced mine months ago with the Yellow coolant...So far no problems,, biggest problem was getting to the drain cock and flushing it all out using only distilled water...

 

[jpohlman]

The coolant isn't the issue (even in the "Death Cool" days of GM it was a bad UIM gasket design), it's an engine design problem with the EB engines.

On the 2013-2015s, the 1.6L was basically overloaded (it's full bore HP was just about equal to the non-EB 2.5L) and it's major recall was a 90 piece add on kit that added cooling valves, new hoses, new coolant tank and required two (2) of the active grill shutters to be cut out. In contrast to this, both the 2.5L and 2.0L EB which were from the DuraTech family (developed with Mazda) are pretty much trouble free.

The L4 1.5L was derived from the same family (Sigma) as the 1.6L it replaced and the "new" 2.0L (late 2016 on which was a clean sheet design) have issues due to the way the coolant passages in the deck were designed. New design blocks have the coolant passages drilled as opposed to a cast slot between cylinders.

Ford's "new" coolant is VC13 which can be used with or in place of VC3 (orange) & VC10 (bright yellow).

 

[MoneyPit1946]

You know, sometimes too much information is worse than none at all lol. I called my dealer's service manager and he said he has not received any service bulletins from Ford about Orange vs Yellow engine coolant. He did say that the ones their shop are changing, they are putting Yellow in not Orange. He said if it were him in my situation, he'd leave the Orange in until a change/flush is required and then switch to Yellow. He feels that the coolant has no bearing on head gasket failure. SMH

 

[KY.BORN]

You know, sometimes too much information is worse than none at all lol. I called my dealer's service manager and he said he has not received any service bulletins from Ford about Orange vs Yellow engine coolant. He did say that the ones their shop are changing, they are putting Yellow in not Orange. He said if it were him in my situation, he'd leave the Orange in until a change/flush is required and then switch to Yellow. He feels that the coolant has no bearing on head gasket failure. SMH

Well what did he say as to why it happens if the coolant has nothing to do with it? Had to give you a reason...

 

[MoneyPit1946]

Well what did he say as to why it happens if the coolant has nothing to do with it? Had to give you a reason...

He said it was a bad bunch of head gaskets. Don't worry about it.
It's answers like that that worry the heck outta me lol

 

[jpohlman]

Check the You Tube videos that show the long blocks.
The problem is in basically every 4 cylinder version of Ecoboost that came out of the redesign in 2015 and also affects the 2.7L in the Fusion sport.
You'll notice that the 2.5L non-EB and the original 2.0L EB that were derived from the Mazda/Ford Duratec family are not know for having this issue and both use VC3 orange coolant.

As far as bad head gaskets, the problem spans multiple years al the way up to the 2019s,
so that is doubtful at best

 

[STRAUSJE]

There has been so much discussion about coolant, blown head gaskets and destroyed engines, I'd like present day opinion on what coolant I should be using now? I have the reddish/orange coolant (factory installed) now and I'm wondering if I should replace it in the hopes of avoiding engine damage? I only have 40K kms on it but it's mostly used for short trips. What would you do in my circumstances? Thanks: Dave

Here is the guide from Ford on what to use. Hope this answers your question.

 

[MoneyPit1946]

YES! Thank you for this valuable information.

 

[BobP]

@STRAUSJE
Thanks for the latest guide from Ford. From the guide my 2014 can use either the yellow or orange Motorcraft antifreeze/coolant. Currently it has the orange. My manual says "Initial replacement at six years or 100000 miles (160000 kilometers), then every three years or 50000 miles (80000 kilometers)." Counting from manufacture date, 9/2013, my Escape is a bit overdue, but has only 70,000 miles on it. I'll do a complete flush this spring and fill it with Peak or Prestone antifreeze/coolant and tap water. Yeah, I know it's suggested to use distilled or deionized water but our tap water comes from reservoirs and is naturally soft. I have to add calcium chloride to our hot tub water when I fill it to bring up the hardness to 250 ppm. My test strips show the hardness as 0 ppm, pH 6.8.