Coolant Questions

[KyRangerGirl]

I need to put coolant in my 04 ranger, 4.0 4x4, but want to use the right kind. I've seen people say use the gold motorcraft type and others say green because it says recommended for fords on the jug. But I've seen people say green should only be used in older rangers. Any advice?

 

[RonD]

I think in, or around, 2001 Ford switched Rangers over to Motorcraft "Premium Gold" antifreeze.
Zerex G-05 is the same if you can't get the Gold
But watch the pricing and content.........Gold is usually sold as concentrate, so you add 50% water to it(using distilled water water is best)
Zerex G-05 is usually pre-mixed at 50/50
If you are just buying "top up" to have around then the pre-mix would be less expensive in most cases.

Unfortunately coolant isn't color coded, there is no industry standard.

Premium Gold is a HOAT(hybrid organic acid technology) based coolant, these are usually good for 100k miles or about 10years.

The older coolants(green) were silicate based and should be changed every 2 years.

While it is best to stay with a HOAT coolant if that is what is in there now, the engine won't blow up if you want to switch types.
There are 3 kinds/types, the base is what is used for corrosion protection:
Silicate, 2 year
OAT(organic acid technology), 5 year
HOAT, 10 year, often sold as "lifetime", because they know some cooling system part will go out within the life of the engine, lol.

Silicate and OAT shouldn't be switched directly, it actually lessen the protect for both.

HOAT is almost a combination of both, but is a chemical combination which can't be done simply by mixing them together, lol.

 

[Mike Tonon]

I've drained and refilled the cooling on my 07 every 3 1/2 years or so with Ford compatible (which is a light green, not the older dark green) 5 year/150,000 mile coolant concentrate from the parts store and distilled water. My plan is, keep it clean, so I can just easily drain and refill and nothing gets plugged. At 8 years old, I recently changed the thermostat (engine wouldn't heat up) and the housing was clean, no gunk, no stains.