Which coolant....green or gold??

gnxtc2 · Apr 24, 2016

I have to change the heater core on my friend's '02 7.3 due to a leak. He's been adding whatever coolant he can find as he didn't know that the 7.3 used low silicate. I asked him if the truck had green or gold coolant.....he has the slightest clue as he is color blind.

He's not going to buy the CAT ELC. He would've put the regular Prestone back in until he asked me.

What is the correct factory coolant for the 2002 7.3? I'm thinking gold. Does the gold require the SCA additive?

And I need to do a flush.

Billy T.
[email protected]

joebuck · Apr 24, 2016

If your doing a flush on it why not use a ELC? Especially since it sounds like your friend does know a ton about diesels(using whatever coolant comment) this would be a zero maintenance thing for him,if your dead set on using ELC then use green but he will need to add SCA Additives and get him self some test strips

gnxtc2 · Apr 24, 2016

I told him to buy distilled water and he b!tched....wanted to fill it with tap water. I know he's not going to buy ELC.

Billy T.
[email protected]

sqrlgtr · Apr 24, 2016

I had to go to three different auto parts store just to find the green.I could ask the younglings behind the counter and they would just give me a dumb look and try talk me into the universal do all coolant,I knew better to ask about sac additive.anyhows o,riley' s had grn coolant and went to big rig store and bought sca additive and test stripes wasnt to bad high but i wasnt doing a complete flush neither.this reminds me I haven't tested my coolant yet!99 calls for green so probally same for 02.
sqrlgtr

Jomax · Apr 24, 2016

I'd run the ford gold.

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rsater1 · Apr 24, 2016

i always get more corfused trying to understand ..i need to do mine here ..come next oil change will be ,doing OEM oil cooler seals at same time with all hoses from mishimoto ..what fluid is best for my 02 7.3 or last longer,,less change or testing of coolant ....just so confused will someone EXPLAIN T/I/A/

sqrlgtr · Apr 24, 2016

The way I understand it if you do a complete flush you can run the elc (extended life coolant).i dont know if you still have to check for sca's with the elc.I do know mine came with the green from factory and you do have to replenish with additive,and I do know if you mix coolants you will have a bad situation because they will form a bad sludge in your system.I have seen this first hand and its not pretty.so what ever don't mix them because they do not play well with each other.that's my .02...
sqrlgtr

Geralddunbar995 · Apr 24, 2016

Best thing to do is a complete flush of the old coolant and a refill with ELC, rsater1. CAT sells the coolant test strips and also the ELC extender, which is CATs version of an SCA additive. It's made specifically for CAT ELC.

rosspulliam · Apr 25, 2016

My 2002 came from the factory with gold...but I run Rotella ELC.

Decker · Apr 25, 2016

After I did my coolant flush I now run rotella ultra elc which meets cat ec-1. Best place I found to get it is at Napa or a international dealer. Sell both full concentrate and 50/50.

Decker · Apr 25, 2016

Not to hijack the thread but to all those who use ford gold do you have clog oil cooler issues? When I was doing research on which coolant to run I found a lot of people saying stay away from ford gold?

CurtisF · Apr 25, 2016

gnxtc2 said:
He's been adding whatever coolant he can find as he didn't know that the 7.3 used low silicate.

gnxtc2 said:
I told him to buy distilled water and he b!tched....wanted to fill it with tap water.

In that case it doesn't matter what color you put in there. :axe:

But to answer your question, the 2002's came with the gold coolant, so that's what he had in there originally.

CurtisF · Apr 25, 2016

Decker said:
Not to hijack the thread but to all those who use ford gold do you have clog oil cooler issues? When I was doing research on which coolant to run I found a lot of people saying stay away from ford gold?

The people posting and/or telling you that are idiots. Clogged oil cooler issues are due to piss-poor maintenance, not the color of the coolant. Some people act like they don't need to change the oil regularly or maintain the coolant properly on the 7.3L, and then blame something like the coolant color when things go wrong.

Gold coolant doesn't last forever. It must be maintained, although at longer intervals than the green coolant. Most of these motors are getting up there in miles, and I bet there's still some people out there that haven't changed their coolant, unless they were forced to by a leak or a failed water pump.

Jomax · Apr 25, 2016

CurtisF said:
The people posting and/or telling you that are idiots. Clogged oil cooler issues are due to piss-poor maintenance, not the color of the coolant. Some people act like they don't need to change the oil regularly or maintain the coolant properly on the 7.3L, and then blame something like the coolant color when things go wrong.

Gold coolant doesn't last forever. It must be maintained, although at longer intervals than the green coolant. Most of these motors are getting up there in miles, and I bet there's still some people out there that haven't changed their coolant, unless they were forced to by a leak or a failed water pump.

X2... Ford gold gets bad rep for people being to lazy to maintain their coolant.

I flush every 36k no matter how the coolant is.

I've already flushed my 2015 at 40k. And might even go to Ford gold, being I lost weight, don't really need the orange. Which isn't as good as the gold in protecting.

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psduser1 · Apr 25, 2016

We've run green parts store ELC for years in all our diesel equiptment, with no problems. Of course, it gets checked for additive at least once a year, and changed out every couple of years, roughly.
The trucks do have a coolant filter, as well.
Never really see anything unusual come out when the fluid is drained, nor in the filters, after the first time or two that they are changed.

jonboy84 · Apr 25, 2016

Ford gold separates more in the 6.0 and 6.4 because of the high heat from the egr coolers. The 7.3 can run it a lot easier than those trucks but maintenance is key!

AirFishAutomotive · Apr 25, 2016

elc, we use a Sunoco version (red) but Napa makes a version believe it's 51% w distilled water

JD3020 · Apr 25, 2016

CurtisF said:
The people posting and/or telling you that are idiots. Clogged oil cooler issues are due to piss-poor maintenance, not the color of the coolant. Some people act like they don't need to change the oil regularly or maintain the coolant properly on the 7.3L, and then blame something like the coolant color when things go wrong.

Gold coolant doesn't last forever. It must be maintained, although at longer intervals than the green coolant. Most of these motors are getting up there in miles, and I bet there's still some people out there that haven't changed their coolant, unless they were forced to by a leak or a failed water pump.

I had to do a water pump on our farm truck back in 2014. Its a 92 f150, 300 I6, at the time was like 95k miles, but a bazillion hours on it. My g-pa bought it new, and said it was the original coolant in it. LOL Hell i bet its the original trans fluid, original diff fluid, and original brake fluid. Last i checked its still rolling on the factory pads/shoes...

Tell him the spend the money and get ELC. If he won't spend a tiny bit more for a better coolant, then tell him to sell the PSD and buy a gas truck.

David N · Apr 25, 2016

Yeah I use red.

Jomax · Apr 25, 2016

jonboy84 said:
Ford gold separates more in the 6.0 and 6.4 because of the high heat from the egr coolers. The 7.3 can run it a lot easier than those trucks but maintenance is key!

I'm pretty sure if people flushed every 36k, it would've worked perfectly. But, no one maintains the coolant, it's the forgotten fluid, which IMO is just as important as the engine oil.

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