what reading the owners guide gets you, lol

[rickztahone]

so i was flipping through my owners guide and i come across the coolant section. and it says, and i quote "use only premium engine coolant (green in color) or a premium engine coolant that meets ford specification..."
it goes on to say that you shouldn't use coolant that is orange in color. well my car came with the orange coolant when i bought it and i've been using that ever since. now i'm worrier that having been using this one for so long might ultimately damage my internals some how. do you guys recommend flushing it all out? i know this is probably paranoia but i can sometimes pick up the smell of coolant in the cabin. the other day i was wiring my driver side speaker and i noticed a huge (factory) hole on the firewall. i'm thinking it's this and i shouldn't be paranoid about it, but my main question is the first one.

 

[gcwimmer]

The specification may have changed for the LS over the years; this is what 2004 LS calls for:

• Add Motorcraft Premium Gold Engine Coolant
(yellow-colored), VC-7–A (U.S., except CA and OR), VC-7–B
(CA and OR only), meeting Ford Specification
WSS-M97B51–A1.
• Do not add/mix an orange-colored, extended life coolant such
as Motorcraft Speciality Orange Engine Coolant, VC-2 (US) or
CXC-209 (Canada), meeting Ford specification WSS-M97B44–D
with the factory-filled coolant. Mixing Motorcraft Speciality Orange
Engine Coolant or any orange-colored extended life product with your
factory filled coolant can result in degraded corrosion protection.

I have found that not all coolant on store shelf meet the specification WSS-M97B51-AL. It can be hard to tell difference between yellow, orange and gold.

It would not hurt to change coolant then you will know what you have.

Need to plug hole in firewall and look for a leak.

 

[Former Member]

i dont think it matters, aslong as its not mixed and doesnt overheat you should be ok.

i dont think the water pump can be hurt by it either. i could be wrong.

if its mixed it will gel up, like green mixed with orange. my car has green coolant in it. as far as factory coolant goes..hell...toyotas used to be red! there is a difference between high mileage coolant and what not though. dexcool (orange) is a 100,000 mile coolant, or so they say. theres another company with a yellow/clear coolant that they call high mileage. i think its just the dealer trying to make money.

green = ok
orange = ok
yellow=ok
a mixture of any of these = bad.

as far as the leak is concerned, it could just be a coincidence. if your really that worried, go to the dealership. they will probably reccomend a full system flush if it has the wrong coolant color regardless of if theres a leak or not. as far as the leak is concerned, could be, could not be.