Orange Antifreeze?

[winmag4582001]

Originally Posted by Bbasso

https://www.google.com/search?q=diff...obile&ie=UTF-8

FYI
Orange/green: both glycol, just different colors and a huge difference in price. They will mix, you’ll just end up with brown antifreeze.

I stayed up last night looking into this. As long as you have the same base, color doesn’t really matter.

I should have known this. My Subaru’s run “blue” antifreeze, for years I’ve used Acura blue because it’s 1/3 the cost of Subaru blue. But every service manager will tell you the motor will blow up if you do that! LOL

***Note: Diesels are different. There is reason for using the proper coolant in those.

[MadScience]

You may also have a bit of rust, or some remnants of stop leak in a 99. These vans are about to turn 20. Either of those will make things more orange. Rust will stick to a magnet.

I'm not sure about the 5.4, but the v10 came with green in 99. It's compatible with Motorcraft Gold / Zerex GO-5, which is a slight upgrade, and might be what you think of as orange. And yes, those can be mixed.

I had a well meaning shop switch mine for ELC without telling me. -- They just went with what they'd do in a newer diesel. I didn't figure it out, until I was dealing with some of the hoses dissolving on the inside and leaking. After doing a full flush, running with distilled for a bit, and then another full flush, I put Zerex GO-5 back in.

If you plan on keeping the van for a while, I'd flush and fill with a known fluid that's compatible with all the hoses in it.

[winmag4582001]

Agree.
I’m not planning on keeping it. Just flipping it.
In everything I read through online, there’s 1 million opinions, and only 2 sites that had done the testing.
They said orange and green are mixable, but it reduces the lifespan of the orange(150k) down to the lifespan of the green(50k). Plus it makes your antifreeze brown.
They equated it to topping off your conventional oil with a quart of synthetic. It will mix, but the oil is still only good for the conventional rating.

[carringb]

You should not have Orange DexCool in your 5.4L (2016+ excepted). If its in there now, it needs to be flushed. Under normal conditions, it won't protect the water pump, and can lead to cavitation. If the cooling system has any leaks, to the point where air can enter, the mixed solution can acidify and cause corrosion.

Your '99 would have come with green. At some point it may have been changed over to yellow G-05 which is fine too, since many dealers stopped stocking green.

There's a chance you may be seeing pink. CAT/Cummins ELC is pink, and is compatible with green. You just lose the extended life properties of all-pink. Toyota pink seems to be chemically similar to G0-5 as well.

[larrie]

Antifreeze, another lesson in technological changes. It is getting hard to keep up. 🙃

[winmag4582001]

Straight from the 1999 E350 manual:

1 If your engine coolant is green in color, use Ford Premium Cooling System Fluid. If your coolant is orange in color, use Ford Extended Life Engine Coolant. Refer to Adding engine coolant, in the Maintenance and Care chapter.

The 99 high top E350 EB 5.4L I just sold had green.
The 99 regular top E350 5.4L I just bought most definitely has orange in it.

I cant explain it and don't know the reasoning behind it. It just is what it is.