Engine Coolant Pink vs Orange

[KRS]

I finally got around to installing my VMP twin fan heatexchanger on my 2011 and decided to do a drain and fill on the engine cooling system too. I drained the rad and got about 2 1/2 gallons, I believe total system is about 4 gallons. I refilled with the specified Motorcraft Orange coolant and noticed that the colour was different. The factory fill was pink and sweet (no bitters) and the specified coolant is orange with bitters. I'm assuming (hoping) they are compatible, I checked a Ford coolant chart and they don't list a pink coolant. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Both the intercooler and engine had the pink, and this is the first coolant change.

 

[SID297]

It'll be fine. Did you flush it with distilled water?

 

[KRS]

It'll be fine. Did you flush it with distilled water?

No because I didn't do a full system drain (engine cooling system), I was just doing a partial change to replenish the corrosion inhibitors in the coolant.

@

 

[KRS]

Does anyone know if there is a way to do a full coolant drain? To get the remaining coolant out of the engine after the rad has been drained.

 

[54First]

Does anyone know if there is a way to do a full coolant drain? To get the remaining coolant out of the engine after the rad has been drained.

From the 2008 factory service manual:
NOTE: Less than 80% of coolant capacity can be recovered with the engine in the vehicle. Dirty, rusty or contaminated coolant should be drained and filled with new coolant.

I would think that drain/refill/run multiple times with plain water would help, but be a big pain. If power flushing would do it I think they would mention it, and they don't.

Steve

 

[barspen]

Can you pull the thermostat, flush with water, drain and refill with 50-50 mix? I believe pulling the thermostat opens the coolant to the engine block without having the get the coolant temps too high.

I haven't done a full flush on mine yet, so I'm not certain if this method will work.

 

[KRS]

Can you pull the thermostat, flush with water, drain and refill with 50-50 mix? I believe pulling the thermostat opens the coolant to the engine block without having the get the coolant temps too.

I don't believe you can get the coolant out of the block without removing the block drain plugs.....lowest point in the water jackets. I was just looking at doing a system refresh and wanted to confirm that the two coolants were compatible. I do it every five years with all my vehicles and it's cheap cooling system insurance.

I checked with my Ford dealer and the parts guy told me I was good as long as I was mixing orange and green coolant. The service department told me that my orange had just turned pink. So I commented that the pink was sweet and the orange is bitters and he responded "you tasted it".

Being one of those people that wants an answer I called Ford Customer Service. The customer service rep researched it but couldn't find an answer, he said it would look into it further and it would probably take a couple of days.

 

[Pribilof]

I'm pretty sure that in 2011 your factory fill is orange and it has just turned pink due to time and usage.

Check your fill cap. My 2012 says use orange.

Ford wouldn't factory fill with one chemical and tell you to refill with an incompatible one

 

[KRS]

I'm pretty sure that in 2011 your factory fill is orange and it has just turned pink due to time and usage.

The only reason I'm questioning it is specialty orange coolant has bitters and the pink that's in the car doesn't have bitters. Specialty orange is the specified coolant.

 

[KRS]

Ford customer service told me to purchase the pink coolant from www.fordparts.com. When I told them they don't sell the pink coolant they looked into it further and told me "do not mix pink and orange". They told me I had to do a full system flush and refill with the orange coolant. I told them that was ridiculous and asked to speak to SVT.

I spoke to Isaac at SVT and he said to use the specified coolant and it would be compatible with what came in the car. He could not explain why the stock fill was pink without bitters.

 

[Snoopy49]

Are you the original owner of the car?

 

[Pribilof]

What test procedure did you use to determine that you have sweet pink coolant rather than bitter orange?

Edit: serious question. Other than just visually comparing the color, what did you do? How did you eliminate the possibility that you have orange (with bitters) coolant that has changed color to pink over 5 years of use?

 

[KRS]

Are you the original owner of the car?

No, purchased it from the original owner in 2011, we met at the dealership it was purchased from. The only service that had been done on the car was one oil change.

 

[KRS]

What test procedure did you use to determine that you have sweet pink coolant rather than bitter orange?

Edit: serious question. Other than just visually comparing the color, what did you do? How did you eliminate the possibility that you have orange (with bitters) coolant that has changed color to pink over 5 years of use?

Good question, it was pretty much by accident. I came in the house after working on the car in the garage and had some coolant on my hand. The cat was at the door waiting for me when I walked in so I picked her up before she tried to jump up. She started licking my other hand, the one with some coolant on it. I found it really odd because I thought the purpose of bitters was to prevent animals from consuming it. That's when I checked it and noticed the difference in colour and then took a taste of both and the orange is clearly bitter and the pink is clearly sweet. (Maybe I tried too much and have brain damage now).

Is it possible that the coolant changed colour and lost its bitterness?

If you look at the picture the colour difference is pretty evident and it's not a high mile car. I did a search and there are similar posts in other forums about the colour.

 

[455HO71]

I just swapped my HE for an AFCO and went to my local dealership and ran into this. I bought 2 jugs of the recommended orange stuff and an equal amt of distilled water. I drained both tanks and filled both with fresh stuff (50/50 mix with distilled water). Topped up or removed as I cycled the engine a few times as needed. I also added some Dominator coolant boost from Amsoil. I did all of this and installed a 3x expansion bottle at the same time so that I dealt with it ONCE lol.