Ford 'Orange' Coolant is Dexcool, right?

Long story short: 2012 Mustang, lost all Coolant the other day, suspect Water Pump failed (TSB on this) or at least the Gasket.

Engine has a 'tune', Aftermarket Intake, Short Headers, etc. I'm having it towed to the dealer tomorrow but I suspect Ford is going to kike me out of an obvious Warranty Repair. So, since they're probably going to deny the repair, I don't want to pay $30/Gal for their special snowflake proprietary Coolant (which by all account is the exact same as Prestone Dexcool or equiv.). Has anyone done this or 100% confirmed the 'Ford Orange' is, in fact, rebranded Dexcool? One of the main Antifreeze manufacturers sells a Jug of Dexcool 'for GM and Ford'.

tl;dr red pill me on proprietary OEM ripoff Coolants and specifically, Ford Orange.

Thanks!

>Aftermarket Intake
>Short Headers
>etc.
I'm having it towed to the dealer
>kike me out of an obvious Warranty Repair
Return it to stock first.

Dude, there is no way in hell. Installing the stock headers alone would take 6 hours, doing everything would be a weekend job AND Ford knows (if they really want to check) that the ECU has been 'flashed' with an aftermarket Tune so it's moot anyway.

I'm still within Powertrain Warranty but if they check the ECU they can outright deny the repair anyway so it's not worth the hassle. If this was a more expensive repair I'd MAYBE consider installing the stock Manifolds and Intake, but nah, not for this.

I'd say it's 50/50 they'll do the Pump under warranty. The Dealer has a great reputation and reviews and I've gotten some Oil Changes done there before but Ford (and every other Manufacturer) will try to deny Warranty Repairs any way they can.

If your headgasket is fucked be prepared to bend over.

It doesn't matter about the coolant, just check the mustang forums if you're worried, but if you already have aftermarket parts under the hood, fucking coolant isn't going to kill it.

Why not do the pump at home and avoid the tow fees and the dealer bullshit?

Headgasket is fine, it never overheated. The leak spot was clearly around the Water Pump (which is directly above the Crank Pulley) and it was wet below it.

Ford tows for free, there's a chance Dealer will do the work under Warranty, and I was going to take it up there for 'The Works' so they'd change my Oil and rotate my Tires and also diagnose the problem for me at least so I know for sure what it is.

My plan IS to buy the parts and do it at home if Ford denies the repair, but it's free to get the car there and see if they'll do it. Luckilly the Pump itself is in a really easy place to access and though I haven't done any real heavy wrenching, it's a job I can do with a friend. It's probably 2 hours, 3 at MOST Labor at a Shop.

Actually, nevermind everybody, turns out Prestone's Dexcool actually meets Ford's WSS-M97B44-D spec.

Surprised me that this didn't come up in an earlier search but Ford's 'Orange' Coolant in their newer cars is WSS-M97B44-D spec and Prestone's Dexcool actually has that on the label. Noice.

Coolant is basically marketing bullshit and obscured truth. Don't mix older types (Green, etc) with 'Dexcool' types and you'll be fine. Universal Coolants are fine in almost all cars, but I believe cars with Aluminum Radiators should use Dexcool.

You don't NEED Ford's Coolant as long as you drain, flush and fill with a Dexcool type. Don't overthink it, just don't mix different types of Coolant and do 35-65% Antifreeze to Water and you'll be fine for hundreds of thousands of miles if you replace it every 50-100k. Hell, you could run 100% Distilled Water in a warm climate for a short time and not have corrosion problems.

bump

Coolant does matter, you CANNOT mix green shit and orange shit, it turns to gel.

Just run green coolant, you faggot.

Dexcool and Motorcraft orange are meant for going 100k miles without coolant changes - meanwhile when the coolant gets that old it gets acidic and starts eating aluminum and gasket material.

>but Ford (and every other Manufacturer) will try to deny Warranty Repairs any way they can.

That's the Stealership attitude. My local chevrolet stealership is like that. It even tries to discourage those free oil changes for new cars because it already has a constant flow of out-of-warranty customers for its two oil change bays. It makes far more money from out-of-warranty customers than it gets from in-warranty customers due to the warranty service payments from GM being smaller than if they had charged the actual customer. So the stealership loves to find ways to cancel parts of the new car 3 year bumper to bumper warranty if they can. Good Chevrolet really takes the magic out of owning a new car when they do that. Their service writers and technician staff are too gung ho into their rewards system and so the customers are sacrificed.

Find where you're losing coolant from.

By intake, i guess you mean a cone/tube CAI. But if you mean intake manifold, coolant flows through that as well so thats one place to look.

Use the motorcraft orange, but thats the least of your worries. Headgaskets blowing are kind of rare on these motors, I mean its aluminum block and heads. A

lmost ANY dealership will look for ANYTHING to void the warranty, all your shit, while it may have had nothing to do with anything failing, will void it by their jew rules.

Now go out there and tell me what happens when you fill it up with coolant and run the motor?

1-Coolant leaks on the exterior of the motor from
A.Head gasket where the heads meet the block obviously, not the cam covers.
B.Water pump
C.Radiator hose or coolant line

2-Motor uses coolant but can't find a leak, therefore its from a headgasket and leaking into your motor, should be smoking heavy white exhaust gas.

Were you hard on it while the motor was still cold? like 7500 rpm pulls on a cold morning within the first few seconds? That would pop a brittle, cold, headgasket most likely.

The dealership is gonna do the same thing, fill it up with coolant and diagnose. LET US KNOW SO THEY DONT RIP YOU OFF. You'll get charged thousands if they do headgaskets. And you probably cant take the heads off and do it yourself, cause you gotta get the cams/valves in time with the motor.

Maybe its just a hose or intake manifold leak. Otherwise put some stopleak in and sell that bitch!

Forgot to mention the water pump, electric as opposed to belt driven, in these motors, doesn't kick on until 90 degrees C. But good lord watch ur temps, and when the fan kicks on at 100 C and don't let it get any hotter...than you could destroy shit in your heads

Well i just read the whole thread, so its leaking from the water pump? Get dat gasket done asap.

>$30/Gal for their special snowflake proprietary Coolant

Bruv I'm sure you can find that shit for way cheaper online. I can get genuine vw/audi coolant for my car for $17 a gallon shipped.

OP here. Since the thread is still open, Ford replaced the Water Pump under warranty and no one said anything about my mods.

I guess they don't really care all that much unless it's a a major engine repair. Repair time was listed as 1.1 Hours for the Water Pump and updated Hose. Worked out great.

this gets blown so far out of proportion. most dealers don't give a shit unless someone from corporate comes sniffing around. I live in Colorado and 50% of the vehicles I write up are modified. so far I've only turned away two people - one was a Focus ST with blown struts that had aftermarket springs and the other was a Raptor with a rod knock and a Vortech on it. and I only sent them on their way because they had garbage attitudes otherwise I still would have tried to help.

anyway OP unless they can prove that your aftermarket parts caused the water pump failure then they can't deny you coverage because of it.

Depends who you get.

If I get a car that has any mods under warranty I make sure to fuck them over.

read up on the magnuson moss warranty act. it says basically they have to prove your aftermarket parts caused the failure. for example, if you have aftermarket 20's on your 2016 hoopty and your ecu fries due to an electrical problem, especially one that they have a tsb for, they cant deny you warranty on the ecu. if they do you can sue the shit out of them. but now lets say that you install 2000 watts worth of amps and subs, but you just splice it into the factory harness and one day its just had too much and you fry a wire or burn the harness and completely fuck it up. they can deny you that warranty because what you installed lead to the problem. same thing if you install a cai that goes down to your bumper, then you hydrolock your engine in a flash flood.

above all know your rights and remember that dealers are super turbo ultra jews v2.0 and will say or do anything to deny your warranty. know what you are entitled to and dont be afraid to fight for it.

What exactly is the benefit of expensive coolant? It's not like it will make the engine run cooler. 100% water provides the most cooling. Coolant just keeps the water from freezing.

Coolant supposedly prevents rust. In theory you could use 100% Water if it was like always 50-90 Farrenheit.

Coolant raises the boiling point and lowers the freezing point of the liquid compared to just water. It also contains additives that prevent corrosion and it lubricates some of the cooling system components like the water pump.

The price of coolant is what it is, most of them are made from the similar ingredients (ethylene-glycol). Some of the additives may be different depending on the manufacturer and application. Things like "dexcool" are just brand names, nothing else. 100% water does a better job of transferring heat and will work perfectly fine in almost any car's cooling system but it is not recommended for the reasons stated above.