Coolant Filter on Gas Motors

When I purchased my 1995 Itasca in 2001 I installed a coolant filter from Napa auto parts after flushing the system and getting a lot of scale in the recovery pan. I change the filter every year, When I change coolant now no more scale Etc in the old coolant. Will it extend the life of the motor ? I doubt it, But it makes me feel better.

Bryan, to be honest, I do not know what the factory fill was. This green was in the car when I got it nearly 50k miles ago. That's why I tried my best to get the system as clean as I could.

When I got this car there were a ton of things wrong with it and I've been trying to rectify the issues as I can afford to.

I despise the air ride suspension so when one of the airbags crapped out I swapped in coil springs in the rear. The Idle Air control valve went out before I got it and I fixed that. Replaced front brakes, replaced a valve cover gasket and valve cover grommets on the drivers side. Needs a front end rebuild now

Fun fact about this Panther...there is no transmission cooler in the radiator...there is a cooler that is an oil to air cooler that has both the transmission lines and the power steering lines plumbed in. I guess it's a combo cooler. If I ever set this big car up for towing I'd have to install a pretty large stacked plate cooler in line with the factory air cooler. Right now the cooler keeps the transmission at 175 ish....so it's doing a good job still.

Not really digging the combo cooler though. I Don't like the thought of the power steering fluid and the transmission fluid mixing if the cooler fails internally.

Need new head light assemblies, current ones are gone

The Michelin tires are rotting off the wheels even though the tread is great. Can't wait to get some Coopers on it...Michelins are not my favorites.

Love to swap in some 3.73 or 4.10's at some point in the future when I rebuild the rear end. Starting to really like this car as I get things fixed.

Thanks,

Jeremiah

I have over 400,000 on my modular motor without a coolant filter.


Did your 4.6L come with Gold coolant? I've read that the "Universal" ELCs actually don't mix well with the Ford gold. It can be used to top off, but can react with some of the metals differently than that gold, so using it as a full replacement isn't recommended. The scale you are seeing might be the protective layer deposited by the Gold coolant, and is now being attacked by the alternate coolant formula.

Use a chemical flush that will disolve the scale. We used that at the dealership for neglected cooling systems. Not necessary if changed at proper time/mileage intervals, but if it's been neglected, it will help clean it out.

ScottG wrote:

smkettner wrote:

christopherglenn wrote:
Just run it as is.. In another 50k change the coolant.

+1

Next flush just use distilled for the rinse out and refill.

This!
Never, ever put tap water in your cooling system. You cannot rinse it enough to counteract it.

Thanks, I used the tap for the initial flush and got most of the gunk out of the system. I used 12 gallons of distiller water to flush after I drained the tap out. i know there is still some tap still in there but it should be a very minimal amount.

Thanks,

Jeremiah

smkettner wrote:

christopherglenn wrote:
Just run it as is.. In another 50k change the coolant.

+1

Next flush just use distilled for the rinse out and refill.

This!
Never, ever put tap water in your cooling system. You cannot rinse it enough to counteract it.

christopherglenn wrote:
Just run it as is.. In another 50k change the coolant.

+1

Next flush just use distilled for the rinse out and refill.

You are right... The only problem I've had was a stuck thermostat. I just hate the thought of my coolant sandblasting the water pump and other internals with this stuff. Yep, it's lasted 160k miles. But I want it to run hundreds of thousands of miles more.

Still undecided. I should be able to add a coolant filter it for about 60$ or so...so the expense is not terribly great. Even cheaper if I go with an oil filter (not doing that btw)

Thanks for the feedback everyone,

Jeremiah

I would run it as is and see if the ELC coolant dissolves the solids that are floating around. Having said that I doubt these solids will hurt anything.

Just run it as is.. In another 50k change the coolant.