I need to know what coolant to put in my radiator.

[EmperorTiberius]

A bit of back story:

I recently purchased a 97 explorer 4.0 ohv with 85500 miles on it. Everything looked good. A mild inspection by a mechanic said it was in good shape but once I got it in for actual work, it turned out the head gasket was leaking. The shop I took it to wanted $1500 to 1600 to replace it, which I simply couldn't afford. I had a friend with tools and know how and a Chiltons manual. We got in, took the engine apart, and put it all back together. It runs fine, gauge never reads hot, always normal, however I know I'm fairly low on coolant. When I initially found I was low, I supplemented with distiller water, but I know I need to put actual coolant in, as we lost a lot here and there during the gasket replacement.

For what little it has, It has green in it, and I've looked high and low, but keep landing back to, "use green, but be sure to use the right green". The problem is finding out which green is the right one. If anyone can help me I'd really appreciate it. I know almost nothing about cars, and I don't want to ruin my explorer and all my hard work by not having enough coolant. I'm getting it flushed and replaced next week, I just want to know what to put in it for now. I've been told that low coolant can hurt an engine even when it's off.

Thank you.

 

[DjDom]

The green stuff is basically labelled as regular coolant.

The yellow prestone jugs of green coolant is what I've always been using in the Ford. Honestly, there isn't another 'green' coolant. There's yellow, orange and pink which may look similar. And tons of other colors.

This is the stuff you want. Pour straight in, 50/50 premixed.

 

[EmperorTiberius]

Ok. I stopped in at autozone before this, and bought some should it be the right kind (I haven't opened it). I told the guy what I needed and he referred me to their brand of yellow "universal coolant" that supposedly will work in any vehicle. Will that work, or should I take it back to look for the exact thing?

 

[1998Exp]

Or, if you want to save some money, buy the concentrate and mix down to 50/50 with distilled water (which is about $1/gal at the grocery store). However, because you've already diluted your coolant, you will probably need to drain some and just replace with concentrate. Auto parts stores sell a very cheap coolant gauge that you can use to bring the concentration to 50%.

This is the stuff you want. Pour straight in, 50/50 premixed.

 

[DjDom]

Honestly man, it's a 97 Ford. Coolant is coolant. So long as you have some in there, it'll work.
I hate all this bs about each vehicle requiring special coolant or it eats the seals.. blah blah.
Honestly, every car should run fine on good old regular coolant, why has it worked for so long?

Sorry, small rant since I work at a parts store and people always coming in looking for "Audi Coolant", which is freaking red.

 

[EmperorTiberius]

I appreciate all the feedback. I talked with the guy that helped me with the original engine work and he said the universal coolant should be fine, and it only has to work until Wednesday next week. I just really didn't want to run it low. I figure any negative properties will be mostly dealt with when I get the flush and then I'll KNOW what is in it, top to bottom.

 

[masospaghetti]

I've had excellent results from the yellow universal coolant, never given a problem. I would pour that stuff in and roll with it.

I've used it in all of my vehicles including my three Explorers. I've put on about 125,000 miles between them with no cooling system issues.

 

[Jeff213]

Honestly man, it would be fine with distilled water for that short time.

 

[masospaghetti]

It would probably be fine on lake water for that short amount of time.

 

[gmanpaint]

Green and pink does not mix. I mean that Literally, it will gel up if combined.

Just had a buddy that had a shade tree mechanic replace his 3rd gen T-stat housing, pour in the wrong coolant, it gelled up, overheated, warped a head, and he ended up having to replace the engine.

The only 2 types of green that I know of is concentrate, and premixed. Either will work.

 

[crunchie_frog]

https://www.fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.com/Main/quickref/scucEN.pdf

Link to information about Ford recommended engine coolants.