VC-13-G Yellow Coolant for 2014 Limited?

[jons901]

Just recently started working on my own explorer again so back browsing the forums.

I currently have a 2014 Explorer Limited with the 3.5L TIVCT engine and it is time for a coolant flush (a little late as I am at 116,000 miles). I am planning on doing a flush and fill following fordtechmakuloco's guide on youtube so I called the dealer today to get coolant as their prices were better than any I found online.

They said in the last couple weeks for the 2014's Ford is telling them to switch to the yellow concentrate (VC-13-G) after a flush and fill with the Motorcraft Coolant Flush (VC-1).

Has anyone else heard this for the older models? The manual and cap in the engine compartment say orange, and I cannot find where Ford issued mandate to switch to the newer version in the older models. One of the reasons I am doing more work now than before is lack of faith in my dealer as of late, and the last thing I want is to cause issues which they will then say, oops, sorry about that, guess you need a big rebuild or new car.

So, long story short, anyone using the new yellow in 2014's? Thanks in advance.

<edited to clarify yellow from gold in end paragraph.>

 

[boominXplorer]

Gold has been around for awhile but the newer ones run orange (dexcool). Its found that the orange gets nasty really quick where gold is stable for many years and both are h.o.a.t. You can get gold Zerex G05 at most auto parts stores and is what I usually use.

 

[jons901]

Gold has been around for awhile but the newer ones run orange (dexcool). Its found that the orange gets nasty really quick where gold is stable for many years and both are h.o.a.t. You can get gold Zerex G05 at most auto parts stores and is what I usually use.

Thanks Boomin. They said this is not the gold used in explorers from 2003-2010 (VC-7-B), but rather a new yellow (VC-13-G) that is used in the 2020 models which apparently is P.O.A.T. The motorcraft chart updated in Jan 2020 still shows orange. Do you think they could be recommending the yellow as the orange was not performing well?

<edited to correct link>

 

[boominXplorer]

Quite possibly as alot of the orange ones I've seen have been pretty nasty at early ages.

 

[peterk9]

Not sure if this will help.

Peter

 

[jons901]

Not sure if this will help.

Peter

Thanks Peter I checked that one out yesterday too. Picked up the yellow from the dealer today and they gave me the printout from their parts info system in case there are issues down the road.

If you look up VC-3-B (orange) on parts.ford.com it comes back with "That part number is obsolete. See your dealer." In the dealer parts system it shows that VC-13-G (yellow) is the replacement for the VC-3-B.

Completed the flush and fill today using 9 gallons of distilled water as each time I drained the system it only got out just over a gallon. After 9 gallons of distilled into the system the stuff coming out was almost completely clear.

So with a capacity of 3 gallons when I drained out 1 gallon of water during the last drain/fill I added back in 1 gal of concentrated yellow. I let that mix in the engine for 10 minutes. At that point the ratio was 33:66 fresh coolant to water or 2 qts too much water.

I drained out 3 quarts of that mix and added in 3 quarts of concentrated yellow getting me back to 50:50.

I should be all set for the next 100K miles right?

 

[jons901]

Oh, and I took off the Motorcraft Orange sticker from the filler bottle and wrote Motorcraft Yellow on there with a white paint marker. Don't want an overzealous tech topping it off with 50:50 orange if it ever goes back to the dealer.

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

Interestingly-enough, I just happened to stop-by a non-local Ford dealer today, to pickup some Orange coolant, and he told me that I should now be using the newer Yellow for my V6. He stated that they really weren't carrying the Orange much anymore, as the Yellow was replacing the Orange, and that that change had been in effect for a while now.

Later on, I logged-in to the Ford Parts website, and searched for the "Coolant" for my particular 2018 V6 vehicle. It only showed 2 choices, either the concentrated Yellow version or the pre-diluted Yellow version. While the descriptions on both still used the word "Orange", once you clicked on either one, it instead came up with a photo of the "Yellow"-version jug (like I got today), also showing the "WSS-M97B57-A2" specification number.

I then also spoke directly with the parts counter man at our local Ford dealership, and he looked it up for me and told me two things... First, that the Orange is discontinued, and that the new Yellow coolant is now listed in their system as the direct-replacement for the older Orange coolant (hence, it becoming harder and harder to even find the Orange at dealerships anymore), and secondly, that the Yellow is OK to mix with the older Orange coolant! He, as the other dealership had told me, stated that they are not even stocking the Orange coolant anymore, due to it now being obsolete.