Anti Freeze

[Reaper948]

Long story short, my car has no anti-freeze.......i ran about 10 mins without it and then...yea

So can my cars engine be damaged by driving a little bit without any anti freeze?....

I just wanna know that.....NO MORE QUESTIONS

[Effster]

how does it have no anitfreeze?the new ford fluid is NOT green if thats what you mean,,its supposed to be good for a lifetime

[WolfeBros]

Running without antifreeze or coolant all together ?

If you mean running dry and overheating the engine, yes there is a chance you did some damage.

If you mean coolant (water) with no antifreeze, you run the risk of freezing and breaking a block if left outside to freeze. Also their are additives in the antifreeze that keep the cooling system and radiator from oxidizing and corroding prematurely. But I doubt any lasting damage as long as you get some antifreeze back it it.

If you ran the car and saw no signs of overheating your probably ok.
Water pump seal might be dry.....get the right ford coolant back in it.
Some of these newer engines do have a failsafe mode for loss of coolant, I am not sure about the 4.6
Anyone else?

[Reaper948]

My car overheated and then the anti freezes' cap like came off and it started shooting all over the place

[WolfeBros]

Hard to say Reaper without knowing the gory details.
If the car your talking about is your Marauder.
Let the engine cool down before attempting to put antifreeze/coolant
back in it. There is a bolt in the metal tube of the upper radiator hose for letting air out of the system. When the engine has cooled off take the radiator cap and this bolt off. Start the engine and turn the heater on (meaning fan on and calling for heat) . Pour the coolant in slowly. Watch and wait for the thermostat to open. The engine will burp out some air.....this is normal and what you want. As the air leaves the system pour more coolant in until you reach the normal level. You should be able to tell if coolant is circulating properly. Monitor your temperature gauge while doing this. Run up the RPM alittle while adding coolant. Don't over due it.....1500 RPM is fine.
When you get coolant in radiator up to the normal level and the car has stopped burping air, reinstall the bolt in the upper radiator hose and put the pressure cap back on.
Test drive the car and watch the temp gauge. Good luck.

[RF Overlord]

^^^what WolfeBros said^^^

How about some more details: how did you run out of coolant? were you running the engine hard? did your temp gauge go way up, or did you first notice it when steam came pouring out from under the hood?


So can my cars engine be damaged by driving a little bit without any anti freeze?....

Just DRIVING it a little bit? Doubtful. Overheating it? Yes. Be very careful about overheating aluminium engines...you can warp the heads, and do all sorts of expensive things to them when they get too hot... :fire:

[Colin]

There is no way damage could have been done. The 4.6 in Panther platforms have fail-safe cooling. Once the temps rise past a certian point the computer will fire every other cylinder in an attempt to cool the engine back down while letting you (slowly) get somewhere safe. When the temp gets to the next preset the engine will shut down all together and you can't start it until it's back down to an acceptable level.

If you didn't experience any misfiring or engine shutdowns, then you didn't do any damage.

Colin

[CRUZTAKER]

Nice to know about the MM, salesman never mentioned, probably in the book though.....
The wife's LS has this failsage feature. Eventually the engine will shut off completely.

More details on you scenario please....

[WolfeBros]

Its interesting to note that the manufacturers seem to have gotten away from touting the failsafe cooling feature. I agree that some engines do have a failsafe mode it goes into when overheated. To say that you can never damage an engine from overheating is quite a stretch, which IMHO is why the corporate lawyers seem to have squelched the use of the term "failsafe". It is not mentioned in any of the Marauder literature or owners manuals that I can find. Not a flame just an observation.

I am sure Reaper will fill us in on what happened to his car when things settle down.

[LincMercLover]

I haven't seen this failsafe feature anywhere in the books either... I know my Dad's truck has it, but that was back in 98 and it's a 5.4L... I'll have to comb through the manual/DVD tonight...

[Macon Marauder]

I think the "fail-safe mode" is pretty much a standard feature in all Ford cars and trucks. Maybe even other makes as well. It's just not something they make a big deal out of anymore. Like an airbag: you don't even have to know it's there unless you need it.

[mdmarauder]

I believe it says Fail-Safe Cooling on the Window Sticker. I'll check it when I get home from work.

[Murader03]

I don't see anything on my window sticker about "Fail-Safe Cooling"!

[schuvwj]

I have checked the older threads to see if there is a description of the different types of antifreeze. Now I see three colors.
1) Green - what we old timers used for years and changed every two years if we remembered.
2) Yellow - what our MM have in it. Do not know the change intervals.
3) Pink - and I know nothing about this color?

Can anyone help understand the difference?
Thanks!

[LincMercLover]

Green is what I've always used. Yellow, I've never seen... Pink is GM's 50,000 mile/5 year coolant that supossively cools better than green. I've got that in my 79 Lincoln, but cannot report any gains in temperature effiency cause I have no temp gauge. Also, I think the pink is supposed to lube better...

[RF Overlord]

Originally posted by schuvwj
1) Green - what we old timers used for years and changed every two years if we remembered.
2) Yellow - what our MM have in it. Do not know the change intervals.
3) Pink - and I know nothing about this color?

Can anyone help understand the difference?
Thanks!

Bill, the yellow coolant is indeed what we have in the Marauder...Ford calls it Premium Gold...the change intervals are in the owner's manual, along with a warning not to mix it with any other kind (AutoZone sells the Zerex G-05 version, which meets the Ford spec)...so far it's only used in post-'01 Fords and Chryslers...

I haven't seen pink yet, but the General uses a version called Dex-Cool that is orange and is silicate-free, which I believe makes it more suitable for engines, water pumps, and radiators with high aluminium content...I doubt it's compatible with the Ford yellow stuff.

Update: I found a Ford service bulletin that says the orange kind, even that found in other Ford products, is NOT compatible with Premium Gold.

[Bigdogjim]

The Ford "Gold" is good stuff....Been running over 150,000 mile in my E-350 work vans..Use to change the green every 45,000. mile under "fleet use" (twice a year in some vans) Very high amount of 65-70+ highway miles. notice that the hoses are holding much better with the Gold..I for one way very happy to see gold in the MM as it is all Ford engines. I have had a few vans go to the falilsafe mode, scares the hell of the driver but it does save the engine.....

Reaper948: Your are covered under the 3 year 36000 mile road side plan....they will tow it to the nearest dealer for N/C...Just a thought. Good luck and please let us know what the out come is
Big Dog

[mdmarauder]

My anti-freeze is Green. Did I miss something?

[RF Overlord]

md:

I believe the owner's manual says you could have either, but they are not compatible with each other, so if you have to top it off, or change it, use what it came with...

Update: from a Ford TSB...

"The suppliers technical bulletin describing the coolant indicates it 'is compatible with better brands of coolant commonly available.' Until internal compatibility tests are complete, Ford Motor Company’s position is to not mix the new "Gold" coolant with the conventional green-colored coolant."

This bulletin was dated February 2002, so there may be more up-to-date info out there...I couldn't find anything...

[Wags]

Mine is the green stuff also. I had Dexicool in my Impala, and that stuff is very evil. If levels get low, it will start to "solidify". My heater core and radiator were trashed from it (they got plugged up). Many people have had no problems, but many have had plenty with that stuff. There even was a service memo on the evils of it from Chevy.

[Menace]

I have the green also.

[schuvwj]

Originally posted by RF Overlord
Bill, the yellow coolant is indeed what we have in the Marauder...Ford calls it Premium Gold...the change intervals are in the owner's manual, along with a warning not to mix it with any other kind (AutoZone sells the Zerex G-05 version, which meets the Ford spec)...so far it's only used in post-'01 Fords and Chryslers...

I haven't seen pink yet, but the General uses a version called Dex-Cool that is orange and is silicate-free, which I believe makes it more suitable for engines, water pumps, and radiators with high aluminium content...I doubt it's compatible with the Ford yellow stuff.

Update: I found a Ford service bulletin that says the orange kind, even that found in other Ford products, is NOT compatible with Premium Gold.

Thanks RF!
Good to know not to mix any other color antifreeze in our MM's. The pink stuff is in my wife's VW Jetta. They also tell me this antifreeze is good for over 100,000 miles.

Again thanks!