Needing to change my coolant in my 2000 XK8 I went to O'Reilly's to get the antifreeze. On a previous post the Zerex GO5 was recommended. I bought two gallons since it was premix (half water). I opened one container and it was absolutely clear. That bothered me. I have never seen clear antifreeze. So, since the Lincoln LS has the same engine I went over to the Ford dealer (very friendly guy) and asked him what was used in the 2000 Lincoln LS. He printed out the complete story for Ford Rotorcraft antifreeze usage chart. For the 2000 LS the color is green through 2001. Then it is yellow for later years. The green specification is ESE-M97B44-A. The yellow spec is ESE-M97B52-A1.

All this is very confusing. The one thing I am not going to do is use the Zerex GO5 which is clear and only comes in a pre-mix. I would appreciate input from you guys that know more about antifreeze than I do.

Thanks guys

 

Depends on VIN, check page 103: Vehicle Spec Book

 

Your car uses the orange coolant Dexcool Spec: WSS-M97B44-D. This specification is listed on the Coolant Reservoir Cap in your car.

 

Thanks for the reply. Sorry about the title. It was supposed to read confusion.

Having a hard time finding the Dexcool antifreeze. Will try some other places.

According to the Ford Rotorcraft usage chart the orange was-w97B44-D was not introduced until 2011. Not sure what my original fill tank said since I had to replace it. The one I have now matches what you said. And coolant I have now appears to be a reddish orange.

 

Thanks a bunch for the Spec Book.

 

Never heard of a Ford Rotorcraft but Ford did make some TRIMOTORS in the '20s & '30s.

I think your spell check means MOTORCRAFT (for sure) Motorcraft 'for sure' was an ad jingle in the '80s.

 

Hi EZDriver,

General Motors introduced Dex-Cool Extended Life Organic Acid Technology (OAT) antifreeze in 1995, and similar chemistry was adopted by Ford under its WSS M97B44–D specification. If I recall correctly, Texaco/Havoline was the original manufacturer of Dex-Cool but it is now made by Prestone, and is available at virtually all auto parts stores, at least in our area. I buy it at Walmart for around $15 per gallon of concentrate. Mixed with a gallon of distilled water from Walmart ($1), I get two gallons of 50/50 for about $16 plus sales tax.

Another option is Ford Motorcraft Orange antifreeze, available at Ford dealerships, which is identical to Jaguar DJLM 20972.

You were very wise to not put the Zerex G-05 into your Jaguar! Yesterday I flushed the heater core of a 2013 Jeep Wrangler that was clogged up really well. For years, Chrysler used HOAT antifreeze (of which Zerex G-05 is a common example). But in 2013 Chrysler switched to orange OAT coolant in at least some of its vehicles, including this Jeep. Apparently many technicians in Chrysler service departments continued to top up OAT vehicles with the old HOAT coolant. After seeing the white goo that came out of the heater core on this Jeep, I decided I had to flush the entire cooling system, and I also discovered that the thermostat was stuck open, which may have been related to the adverse coolant interaction.

Just a note for owners of earlier X100s that were originally filled with yellow Jaguar D542 (DOW 542) coolant (as shown in the Vehicle Specification Booklet that fmertz linked to): Zerex G-05 is NOT D542. I have studied the Material Safety Data Sheets for the two products and they are not the same. All of the additives and corrosion inhibitors are different. If I recall correctly, Jaguar eventually advised completely flushing D542 cars and converting them to orange OAT.

Cheers,

Don

 

My typing was really bad this morning, Sorry about that you guys. But I think you got what I meant.

It looks like the orange with the M97B44-D (hope I spelled that right) is what I will go with. Just hope I can get it with our water already added.

Thanks Guys.

 

jusr curious, why go with the pre-mix ? Pretty easy to add the correct H2O isn’t it ? And much cheaper.

Z

 

What's the story with the so-called Universal Anti-Freeze that is claimed to be compatible with both "yellow" and "green"?

 

No such animal as "universal" coolant regardless of color. Ensure that whatever coolant you purchase meets the required specs called for in your owners manual....

 

as long as the water is distilled. even with proper proportions i have seen a lot of problems with the use of municipal water sources to dilute the stock coolant.

 

yes, distilled & de-ionized water is always recommended.

I don’t know of anyone suggesting that tap water be used. We even knew that in the cave man days of the 1960’s.

the point being, using the 50/50 premix is the same as paying $10.00 or more per gallon for distilled water. And no guarantee that the manufacturer is using the proper water either.

Z

 

yep, most of us here know it. to this day i still see people get out the garden hose. even caught an auto-body repair shop doing this with a client's car recently.

 

Since de-ionized water can contain minerals, distilled water is what most manufacturers recommend since its mineral content should be negligible.

 

once again I’ve misused my native English . I meant to say one should use H2O that is BOTH distilled and de-ionized. Although if I could only get distilled water it wouldn’t bother me to use it.

Z

 

I don't know of a source in our area for water that is both distilled and de-ionized, so I just use distilled, which costs about USD $1.00 per gallon at Walmart.

 

wheni lived in a much larger city, I bought it, distilled & type 2 deionized water from a chemical supply business (which suppplied private and corporate laboratories, etc). Admittedly not accessible like the Wal-Mart’s are. Thinking it over, I’m doubting I can find it now that I’m living in town of only 35.000 population.

As pointed out, Regular Walmart distilled water will work just fine

Z