Powerboost engine coolant

[Whitelight23]

My '23 PB has just under 30,000 miles and I noticed the coolant reservoir tank was below the MIN line. I took it to the local Ford dealer and they could not provide any reason for the loss of coolant. I also asked which coolant is the correct one for the engine, the one that is low. The PB has 2 coolant reservoirs, 1 for the hybrid system is green and the other for the engine is pink or orange. The mechanic said that after coolant runs through the engine it will change colors. That is hard for me to believe.

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[HammaMan]

Both reservoirs use the green (aka yellow). Coolant evaporates through the hoses. Nothing of concern present.

 

[JohnTrigger]

This is what the owners manual for 23 PB says for coolant. It is the Yellow type VC-13.:

https://www.fordservicecontent.com/...A&div=f&vFilteringEnabled=False&buildtype=web

Wait til cold engine. Open the cap and fill to max with diluted coolant- you can buy it pre diluted or buy it concentrated and dilute it yourself 50/50 with distilled water from the grocery store. After you’ve topped it off then watch it and see if it stays good.

 

[JohnTrigger]

Motorcraft stopped making the Orange VC-3 about 2020. But VC-13 replaces VC-3

 

[Trogdor]

It takes the yellow… attached is a screenshot from the owners manual. My reservoir is a bit low too, I just picked up a gallon of it from the local O’Reilly’s

 

[UGADawg96]

Normal. Get some yellow premix.

https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/coolant-low-and-changing-color.20407/

 

[Mosey]

Color change is normal. Both tanks take yellow. The largest reservoir is the main coolant loop and the change in color occurs from heat cycles.

 

[Vater]

My '23 PB has just under 30,000 miles and I noticed the coolant reservoir tank was below the MIN line. I took it to the local Ford dealer and they could not provide any reason for the loss of coolant. I also asked which coolant is the correct one for the engine, the one that is low. The PB has 2 coolant reservoirs, 1 for the hybrid system is green and the other for the engine is pink or orange. The mechanic said that after coolant runs through the engine it will change colors. That is hard for me to believe.

As a suggestion, the fact that it’s low with a vehicle that is not that old is a bit concerning for me. You can go ahead and add the right coolant to fill it back up and that’s fine. But what I would also do is I would pull an oil sample and send it to Blackstone lab or Speed diagnostics and have them look at that oil sample to make sure there isn’t coolant in the oil because if there is coolant in the oil then you’ve got a head gasket issue and that coolant is getting into the motor and that’s not good. Otherwise it’s possible that you’ve got a leak of some coolant somewhere else but at the minimum I would be checking the oil.

 

[Severdog]

I just topped mine up at 31K using the yellow premix. It turns orange with use.

 

[PB2021]

Check around your heat exchanger. Common for many to develop leak at fittings. It is going somewhere so keep an eye on it.

 

[HammaMan]

As a suggestion, the fact that it’s low with a vehicle that is not that old is a bit concerning for me. You can go ahead and add the right coolant to fill it back up and that’s fine. But what I would also do is I would pull an oil sample and send it to Blackstone lab or Speed diagnostics and have them look at that oil sample to make sure there isn’t coolant in the oil because if there is coolant in the oil then you’ve got a head gasket issue and that coolant is getting into the motor and that’s not good. Otherwise it’s possible that you’ve got a leak of some coolant somewhere else but at the minimum I would be checking the oil.

It's not age, it's miles. 30k miles is not "new".

 

[Vater]

It's not age, it's miles. 30k miles is not "new".

I have 30 K miles on my F150 power boost Limited and I didn’t see that level of discoloration in the main coolant tank. So for me it looks like someone might’ve added coolant to that main reservoir and it wasn’t the right coolant, but that shouldn’t really be too problematic with most coolant being Formulated for aluminum components. What concerns me more is why did that level drop so much because even at 30 K that’s still not that old to see fluid drop like that. It’s possible that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it but that coolant discoloration just doesn’t add up to me.

 

[HammaMan]

Glad to have you contributing to the forum. It's unfortunate that search sucks, else you'd understand this to be normal. My truck is nearly 3 years old, but only has around 8k on it and the 2 reservoirs are drastically different colors.

 

[jrparker99]

Check around your heat exchanger. Common for many to develop leak at fittings. It is going somewhere so keep an eye on it.

I'll second this - my 2022 Powerboost was losing coolant, and the main reservoir kept getting low after topping it off. I had the heat exchanger fittings fixed twice in the first ~15k miles. Haven't had a problem since the second repair.

 

[Gros Ventre]

Never liked the looks of the engine circuit coolant. Had a chemical analysis done on it and specifically asked them to look for exhaust residue. Results? All was fine even given the discoloration. It has remained at the low mark on the tank wall.

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