Coolant Test Question....

[s d mills]

Picked up test strips from the IH dealer, but dummy me didn't think to ask for a comparator card. Compared the strip to my pool test color card and the only thing that comes close to matching up is the purple pad....8.2 pH. Bad picture but can I get a little help?

Thanks, folks....

 

[roosterdiesel]

You really need to get the card! The colors are so close I wouldn't trust myself unless I was comparing side by side.

 

[95_stroker]

Yup, go back and get the card. No sense in guessing on something like this.

 

[s d mills]

Thanks anyhow....Soon as I decide which coolant to go with, I'm going to change it out. How I bought this truck is weird as well as dumb in a way on my part, but I've got to establish an accurate service baseline to work with because the history is questionable. I'm gonna look through this site's vendors and supply-up on the other necessaries as well as test strips.

Dealer was out of strips....one of the parts guys mentioned he couldn't remember when he last sold or ordered them. I didn't want to pay $42 for a filter so went to IH (across the street from my plant) to get a Racor. IH was out of filters and test strip 4-packs, but a tech there said he'd let me have a few. Guess I'm greedy....so happy to get something from a dealership for free I hugged them close to my chest, along with the two bottles of DC-4 I bought, and weasel-scurried out the door. Totally spaced the strips would be worthless without the card. Had to pick up some stuff for the Festy and happened to spot a Motorcraft oil filter at Wally*World for $9.91 out the door.

BTW....y'all checked out the preferred coolant thread over at the other site? Helluva mess for a noob to try and sort through. Prime example why I've been hanging out over here.

Regards,

 

[roosterdiesel]

Dealer was out of strips....one of the parts guys mentioned he couldn't remember when he last sold or ordered them.

That's scary! I'm going with Evans coolant when the ole pocket book is fat enough.

 

[roosterdiesel]

Wait a minute, you have an '02 right? I thought they came with the G-05 "gold" coolant. Wonder if whoever put the green in put any SCA in it.

 

[s d mills]

I don't know about the coolant other than what I drained looks good. I seem to recall reading the '02 could have either in it from the factory. Mfg date is 02/02 on the door pillar sticker. One of my buddies in the club is a dealer tech over in NY and ran Oasis on it....no info. Oasis revealed only one issue....fuel line leak repaired under warranty.

Dealer said it's one owner, they originally sold and delivered it, and they did all the service work except for one instance....they don't know. As for this dealer/service....they threw in a "free" service with the sale and I had them pull the fresh airbox off afterwards....really cruddy air filter. I'm pretty much flyin' blind here until I can track down the previous owner.

 

[jvencius]

That's scary! I'm going with Evans coolant when the ole pocket book is fat enough.

Ditto--next year at about this time, I'll hit the 5-year service interval for the gold coolant (well before 100K on the odometer, though, but I'm running on the severe service maintenance schedule) and I'll be switching to Evans coolant at that point. It seems to have some definite advantages, so while I'm at it, I'll swap out all the heater/radiator hoses, just for peace of mind.

 

[95_stroker]

Sam,

If you want it, I think I can scrounge up a fleet gaurd test strip comparator.

Mike

 

[dpantazis]

its somewhere online

i thought i had it but can;t find it right now.

i found it at fleetguards site-
http://www.fleetguard.com/fleet/en/products/en_prod_fg_cool_ctest.jsp

and it was an instruction page with the reference colors and procedure.

SWMBO is on me, i gotta go. perhaps someone else can find it in the meantime.

dennis