Time to change Coolant at 32,200 miles?

[gch]

I have a 98 club wagon PSD with 32,300 miles on it. A couple of questions..

1. What sort of coolant comes from the factory. Mine is original, but it's not the ford blue stuff. I'd think that they would put the best in from the factory, am I wrong?

2. I used the test strips from DIS. I tested it twice, just to be sure. The reading comes in between 2.8 and 3.5 . Should I change it?
I already bought the pints of inhibitor from ford (Three bottles) and some extra live prestone.

3. Is the extra life prestone ok to use? It says it meets or exceeds ford specs for WSS-M97B44-D. It was a couple of bucks more per gallon, I thought it must be better VBG.

Gordon

[gch]

Whewww...I just searched the site for info on this, and man, there are tons of opinions. It seems that the general opinion is NOT to use Extended life. I must say here that I still intended to change my coolant about every 30k, but I thought it might be better being low silicate. After searching, I am thinking that I'll just go get the navstar stuff.

Gordon

[Snotzalot]

>I am thinking that I'll just go get the navstar stuff.


You are driving a 98 so your vehicle may be able to use the extended life antifreeze. just make sure it's rated for diesel. I understand Cat sells some premix extended life that's pretty decent.

If you use an antifreeze that's not a premix, make sure you use distilled bottled water for the blend. Do not use tap water.

[gch]

I have three bottles of ford additive FW-16)
Six gallons of distilled water, and three bottles of Prestone Extended life. After reading all of those posts, Im afraid to use it. I think I'll go get the heavy duty stuff.

Gordon

[Snotzalot]

Read this:

http://www.asclepius.com/carpentract...sysservice.htm

and:

http://www.asclepius.com/carpentractor/elcaddendum.htm