don't know about what coolant to add

Somebody help me pleeeezzzeee...

I know NOTHING about cars ,really.I am a middle aged lady trying to not screw up my car,I need to add coolant to my 99 windstar.What is the right one?Even my manual doesn't say,just says if I add the wrong one it's gonna be a baaadd scene.Looking at it,it appears to be practically nothing in there! It looks orangy brown through the reservoir,what there is of it.No guys,I am not kidding,I can do lot of things as good as you all,but I am a baby when it comes to cars! I have recently been victimized by an ex who poured power steering fluid in my brake fluid reservoir.All I could think of to do was get some tubing,apply suction and drain the reservoir.Added new brake fluid,don't think it is gonna fix the damage,but hoping it will slow down the destruction of my brake system.Can y'all help me? This same ex did a brake job a year ago,and when he was done,the pedal had to go nearly to the floor to stop the car.He claims bleeding brakes is not needed,but I ,even though I know nothing know it has to be done sometimes.Also,how do you put on rear brakes? Or is this something I should just forget about and start saving for a whole new system,or car?

Unfortunately your 99 Windstar is pretty specific that you should not use orange extended life coolant, which sounds like it might have been used in yours. And at this point mixing coolants may degrade the coolant's corrosion protection. Just adding the right type of coolant might not be best here, you probably need to flush the entire system before putting in the right coolant. You could take it somewhere (make sure they aren't just draining the radiator) or buy one of the flush kits.

The coolant you need is any ethylene glycol-based coolant that meets the Ford specification ESE-M97B44-A, which sometimes they will print on the back label. I think the Prestone 50/50 Pre-diluted coolant has that spec printed on the back, not sure.

I would suggest a Haynes manual or something similar for your car. It will detail how to replace the rear brakes but it is an involved job. The Haynes will be a valuable source of information.

Bleeding brakes is not difficult but and is a lot easier with 2 people. I wouldn't mess around though if the incorrect fluid was used. Replace it (even if you have to bleed it through the system).

[QUOTE=pattineedshelp]Somebody help me pleeeezzzeee...

Thanks,yes, the same person who I believe messed up by not bleeding brakes(and also suspect to be the one who put the power steering fluid in the brake reservoir)is also the one who last put coolant in my car...using what appears to be orangey brown
I am gonna have to find something or someone to help me bleed the brake system,though i have been told once somebody puts power steering fluid in there,you need to replace the whole brake system.Is there anybody out there who's system survived this?

before you decide that the wrong coolant has been used, with the engine cold remove the radiator cap and see what color the coolant is there.

The orange you see in the recovery bottle may be rust and other debris. If the coolant in the radiator is green and clean you can remove the hose that connects the radiator neck (where the cap is) to the coolant bottle and flush the bottle out with a garden hose.

When the bottle is clean, let it drain out and replace the hose you removed and fill the bottle half way with Prestone 50/50.

Keep an eye on the coolant bottle for a few weeks, if the orange color returns you should have the entire cooling system flushed and refilled.

For the 99 the cap on the recovery bottle (or degas bottle as Ford calls it) is the only cap, there is no cap on top of the radiator.

Even if the incorrect coolant was used from what I understand it should be okay. I assume the concern is whether someone has used Dex-cool (5 year orange stuff) in place of the standard (2 year green stuff) for topping it up. My wife's GM came with dex-cool and the warning we have is that if it is mixed with any amount of the green stuff then the coolant as a whole defaults to a 2 year life.

Of course there are many who feel that the dex-cool is responsible for gasket failures in GM products but that hasn't been proven yet and of course there is always the issue of the possibility that the gaskets in Ford's were not designed with Dex-cool in mind.

If you do want to replace it which you should do every couple of years anyway use the lower rad hose to drain and flush with a hose (or refill with clean water and drain a couple of times and you should be set to refill. It really is only a 2 hour job. You need about 2 bottles of coolant and tap water.

You may be right that it merely removes the benefits of proplyene glycol antifreeze and you still have to change it more often. But I'll play it safe since Ford specifically says not to use it in their vehicles, and their documentation and other sites hint that if you do not completely flush out the ethylene glycol the mixing of the different types of inhibitors between the two can result in aluminum corrosion.

Then again you find just as many sites that say they are perfectly safe to mix but you lose the longer life. For now I'll listen to Ford's TSB saying not to use it in their vehicles.

Good call Lewis.....................Better safe then sorry.

I think that if there is any doubt change it.