Questions on Swapping to ELC Coolant

true98jeep · Jul 4, 2014

I have a few questios for the experts here and those that have experience. My truck was in last year and had the head studs done and oil cooler swapped out at 70K just because I wanted to bulletproof the truck. Absoluetly no issues what so ever ECT EOT was excellent no delta's no worries. Now when the truck was put back together they used Ford Gold Coolant. I have been wanting to swap it out to ELC coolant when i come home in 2 weeks and will get to use the truck for a month before leaving again. What do I need to do in order to swap from Ford Gold to ELC I will be using the Zerex HD concentrated got 6 gallons for 86 bucks. Do i need to use Restore to clean the system when i have not been having any issues at all? I don't want to run the risk of clogging a perfectly fine oil cooler. The truck has had a coolant filter on it now for about 2 years anyways and have been serviced regularly. Can i simply just drain my system and flush the gold out with distilled water and refill with the ELC? I have a fear is I use the restore and the restore + I may break apart sludge and rust that hasn't been an issue at all. Or should I just not even mess with it at all since it is not giving me any problems? What is the general consensus? All help is greatly appreciated. Thanks guys for your input.

black'n'blue · Jul 4, 2014

I was interested in doing this as well. Im lucky enough to live close to Marty's diesel and spoke to him about this. He told me to put on a coolant bypass filter, which you already have. He said to drain the coolant out of the radiator as well as take the plug out of the block by the starter. I believe it takes a torx or hex bit. You can't miss it. He showed me on a motor he already had pulled out of another truck. He also said I could pull the hoses o ff of the heater core and pour distilled water into them to flush those lines as well. Once drained, put plug back in and you should be able to fit 6 gallons of water in it. If you didn't do the plug, then probably only 4 gallons. He told me to do this at least 4 times and everything would be fine. Hope this helps.

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true98jeep · Jul 4, 2014

OK great so we don't necessarily need to run a cleaner through the system if we are not having problems? I just put in a brand new radiator as well literally my dad installed in last week so I know that has not been gunned up at all either. Thanks for the help!

black'n'blue · Jul 4, 2014

No prob. Marty told me since my delta's were in check, and I just had a new oil cooler put in the truck, I would be fine. Also I just saw that in my last post I forgot to mention you need to drive the truck, for around 10 miles between flushings. That gets the thermostat to open up.

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DEEZUZ · Jul 4, 2014

Your looking at flushing about 30 gallons through.

Take the t Stat out, drain radiator, drain block, which is a 8mm Allen. It's best to have a vacuum fill system to refill the coolant. Let rum 15 mins each time with heat on, sometimes varying the throttle.

The vacuum fill is key.

true98jeep · Jul 4, 2014

Hmmm vacuum fill I don't see happing I don't think where we are. I will tell my dad to start buying up all the distilled water he can find over the next 2 weeks haha.

Jake · Jul 4, 2014

I vacuum fill mine, if you have a hand vacuum pump like a mighty vac, you can fill then keep pumping on it to pull the voids and bubbles out. You basically just need a stopper that will fit your radiator cap with two hoses through it one for vac and one to fill.

true98jeep · Jul 4, 2014

How long does it take to do this ? So you would drain the system completely then do you fill it as much as possible before connecting up the vacuum system used? I could look at constructing one or getting a mightyvac possibly. I have a motive power bleeder but not a mightyvac I am not against adding new resources to the shop though.