coolant flush??

muzbomb · Jan 2, 2013

Hey guys I got a 09 F350 6.4L that is modded since 28,000KM. I know have 118,000KM i always to my preventitive maintenance. Only thing i have not done is flush my coolant system?? Just wondering i have heard so many different storys yes do it and no waist of money. Should i flush my coolent system or not?? good idea?? What you guys think

Heavyhaul · Jan 2, 2013

I would recommend it myself. I just did a drain and fill including the block. I also like to use distilled water in my mixture. The coolant takes a lot of heat. Its a small cost compared to egr coolers, oil cooler, and front cover.

Rivets are the new duct tape.

muzbomb · Jan 2, 2013

Ok ya that is what i kind of thought also. How much distilled water jugs and how much coolent it take?? I will problably buy all the stuff and take it to a buddy to do seeing i have zero time for anything.

Heavyhaul · Jan 2, 2013

Its been awhile but im thinking 4 of each. Mixed 50/50. You can drain the block from the left hand side in the back. There is a allen plug that can be unscrewed from the block.

Rivets are the new duct tape.

muzbomb · Jan 2, 2013

Oh ok right on thanks man. So they can still flush everything even though i have my EGR delete done?

Heavyhaul · Jan 3, 2013

Yeah. Its just one less circuit. I have never liked the flush machines on the diesels. You have to idle them forever to get the thermostats to open and hope they stay open till its done. If it were contaminated I would say yes. Thats just me though.

Rivets are the new duct tape.

muzbomb · Jan 16, 2013

Thanks man i am going to do the flush on Jan24th. Hope all goes well.

Big Angry Hillbilly · Jan 17, 2013

I would stray from the Ford gold antifreeze, the maxxforce engines in heavier applications uses the EC-1 compatible coolant (it's red/pink) and we seldom see oil coolers plugging up on the larger engines with the stacked plate coolers.

Just my .02, if you're going to go to the trouble of flushing completely you might as well switch to the other antifreeze. Not that most guys would leave it in that long but it is apparently good for an obscene amount of mileage.

I'm doing mine next week when I swap out the radiator.

If you have the EGR deleted as well and you're going to have the cooling system open now might be a good time to pop the thermostats out and take a look at them or replace them also.

muzbomb · Jan 17, 2013

Ok how many thermostats are there? How hard are they to get out or at? Are they pricey to replace? Where can a guy get this coolant? I live in Canada. Thanks

01PSD · Jan 17, 2013

We've changed coolant ourselves twice now.. and each time we only ended up using like 3 gallons of coolant and 3 gallons of water :shrug: It's so hard to get it all out of the block and radiator, etc.

muzbomb · Jan 17, 2013

01PSD said:
We've changed coolant ourselves twice now.. and each time we only ended up using like 3 gallons of coolant and 3 gallons of water :shrug: It's so hard to get it all out of the block and radiator, etc.

so it is probably not a good idea to switch brands if you cant get one flushed completely out I am guessing??

01PSD · Jan 17, 2013

Meh.. that's what they say.. but I didn't want to put the green $hit the previous owner had in it back in it. Nor did I want to use the Gold

superduty6.4 · Jan 17, 2013

muzbomb said:
so it is probably not a good idea to switch brands if you cant get one flushed completely out I am guessing??

I switched over to the rotella elc. It has the ec-1 rating. Got it at Canadian tire. I just did a bunch of fill and drain flushes with tap water and then the same with distilled water. I took a couple days and brought the truck up to 190 ect each time to make sure the thermostats opened and cleaned everything out. I didn't use any chemicals and it has been issue free for about 14,000 kms now.

muzbomb · Jan 18, 2013

So what you guys recommend to use?

superduty6.4 · Jan 18, 2013

Alot of people recommend any ec-1 rated coolant if you're going to flush. It doesn't require any nitrate monitoring like the ford gold. I'm a long ways from a coolant pro though and just went by experiences of other guys.