Really Confused on Engine Flushing

[mward3]

I have a 2006, F350 Superduty 6.0L. Stock except for egr. The more I read on the forums the more confused I become about flushing the engine.
Some say get the gold out at all costs, use chemicals (R & R+) then put in the Cat approved red stuff. Others say just use distilled water then put in red coolant. Others say put gold back in. I want to put the red in but am confused about flushing out system to not clog oil cooler. Please help because my head is starting to hurt with all this conflicting info!

Mike

[Six0~Stroker]

Originally Posted by mward3

I have a 2006, F350 Superduty 6.0L. Stock except for egr. The more I read on the forums the more confused I become about flushing the engine.
Some say get the gold out at all costs, use chemicals (R & R+) then put in the Cat approved red stuff. Others say just use distilled water then put in red coolant. Others say put gold back in. I want to put the red in but am confused about flushing out system to not clog oil cooler. Please help because my head is starting to hurt with all this conflicting info!

Mike

You NEVER do the option in Red color!!!

You need to decide between flushing and changing to ELC Coolant or Leaving Ford Gold...


The next thing we need to know are your deltas

Once we get those we can help you make the best decision

[mward3]

I knew I would forget some info. May ECT and EOT run in the mid to high 190 degrees sometimes about 204 but usually the delta averages about 6*. From what I have read I don't think this is to bad.

Thanks,

Mike

[Six0~Stroker]

That delta is Fine



The following is MY OPINION...
(This is becasue I flushed a good oil cooler and clogged it when I should have just ran with it)


So, my opininon is stick with Ford Gold coolant until your oil cooler starts getting clogged... around 10-12* differences.

When it gets there, (which may be a long time) flush with chemicals and put in ELC coolant.

Don't clog a healthy oil cooler now


What I will suggest is putting NEW Ford gold coolant in and putting a coolant filter on your truck.
Imagine this...at this time Just spending $125 on a coolant filter might save your oil cooler I believe that is the MAIN priority for you right now!!!

[Lilfarmrboy]

Why wouldn't he want to do whats in the red color? Just curious not trying to complain...

[Six0~Stroker]

Because if you ever want to change the type of coolant in the system there needs to be a flush process including chemicals to clean out the system fully..

(We don't want to be mixing different types of coolant in the system)


So... it's either flush with chemicals or dont change the TYPE of coolant


Hope that made sense

[Lilfarmrboy]

Cool beans... I kept the gold in my truck, my deltas were to dang good to be messing anything up. I did flush the system with distilled water until I saw it run clear then drained as much of the water as I could then put gold back in. This was after I had a filter installed for about 7.5k miles or so. The coolant that came out looked very clean to me. The coolant that is in there now is very clean as well. My truck has a rebuilt 6.0 in it though so I wonder if that makes a difference in how much casting sand will get stired up in the coolant system...

[Lilfarmrboy]

BTW, did anyone see where International now says that we should be doing 25k mile flushes if we are using the Ford Gold Coolant? It was on Diesel Power(s) website.

[Six0~Stroker]

IDK but you did a good thing by putting a coolant filter on... I have learned that(at a cost..)


Don't want the OP to go through what I did because of lazyness/stupidity

[Lilfarmrboy]

To the OP: My advice is you can leave in the Gold for now if your deltas are fine... no need to mess up something and have to put more money into it if you don't have to. I would flush the system with distilled, after you do remove your drain plugs on the sides of the block and open your radiator plug and drain that as well to get most of the water out, but you wont get it all out. Then add the Gold, about 4 gallons should do it since there will be enough distilled water left in the system to make up for the difference. The system takes 7 gallons total. When your oil cooler starts to go then I would go ahead and flush with chemicals and put in the red and run it for a month or so (becareful to watch your temps so you don't blow your head gaskets) then swap out the oil cooler with either a Ford OEM or the much better Bullet Proof Diesel kit (but more $$$ as well) Just my .02 cents.