Coolant system capacity/type question

[Texas6.0]

Hey guys I'm about to do a coolant system flush on my truck this weekend for preventative maintenance and was wondering what the capacity of the coolant system is and what type of coolant I should use.

I googled it and searched on the forums and could not find the answers to my questions. I want to know the capacity so I know how much coolant/distilled water to buy. My truck came with GREEN coolant when I bought it [used] and that's what I put in it when I replaced my cracked coolant reservoir. I have read something about having to use Motorcraft Gold coolant, are there any negatives to running green coolant?

[Texas6.0]

[Raul@Stealth Automotive]

from the amsoil site for your truck
Cooling System, Initial Fill..........28.0 quarts

[bigbomar4]

The only negative that I know of is you need to keep your eye on your dca (diesel coolant additive) when you add coolant. Red coolants are considered extended maintenance because they already have dca in them. But most red coolants come mixed 50/50 so you are paying for half a gallon for water. You can also can get orange coolant (dexcool) which is in most gm products but Im not sure what it will do in diesels but I have seen it an quite a few of the smaller diesel engines and they are not showing any problems. (yet)

[Texas6.0]

Cool, thanks guys.

[dhanna6powerstroke]

Originally Posted by Texas6.0

Hey guys I'm about to do a coolant system flush on my truck this weekend for preventative maintenance and was wondering what the capacity of the coolant system is and what type of coolant I should use.

I googled it and searched on the forums and could not find the answers to my questions. I want to know the capacity so I know how much coolant/distilled water to buy. My truck came with GREEN coolant when I bought it [used] and that's what I put in it when I replaced my cracked coolant reservoir. I have read something about having to use Motorcraft Gold coolant, are there any negatives to running green coolant?

I don't know what the difference is between the 04 and 05 but my owners manual is showing the capacity at 26.0 quarts. It will show you your capacity in the owners manual or diesel supplement manual if you have one. When you flush the system ad refill it, don't fill it to the line on the degas bottle. Ford came out with a recall or TSB about lowering the coolant level to help prevent puking coolant out of the degas bottle. It definetely needs to have the gold coolant in it and mixing it with other coolant or refilling with a totally different coolant can cause degraded corrosion protection. Has something to do with the EGR system on these trucks I believe. If I am wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me but that is what the diesel tech told me at the dealership where I worked. Hope this helps some.