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Advice on coolant flush with thermostat and coolant filter install

7K views 24 replies 9 participants last post by  Danner717 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello everyone. Im new to diesels and working on my truck and Im looking for any advice or tips and tricks. This weekend my friend and I plan on doing a coolant flush, new Mishimoto thermostat housing with high temp thermostat and install a Mishimoto coolant filter.

Truck currently has some unknown green coolant in it and Im going to replace it with Rotella ELC. I plan on doing a couple hose water flushes then follow with about 5 distilled water flushes. I've been reading about putting some Cascade in on first flush to help dissolve any silicate goo that might be in there hanging out. Anyone do this? I might give that a try. Im sure I can manage this part from all the stuff I read about doing flushes.

This is the part I would like any advice on since this looks like a little more work involved than the flush. Doing the thermostat kind of worries me because of the tight area in there to work with the fuel line and the EBP sensor being right there. The current thermostat holds temps around 175-185 under normal driving. I bought the new Mishimoto thermostat housing with the high temp thermostat installed in it when they had their pre sale going on for the housing. I decided to just go with the whole thing because of all the stuff I read about people having issues with the thermostat not fitting the older housing correctly since Im certain I have the original housing from 2004, like everything else that's still original on my truck. I plan on removing the thermostat before doing the flushes and then installing the new housing and thermostat and coolant filter before I add the ELC.

The coolant filter install looks fairly simple to do so I should be ok with that.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
And sorry if I made too long of a post.
 
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#2 ·
Sounds like you have a fun day planned ahead. having some block drains will come in handy, if your going to spend all that time flushing it out, mind as well capitalize on getting the most out of it.

Fumoto F-108N
if you dont allready have two, also rubber o-rings can be purchased to discarded the factor gaskets they come with. If you ask others member probably have testimony on gasket integrity.
 
#3 ·
Recommend reading Nylyons writeup/stickey on this. I did my flush from gold to rotella elc earlier this year. I dropped the original coolant (use catch pan/bucket). Followed with a couple tap flusehes opening radiator drain, drivers side block drain, and lower radiator hose each flush. Ithen used cascade DIshwasher Liquid with dawn (half bottle) diluted with distilled water. Ran truck about 90 mins on high idle (this was summer so temps were around195 on SG2). Then using Nylyon's guide, reversed flush the heater core, radiator, and oil cooler. I then did 5 distilled flushes before adding 3gal of rotella ELCconcentrate. No issue with deltas before, just 175k on truck and orig oil cooler, plus gold coolant. Deltas have dropped a degree or two and cools faster at a stop or before shutting down. Used this process from Nylyon, Zmann, and couple youtube videos. Best of luck and apologize for typos - just had elbow surgery.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the replies. Im not going to have time to get the drain valves before this weekend and this will be the only weekend I have to do it for a while and I want to get this done before it gets too cold. So I will just have to manage without them.
 
#5 ·
Life's gonna suck without drain valves. The block drain plugs are M16x1.5. If you can rig anything else up between your local hydraulic supplier, hardware store, and chain auto parts store, you will be glad that you did.
 
#6 ·
Ill manage I guess. I probably wont even bother with the block drain and just drain the radiator. I know it will take longer but oh well I got all day and plenty of beer :grin: :drinking4:
 
#10 ·
^^^ agree.

Not to be discouraging - but so that you know what you are in for - I adapted the following table from a post that I made to a flushing thread a while back.

I'm guessing that draining the radiator yields about 2 gallons of whatever is in the system. The total capacity is roughly 7 gallons. That means that this is the percentage of coolant left inside your system by flush cycle:

Flush #1: 29% distilled + 71% old coolant
Flush #2: 49% distilled + 51% old coolant
Flush #3: 64% distilled + 36% old coolant
Flush #4: 74% distilled + 26% old coolant
Flush #5: 82% distilled + 18% old coolant
Flush #6: 88% distilled + 12% old coolant
Flush #7: 91% distilled + 9% old coolant
Flush #8: 93% distilled + 7% old coolant
Flush #9: 95% distilled + 5% old coolant
Flush #10: 97% distilled + 3% old coolant
Flush #11: 98% distilled + 2% old coolant

If you drain the driver's side block also, the rate of dilution will go up by about 50%. A Fumoto will speed it up.
from: http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/general-6-0l-discussion/1017001-coolant-again.html

Again... just want you to know the math.
 
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#11 ·
You have to drain the block if you want to get rid of the sand and debris in that engine. At least pull the plugs ON BOTH SIDES for your last flush. Pull the starter if you need to but by all means get the $hit out of the block.
If you don't it will make it into the oil cooler I assure you of it.
It's not hard to get the plugs open, it really isn't.

I have done 3 trucks with the Cascade Dishwasher soap. For the machines not the sink. They are low suds and IT WORKS WELL.

I was always amazed at the crap that poured out of the plugs. Keep the hose going and start up the engine a few times to blow the crap out and stir it up.
Will be worth the extra effort !!!!
 
#12 ·
My first flush I did was a chemical flush and I pulled the block plugs once to get the chemicals out. I did probably 10 Radiator only drains with distilled water and running for 45 minutes afterwards. The last drains looked like distilled water coming out of the radiator, but when the fluids were collected in a five gallon bucket, it still had a yellow / gold tint to the fluid.


Within weeks the cooler clogged. My next flush I did I added the Fumoto valves and did a full drain each time.
 
#13 ·
Get the valves, you'll thank us and yourself later or you'll be hearing "I told you so" a lot.
 
#14 ·
Ok thanks for the info guys.
 
#16 ·
Thanks for asking. Unfortunately it didn't go as planned. Snapped the stud off at the thermostat housing. :mad: The nuts that hold the EBP sensor bracket came off easy but the ones holding the housing were on there good. I doubt they were ever taken off by the looks of them. Luckily it didn't break the seal on the housing and its still drivable without any leaking.

Got a late start but the flush went good, just took a little longer since the thermostat was still in but helped some since its stuck open. It was getting late by the end of the flushing and it was dark so I ended up not installing the filter. Ill get that done when the stud is getting fixed and the thermostat put in.

So far so good with the temps. Still hard to tell exactly what the delta is without a good thermostat but the oil and coolant temp seems to be a bit lower since the ELC is in there now and the oil seems to be running cooler than before so hopefully I didn't plug up the cooler. If it does end up clogging up that just gives me an excuse the delete the EGR and do some other goodies.
 
#17 ·
Having now put in my 3rd oil cooler, I'll say the following:

Get the Fumoto valves. I skipped them on my first huge flushing (pulled the plugs) and the video I'll get up later this week will show you how much crap is in there even after a ridiculous amount of flushing. Seriously, it's bad!

I'm now 5 coolant filters in, and I'm still getting crap out of the system!
 
#18 ·
Wow! I didn't get much junk out of mine that I could see laying on the bottom of the buckets but I only drained from the radiator. After breaking off the stud for the thermostat housing I ended up not removing the block drains. I know I should have took them out but when I tried to take out the drivers side drain I couldn't get it to break loose and by the looks of it I doubt it was ever taken out. It was rusted tight and wouldn't budge. Both myself and my friend tried to break it loose but I was scared it would also break somehow. So hopefully my luck is good and I don't have any problems :please: But if it ends up clogging up Ill have it flushed again the right way and that just gives me the excuse to delete the EGR and do other things.
 
#19 ·
The block plugs can be tough, but soak them a few days with some good penetrant and tap them a little with a punch, straight in, like you were trying to drive it in the block, not too hard but just good solid taps to vibrate the threads and break the rust loose. Make sure you have the correct size Allen bit for a 3/8" or 1/2" (better) drive extension and breaker bar. I actually broke mine loose with a ratchet, but not everybody has my immense upper body strength. :hehe: They'll come out. If you have access to air tools, an impact wrench would probably help, but plan to get wet.
 
#21 ·
When I installed the Fumoto valves, the Driver's block was so tight, I could not get it out with an Allen wrench. The Allen receptacle had stripped a little. This was upsetting to me because I had torqued it when I put it in.

I tried metric sizes, and English sizes and also used plenty of penetrant, but the wrench kept slipping. I had started to drill it out the block plug, but drilling was slow going and I tried the Allen again and it came loose. I saved both block plugs, but Fumoto Valves are installed in each. Really do not want to put up with the draining through the block plugs again.
 
#22 ·
Thanks for the info guys. Hopefully I wont have to do a flush again but if I do Ill have my rain coat ready.
 
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