My coolant flush. Different from the norm.

[obsidian]

Ok, read it half a million times on the coolant flushing and my buddy is a good technician and he read it also. He is also a SUPER CHEAP *** (yes you cale) but he finds good info.

Our engine is built and designed by international. He called international looking for the restore and restore + VC9 whatever. Those guys had no clue what he was talking about. He told them it was to flush his cooling system. The dude laughed and said...

"Man we just use Cascade."

Wait... wut? The dish washing detergent?

"Yessir. I'm looking at a big box of it right now"

After that he called a ton of professional diesel shops and companies. Cat, International, Peterbilt. You name it and he called it. Almost all the shops said the same thing.

So my buddy and his cheap thinking says "If those big companies are using that stuff with no ill effects, then why the hell should I?" And he did it. His steps.

1. Dump old coolant and disposed of properly.
2. Removed thermostat from housing and reinstalled only the housing.
3. Filled with water from water hose.
4. Ran for a bit with heater on full bore.
5. Dumped water.
6. Filled with water and added about a cup of cascade.
7. Left radiator drain open and filled with water hose. It will fill up.
8. Start truck and run at idle while keeping the coolant tank topped off and draining the water/cascade mix.
9. Do this until test water from radiator drain comes out clear with no soap suds.
10. Drained fully and topped off with Cat ELC.

So far, absolutely no ill effects. It hasn't been a long time but when my 2nd truck came around, I needed to do the same thing. Only I did mine a bit different to speed along the process and I also added a different chemical.

1. Drained old coolant (Green prestone most likely)
2. Removed thermostat from housing and reinstalled housing.
3. Filled with water hose water.
4. Ran for a bit with heater on full bore and the bottom drain open.
5. Drained all water. I took samples as I drained and saw quite a bit of particles. The first sample was horrible! All kinds of sand and other junk.
6. Added Cascade and filled with hose water.
7. Ran for about 30-45 minutes at idle with bottom drain open and taking samples occasionally.
8. Shut truck off and removed lower radiator hose.
9. Removed upper radiator hose from radiator. Left on thermostat housing.
10. Stuck hose into top radiator hose and just ran on full bore for about 15 minutes and took samples. Last sample came out as clear water. This flushed this particular part of the engine.
11. Stuck hose into coolant tank and let it run on full bore for 10-15 minutes and took samples. Last sample came clear.
12. Stuck hose into top radiator port and let run for nearly 30 minutes. The water was clear but I kept getting particles. I believe the radiator is the main catcher of this junk.
13. Buttoned up all hoses and closed the drain. Topped off with Zerex Super Cleaner. Left thermostat out. Filled with hose water and drove around for about 1 hour.
14. Dumped contents of system. Filled with fresh water and ran at idle for a bit with lower drain open and coolant tank cap removed. Kept topped off.
15. After about 20 minutes of this and taking samples I needed to speed up the process.
16. Shut off truck. Removed lower hose from radiator port and upper hose from radiator port.
17. Flushed upper hose into engine until clear sample was made.
18. Flushed coolant tank until clear sample was made.
19. Flushed radiator from top until clear sample was made. I got TONS of particles from this. Flushed for a good 20 minutes.
20. Topped off with Cat ELC and swapped coolant filter for a fresh one.

So far so good. My delta has not exceeded 9 degrees since this and I'll be keeping a constant eye on it.

I am FULLY AWARE that this is not the norm that is advertised around here. I am also FULLY AWARE that this way is SUPER cheap compared to buying the restore crap which runs almost $40 a bottle!

I have my flame suit on. I am prepared to be argued to death. I just ask you to call your local diesel shops and ask them what they use. I am aware they don't have silicates in most of their coolants. I remind you that once the oil cooler is clogged, it's pretty much done for and you need to change it out anyway.

I hope this helps out a lot of you guys as it did for me and my buddy. I will be doing this for anyone who asks me to help them. I condone this for now and until my cooler or my friends blows up with them being in a known good condition (his has 180k miles on it) then I will continue to do such.

Happy wrench turning Powerstrokers.

-Brandon

[Need4racin]

Also something to add, refill with distilled water. I don't know about you, but my city water is absolute crap.

[obsidian]

Meh, I stated water hose water because that is what we used. The distilled water is cheap but a PITA to do. And I went through A METRIC TON of water. That distilled water would be eaten through in no time. The amount of hose water left in the system when you're adding the cat ELC is not very much.

[dannanw]

me likes!!!! CAT/JD here also does the same thing BTW

[mah77]

Way to venture outside the box. Curious to hear the long term outcome. Keep us posted.

[2 stroker]

I have used Cascade washing detergent in a few Cat loaders when we lost an oil cooler, cuts the oil real good with a ton of water but the slim form the Ford Gold may be something different hope it works
2 stroker

[obsidian]

I understand the cooler being clogged up and there not being any silicates in the diesel coolant, but the cascade with the force of the zerex super clean should really get anything that can be gotten.

I will keep this updated but I honestly don't expect to see anything bad. My delta got lower since the coolant flush I performed.

[Rattlesnake18]

AWESOME INFO!!! I have been considering the change myself, but as always, I think there has got to be another way. Thanks for the post, I will be watching this thread closely!!

[proudfordowner]

Subscribed.. Interesting read...
Stephen

[cyclonestroker]

I had also heard of the cascade method also. I am still undecided if i'll use it though when i do my flush this spring.