Finally Tackled The Coolant Flush...

[k.thed]

Well I finally got all my materials together today (so I thought, then my carefully laid out plan got sidelined with a fast trip to Walmart to get another 20 gallons of distilled) and did a coolant flush on my truck. Used nylon's writeup as a guideline and it seemed to go well. The Fumoto valve in the block was a lifesaver. Now I don't know if it's just me being really paranoid or really OCD, but I used somewhere in the neighborhood of 63 gallons of water to flush. I've got a MOUNTAIN of empty boxes and jugs. It took every bit of 12 hours to finish. It seems to me that it took wayyyy more flushes to produce clear water after the Restore and Restore +. One question I have that still lingers after this entire ordeal that I hope someone on here.... After my Restore + flush, the fluid that I drained out STUNK to high heaven. It was a yellow-green color. Everything I flushed after using the Restore + smelled bad. I never noticed it before I used it. Even when I felt like I had the cleanest drained water at the end of the day, it still had a funk to it that I can't identify. I'm hoping I've got it as clean as I can before I dropped in the Zerex ELC. It was clean and absoluely clear, but still had a goofy smell about it. I probably flushed that thing a dozen times after the Restore + and every drain got more clear than the previous, but all had that smell. Someone put my mind at ease a little, it's still on edge with my sky high deltas I'm currently babying. Hoping to let this stuff rustle around in the engine for awhile and let my plugged and feeble oil cooler catch any remaining trash before I take it in here in a couple weeks to get the EGR delete and oil cooler done.

I think I'm on the right track here... I sure appreciate all the help I've gotten from all the different members on here. I wouldn't have known anything about what I was doing without this place. I grabbed my big ole' Powerstroke Bible and headed to the shop this morning, and every bit of the info inside it has come from the org. If I had more confidence, I'd tear into this thing myself and do the EGR and oil cooler, but I just don't think I'm quite capable of going that far into this animal without a professional nearby. Maybe someday...

P.S.-- In my first part of my ramblings, I mentioned going to Walmart to get more distilled water because I was concerned about running out before I was satisfied with the flushes coming out. I'm standing in line with a shopping cart with 10 boxes containing 3, 1 gallon jugs of water.
Lady in front of me says, "Oh my gosh, did your well die???"
Me- "Nope, just REALLY thirsty today."

Wish I could explain so I didn't sound like such a fool, but at 4 o'clock today, my sarcasm still shocked me.

[howell_jd]

Good for you. Few things are as satisfying as a tedious job done well and finished.

Jonathan

[k.thed]

Originally Posted by howell_jd

Good for you. Few things are as satisfying as a tedious job done well and finished.

Jonathan

That's no joke. I'm sore and tired, but this is the best feeling I've had in awhile. I'd likely have an aneurysm at the end of the day if I was able to tackle my EGR by myself. Powerstrokegasm.

[colonel angus]

I too got the yellow green smelly funk. I hooked my water heater to the truck and after everything was clean i flushed it with 130 deg. water for almost 30 minutes while the truck ran, we have a water softener so it removes most of the hard residue chlorine iron etc. and then flushed with Distilled.

Also installed the blue spring upgrade and did the FICM repair last week all in 50 deg. weather.

Oh yeah and I'm an OSU Grad 1984


D L

[Galaxie]

Good stuff man! Yea, the flush jobs are easy but crappy due to all the time that is used up. Its not like painting a car where every move looks different. Its not like building a motor where the mods help you go faster.

You get no better looks, no performance gains, but it is so important for our trucks to stay alive!

[GAS]

Did ya install a coolant filter?

[k.thed]

Originally Posted by colonel angus

I too got the yellow green smelly funk. I hooked my water heater to the truck and after everything was clean i flushed it with 130 deg. water for almost 30 minutes while the truck ran, we have a water softener so it removes most of the hard residue chlorine iron etc. and then flushed with Distilled.

Also installed the blue spring upgrade and did the FICM repair last week all in 50 deg. weather.

Oh yeah and I'm an OSU Grad 1984


D L

Glad it wasn't just me! That's awesome that you've got hot water that's softened at your dispose! You could probably make alot of money renting that system out to members!

I'll be an OSU grad come May (hopefully). Go Pokes!

Originally Posted by GAS

Did ya install a coolant filter?

Yup! PMM setup that looks really nice under there. I've had it on for about 1,500 miles before this flush. I should have had it on sooner, but that's just how it happened. I tried to cut open my first 500 mile interval filter, but didn't find much. Overall, my flush was fairly clean. I've seen alot of horror stories on here, so much to my... umm.. disappointment/happiness I didn't have anything worth writing home about come out. I noticed alot more stuff after the Restore + just like the Angus said. Yellow-green color with a foul odor. I just closed off my filter during the chemical flushes and opened it when I was flushing with distilled. Then before I put in the ELC, I went ahead and put a new filter on just to be safe.

[Evil Eye]

Congrats on getting it done.

[colonel angus]

I also installed a coolant filter - Sinister version, but haven't opened the valves yet.

D

[oldbuck]

Sounds like you've done a great job on it - 12 hours is just about what it took me as well - imagine without the fumoto valves!

-d