yup another coolant flush question

[srjd]

Ive been monitoring my ect and eot very closely and the oil is on average or even at most 4 degrees hotter then the coolan which I know is very good. My sinister coolant filter just came in the mail so im going to put it on and I have 145,000km on the clock with original coolant and im surprised my numbers are that close....I was thinking ill filter a bunch of the junk/sand out and then do a coolant flush. Now does this mean I should be ok or does this mean that even though my temps are good there is still a bunch of junk lodged on the walls and when i do a chemical flush it will clog my oil cooler.....what would you guys do if you were seeing these numbers? just drain it and refill or do the flush?????

[ljhopp]

If you are still on the stock ford gold coolant your coolant system is going to be covered with the sludge on the walls of your coolant system. Right now your delta temps are good but it is only going to be a matter of time until your oil cooler is going to get clogged.

If you do a chemical flush you will clog your oil cooler. If you do a flush with distillied water and then fill up with ec-1 coolant the ec-1 will dissolve the build up over time. But you still run the risk of the sludge clogging your oil cooler. The coolant filter should help catch the sludge.

[srjd]

I think i will just flush with distilled water then....Im going to refill with cat elc coolant. How many quarts /liters will I need and do i do a 50/50 mix with distilled water?

[kevinah]

I've looked around and haven't found any write up for flush instructions for this motor. Any tips, advice? What about refill and pressure and removal of any air?


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[2 stroker]

Originally Posted by srjd

I think i will just flush with distilled water then....Im going to refill with cat elc coolant. How many quarts /liters will I need and do i do a 50/50 mix with distilled water?

NEED TO READ THIS-----You can't just flush with distilled water and add ELC coolant things will happen plus from what i have read about 6.4 they need the Ford Gold junk or it will screw something up in the waterpump area. I don't like the Gold junk but you should do somemore research before you switch. These are flushes for the 6.0 and how i did mine, i used 48 gallons of distilled water 1/4 tank of fuel and 12.5hrs of my time.
If you decide to switch to an ELC style coolant, first of all, not just ANY ELC will do. It must have the CAT EC-1 rating.
There is a Shell Rotella ELC that meets that rating that is supposed to be "the best," but any CAT EC-1 rated ELC will work. International Truck dealerships carry the Fleetrite ELC which is CAT EC-1 rated and what they installed in the VT365 (International variant of this engine) from the factory. NAPA also sells a ZEREX ELC that meets the CAT EC-1 rating.
A few things to keep in mind:
One is that you need to purchase the CONCENTRATED form of the ELC, since the cooling system retains approx 50% of the total capacity when drained during your flushes. If you were to buy the premixed, you will never get to a 50/50 mix of coolant and distilled water.
Then next thing to be aware of is that you can not just drain out the Ford gold, flush only with distilled water and think everything will be ok. You are changing the coolant type, not just the coolant. To change coolant type REQUIRES that you flush using two chemicals. The restore and restore+ flushes serve two different purposes.
The restore chemical flush removes a film that the Ford Gold coolant deposits on the walls of the cooling system to help combat cavitation.
The second chemical, restore+ (same as the ford VC-9, only less expensive) is to remove rust scale build up in the cooling system. If the dealership used tap water (and I will bet you they did) you will have rust scale.
Should you skip the restore step, you could have a chemical reaction between the film left by the Ford Gold and the ELC style coolant. If you were to skip the restore+ step, you would be leaving the junk that clogs the oil cooler sitting there as a ticking time bomb.
Flushing and cleaning the 6.0

Restore is for cleaning out any silicate goo. VC-9 is for cleaning out iron and scale. Restore Plus is the same as VC-9 and cheaper.

To flush drain the coolant by removing the lower radiator hose from the radiator, and removing the drain plug from the driver side of the block. There is a drain plug on the passenger side also but you have to remove the starter to get to it. I don't bother with that one.
I also highly recommend you pull the thermostat out on your first drain and put the housing back without the thermostat. It only takes about 10 minutes and will save you 2.5 hrs or so in doing this whole procedure.

Ok now put the lower hose back on and the drain plug back in the block if you removed it. This is the procedure you will use each time to drain the system, except you will not touch the thermostat again until you're finished the whole procedure. Make sure that you set your heater to high while doing this to flush out the heater core as well.

Fill the cooling system with distilled water, start the truck and let the water circulate for 5 minutes. (if you did not remove the thermostat you must run the truck until the thermostat opens + 5 minutes to circulate. This takes 15 to 20 minutes each cycle and is why you should just remove the thermostat) Stop the engine. Drain the system and repeat the flush.

Now add at least 1/2 gallon of Restore and fill with distilled water. I used cardboard in front of the radiator because you have to get to 185* 190* for these products to work. Drive truck or run on high idle for 60-90 minutes just before you get back from your drive remove the cardboard this will help in the cool down same on the Restore+ flush. Drain and flush 3 or 4 times. or tell clean

Add 2qts VC-9 or 1/2gal of Restore Plus, top with distilled water, and drive the truck or run on high idle for 60-90 minutes. Now drain and flush until flush water comes out clear and clean. When you get clean flush water, flush 3 more times using distilled water while draining the block.

After your final distilled water drain it is time to put the thermostat back in. I recommend you install a new thermostat at this point. They are only $20 or so and it is good maintenance procedure to do so. Fill with 3.5 or 4 gals of ELC concentrated coolant and top off with distilled water. Drive the truck or let run for a while topping off with distilled water. Check the truck over the next few days and top up as required while any air left in the system works its way out.

Keep some 50/50 ELC on hand to use to top off the cooling system from here out and you are good to go.

new t/stat from Ford it should all come together (housing-t/stat-o-ring) in a box.

Here is the Restore Product from Cummins dealer
http://www.fleetguard.com/pdfs/produ...LI33024-GB.pdf
Just remember this is a flush for a 6.0
2 stroker

[ljhopp]

I have never heard of the 6.4 needing ford gold because of the water pump. I am not saying your wrong, put I know of a lot of people that have switched from ford gold to ec-1 in a 6.4 and had good results from switching. Yes, I do agree that you should flush with restore and restore +. But I have also heard of people not flushing with the restore and restore + and nothing happened. They say the ec-1 over time will dissolve the build up that the ford gold left behind. I would just do the restore and restore + flush do it the correct way and switch to ec-1. I don't see why ec-1 would be bad when international reccomended the use of ec-1 in their engines.

They say that if you switch from ford gold to ec-1 with out flushing the only thing that will happen is the ec-1 will not last as long as it would have if a chemical flush would have been done. The ec-1 won't be as affective. This information is in the next post if you want to read more about it.

Does anybody have anymore information on ec-1 being bad for the 6.4? I would really like to read the article.

[ljhopp]

Read this thread on ec-1 coolant. There is a lot of good information on HD ELC coolants.

Gooch's Radiator/Engine Backflush Procedure and Coolant Information - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

[srjd]

ok so worst case scenerio my oil cooler gets clogged and since i monitor it i will catch it in time....how much for a new cooler? do I have to get the whole assembly or can it just be the core? just wondering what im looking of for repirs cost wise at the dealership

[ljhopp]

If your oil cooler becomes clogged the only thing you have to replace is the oil cooler. If you have the dealership install the new oil cooler you are going to spend like 2000. The oil cooler itself is only like 300. If yo have gauges you will be able to watch your two temps to catch the temps in time to prevent any other damage.

If you change to ec-1 and get a coolant filter to catch the material you should be fine. I would change your coolant every few months for the first year and you shoudl be fine. And after the first year I would do a 6 month change and then again in 6 months. Then going on the third year I would do a year change. You should be fine after that. The only reason I say change your coolant the amount of times I did is to be safe.

[srjd]

coolant filter is at my house waiting to be installed i just havnt gone home for days off yet. Also i do have guages and have always monitored it very closely right now i only ever see a max of 4 degres difference. So im going to throw the filter on when I get home and change it out a few times run about 1500km hoping that the filters catch lots of sand and debris and then I will do the flush...after that its fingers crossed and monitor my guages