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Coolant "flush" ?

6K views 35 replies 12 participants last post by  Fussgus 
#1 ·
Would I be wasting time and money if I replace the stock coolant with CAT EC1 but without using restore / restore+?
 
#2 ·
Not necessarily. Just flush with a bunch of distilled water to get all the ford gold out. :thumb:
 
#3 ·
Do it right & use the Restore products. Why put new coolant in a dirty cooling system? Why risk contamination of your new coolant with old coolant that didn't get properly purged?

I did mine a few weeks ago and even though my truck only has 47K miles on it and the GOLD coolant didn't look bad, I flushed quite a bit of silica out.

You also need to replace the thermostats, but my recommendation would be to leave the old ones in when using the RESTORE products. Your engine temperature needs to reach 180+ degrees for it to work and I couldn't get my engine that hot with the t-stats removed, despite covering the radiator.
 
#5 ·
Yes, because the old coolant, minerals & contaminants adhere to the surfaces inside the cooling system and water alone will not break these loose.

It would be like you working in a coal mine all day, then taking a shower with only water: You'll still be "black" (from contaminates) and you'll stink.:hehe:

Properly flushing the system is an all-day affair. Why not do it right (using Restore & Restore Plus) and not have to worry about it for 300,000 miles?

I highly recommend pulling the driver's side block plug during the drain & flush procedure to clear-out 1 1/2 gallons of liquid that are trapped in the block. There is also one on the passenger side, but it is behind the starter and would require removing & replacing the starter during each phase of the flush process.

My last recommendation would be the use of a Coolant Vacuum Refill Tool. The way the 6.4 and it's cooling system are built, it is hard to get all of the air purged out of the system. These pockets of air can cause "hot spots" and possible damage. The vacuum tool sucks all of the air out of the cooling system (it actually collapses the hoses) creating a negative pressure. The negative pressure is what is used to draw new coolant into the cooling system, which in turn eliminates air pockets. Lots of folks do the refill without the tool but I neither Ford nor I would recommend it.
 
#11 ·
Yep thats the correct coolant :thumb:
 
#12 ·
Well, I started the flush at around 10am and here I am at 840 on my last flush...what a PITA. I did skip the block plug while flushing with tap water and that had to set me back at least 2 hours. I've done 21 flushes so far.
 
#13 ·
Alright, just got back from a 25 min drive after final refill....first impressions, it runs a little hotter lol, go figure. And I still have about 3/4 gallon of distilled water to go.
 
#17 ·
If you just want a quick change you will be fine doing some Distilled flushed to get the gold out and replacing with elc. I wouldn't recommend using restore unless you have the money or resources do a oil cooler change afterwards! Anything in your system is better than gold
 
#18 ·
Okay guys, lurked here once in a while. What is the problem with the ford coolant? Had the radiator replaced by them under warranty at around 30,000 miles. Have 100,000 on it now. Gonna do the EGR delete soon, have it at the shop now. Just want to know what to put back in it when I do it.

Jess
 
#19 ·
The ford coolant has silicates in it when not properly maintained breaks down and clogs your oil cooler and other things. You need to put a cat ec1 rates extra life coolant back in. That's what international recommends for the 6.0
 
#22 ·
Your degas bottle will be a good indicator of what the cooling system internals look like. A better one will be the block drain plug. Pull and see what kind of buildup is on it.

Mine looked like crap. There was no way I wasn't using both the Restores.
 
#23 ·
I already did the flush and it wasn't that bad. The block plug was fairly clean, It only took one slight swipe with my finger to get it to shine. The degas bottle looks dirty...as it still. My truck has 51k miles and is 3 years old....how many miles you had on yours when you did it?
 
#24 ·
I think I flushed around 50k. Truck was practically new when I bought her (2nd owner) but there were definitely cooling issues. Radiator blew right outside of warranty. No help from Ford. Mentioned the Venturi T to the service writer. That didn't get done.

Put a lot of time, money and effort on getting her right but it was worth it. I think this truck would've been one of those stories you hear with cooling system getting clogged and blowing this and that and eventually the engine had I not done it. You're welcome Ford. :D :D
 
#25 ·
I am going to go ahead and be the moron here and ask. So I should NOT do the restore and restore+ because I will most likely need to do an oil cooler change as well? I want to get my coolant filter and EGR and intake elbow in soon but this is holding me back. I've got coolant want jugs of water willing and waiting to get in my truck ;)
 
#26 ·
I didn't do the restore & restore + and everything worked out fine. I just did alot of extra flushes in my situation.
 
#32 ·
I couldn't be bothered with 12 hours of flushing so I keep using gold. My degas bottle is spotless with 112k miles. As long as you have a coolant filer and monitor it the Gold is fine
 
#33 ·
I had mine flushed at the dealer (Vc9)the whole bit. I took the distilled water to them. Bought it at WallMart. I then replaced with Ford Gold and here is why, remember the water pump cover issue caused by cavitation? Well what happens there is very small air bubbles form at the tip of the pump impaler under certain conditions of vacuum etc. and collapse which cause intense pressures like tiny explosions that eat away at the surrounding metal in this case the pump cover. The Ford Gold puts down a film layer that helps to protect these surfaces. That is why I still use it. Yes it has silicates, these help to deal with the acid formed by all diesels. That is why JD and many tractor company's use spin on chemical filters to take care of that. Check the colant with your test strips and keep things clean and we should have no problems.
 
#34 ·
JDl I couldn't agree with you more. Allthough there are other coolants that protect against cavitation the gold does one heck of a job. Like I said flush regularity monitor with coolant test strips and add a coolant filter and you will be fine and well protected. If your lazy and don't keep up on maintenance get the gold out cause it will eventually cost you thousands
 
#36 ·
I don't have a garage myself and one I can use at this moment in time along with the weather being so crappy here.. I am just wondering how hard it is to remove the starter on these trucks? Are they in a bad location and hard to get to or is it just that they are in the way of the drain plug and nobody really wants to remove it to get to the plug?
 
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