Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum banner

Flushing the 6.0L, final words of advice?

11K views 85 replies 19 participants last post by  jbenoit28 
#1 ·
I've read extensively on this and other sites, downloaded the how to and watch some video. I'm as ready as possible. Any words of advice or info about issues you might tell me before I start turning wrenches? I couldn't find the Cat ELC, but I found the ZEREX HD ELC (rated for CAT EC1). Bought a new thermostat, Coolant filter, Restore & Restore +, two FOMOTO valves, and gathering up my tools.

My truck had a new EGR and Oil Cooler installed about 10K miles ago. New Turbo 1k miles ago. The Ford Tech stated I need to get the Gold Coolant out ASAP while my coolers are still in good shape. :)

With all the run time needed while doing the flushing, do you typically just let the truck idle in the driveway? Or run errands etc with it?

Do you leave the FOMOTO valves installed when you are done or do you put the plugs back in? Best place to buy new plugs? NAPA didn't have a listing for them.

Best place to dispose of the old coolant?

Thanks for all of your help,

:icon_ford:

Joe
 
See less See more
#2 ·
It takes too long to build up heat on the driveway, you can idle it for day's and not get hot enough. :)

Leave the Fomoto valves in EVERY drain location and personally I'd pull the starter to put a Fomoto valve in that drain plug location if there isnt one there now because this is not the last flush you will ever do.

The used coolant you can take to a local shop which may charge you a small fee for doing it. I know some shops will dispose of it for free if you are a regular customer and if they say no just hint that you can take your truck elsewhere for servicing.


Sent from my Autoguide iPad app
 
#3 ·
Drain every valve you can. I never take starter out, I just flush a lot. I see some guys only flushing with distilled water. That is a waste and not even smart. I probably ran about 100 gallons of tap water thu my motor. Only use distilled your last few flushes. I think I did 3 full distilled flushes at the end.

Advice:
1. make sure you have everything
2. take no short cuts (like leaving thermostat in)
3. make sure you dont have 50/50 coolant. this is only good for top off
4. sure drive around. you want to be at operating temp. I sent shopping, running errands. even hit a bar for two beers and some wings while my truck ran outside (friends bar and no one would touch my truck round here ;))
5. set aside your entire day. the job is SOOOO easy but takes a lot of time.
6. dont polute. make sure you get your old coolant and contamianted chemical water to the correct source.
7. dont be afraid of the red! I have now done about 6 6L flushes and elc flips, all 100% success.
 
#4 ·
Ok, I'm 1/2 way through the process. I drained the system, pulled and installed the FOMOTO valve on the drivers side block, reverse flushed the radiator, pulled the thermostat and reverse flushed the heater core. I put everything back together and ran the truck up to temp while I cleaned up for the night. I will flush the water tomorrow and then start with the Restore and restore + flushes. I still have a few more questions.

Do you typically reverse flush the oil cooler? If so, how do you get that cover off? I have the Torx30 socket but I'm not sure how I could actually get a ratchet on it. Anybody have a list of the tools or do I need any special tools for it? Do I really need to do this reverse flush?

I pulled the thermostat and it was a massive pain in the a$$. One of the bolts is blocked by a fuel line and I didn't want to remove it. All I could get on it was a small 10mm hand wrench. Are there any special tools that can get to this bolt? Or is it ok to take off the fuel line? If so, what is the size of that fitting? Bigger than a 19mm I already discovered :)

How the heck do you get that starter out to get that passenger side drain plug out? I was feeling around and couldn't find the top bolt? There are 3 right? Is it really worth pulling that plug or can I just do several more flushes instead?

While the truck was running there was a small drip coming from the lower radiator hose. I traced it up the hose and it appeared to be coming from or very near the bottom of the thermostat. I'm guessing I did't get it tight enough or the hose clamp at the thermostat isn't tight. It was a pain to get back on there.

As always, I appreciate your advice and helpful hints.

Joe
 
#5 ·
I would just do the rad flush. I never reverse flush on these trucks (do on my old cars but that different for the heater core bla bla). Just do as the directions say, you will be fine.
 
#7 ·
What size or part number for the Fomoto valves to put on both side of the block?
 
#8 ·
F-108n if you want the nipples on them for hoses to drain into a bucket or what not. Just F-108 if you don't care where the coolant spills.

If you think that flushing the coolant is difficult then you should see what I'm going through right now lol.
 
#9 ·
Headviking, I was going to respond but was distracted by your avatar ;)

I got the valves with the nipples so I could do as the write-up suggested and attach a hose so I could collect the bad stuff. Pulling the starter was not as bad as I thought but the valve and the starter are nearly touching (I think mine does) after you put it back in.

I finished with the Restore and Restore+ today. So far I haven't seen any evidence of casting sand, brown or rusty debris or anything else in my collection buckets?? I've been using hot water and even reversed flushed the radiator again. So far everything is very clean to begin with. My guess is that when Ford put the new EGR cooler in about 10K miles ago, they must of done some cleaning?? Any thoughts on this?

Based on what I found so far, I'm going to skip the backflush of the Oil cooler. Tomorrow I'm going to dump out the tap water and begin flushing with the distilled water, then put the thermostat back in and fill up with the HD ELC and more distilled. My coolant filter kit should arrive Wednesday and I'll be installing that as well.

I'm planning to remove the hose from the FOMOTO valves but leave them in place unless I need to remove them. Will they be ok being left in the block? I found a deep well 17mm socket can be used to tighten them in place.

Thanks for your help.

Joe
 
#10 ·
Could someone elaborate on the reverse flushing. Months ago I did a flush, I think I clogged my oil cooler during the flushing process because a couple weeks later my head gaskets were blown, and I had ARP's installed.
 
#11 ·
They have the f108n and the f108n(a). Witch one should I use?
 
#12 ·
The reverse flush is a waste of Imelda in my opinion but if our going to do it it should be done right after the regular flushes. That's when I do them and that's how I get the best results.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using AutoGuide.Com Free App
 
#13 ·
I guess what I'm saying is, Won't flushing free up alot of the junk in the cooling system and send it right into your oil cooler? Stock ones get clogged without flushing!
 
#14 ·
You need the F108N to get one with a nipple for the hose to attach.

Joe
 
#15 ·
Reposting my update from another thread.

I drained the distilled water out, installed a Sinister coolant filter, filled the system up with HD ELC, topped off with more distilled, started the truck and then topped off again. I checked for leaks and then went for a test drive.

I drove for about 45 min and most of it was highway at 65mph. The oil temp slowly rose up to 215° which I usually only see when towing. The water temp went up to 190° and stayed there for awhile then went to 192° where it remained till I got home. Air temp was 81°

My truck never had deltas like this. 6° to 9° was typical regardless of towing or not prior to the flushing.

Now what?

Joe

Sent from my SPH-D710 using AutoGuide.Com Free App
 
#17 ·
I figured it was now clogged but can't I just do the reverse flush of the oil cooler and run some of the cleaners through it?

Why didn't it show as clogged when I was just running water and no thermostat?? That is what I'm confused about. I figured I would start seeing my oil temps going up during all the flushing I was doing when I went on my many test drives to get it back up to temp.
 
#19 ·
I don't understand why when flushing the cooling system there are ever any recommendations against reverse flushing the oil cooler. The presumption that the oil cooler is like a filter is correct, and if you have a deep clogged oil cooler reverse flushing it will likely not help, but when you are flushing the coolant, you WANT to reverse flush the oil cooler OFTEN to remove any FRESH contaminates which may have now made their way into the oil cooler, why would you not want to do this?

When flushing you need to use A LOT of water, from a hose. You need to remove the heater core hoses BOTH and flush the heater core so the loose contaminates can NOT enter the oil cooler. These oil coolers will clog just by looking at them so you need to take every precaution to get the contaminates out of the system and this means that it will take work, and removal of parts, and reverse flushing of everything and A LOT of water A LOT of water.
 
#20 ·
When I drained the truck to start this whole process I also back flushed the heater core and the radiator. I never saw any of the junk others have described coming out in the flushes. I followed the procedure to the letter. The oil cooler was supposed to have been cleaned by Ford when they installed the new EGR cooler last year. I did not have a small T30 to get the oil cooler cap off so I didn't do it and figured it was not showing sign of issues...lesson learned.

Still confused as to why it didn't show any signs of being plugged while we drove around for two days with distilled water and no stat? Why did it gave to wait till I dumped the coolant in :mad:

Just a waste of coolant now. Have to buy more and flush the cooler out and hope for the best. Replacing it looks tough.

At least my coolant filter looks cool :)

Joe

Sent from my SPH-D710 using AutoGuide.Com Free App
 
#22 ·
I installed the filter after flushing and loaded up the ELC. I still have factory bolts and cooler. EGR cooler is new.

Joe

Sent from my SPH-D710 using AutoGuide.Com Free App
 
#24 ·
Exactly what happened to me. Don't even bother doing a reverse flush now. You might as well finish the job off the right way. It took about a week till my gaskets were toast after doing my flush. I had ARP's already installed as well. Save your good coolant, pour it through a paint strainer if you have to.

More people need to be aware of this. I keep mentioning it on the forums but it doesn't get much attention :dunno: Like mentioned your oil cooler acts like a filter when flushing. The chemicals are definitley going to free up alot of junk for it to catch.
 
#25 ·
The cooler was working fine prior to starting the whole flushing process. Since I don't have the money I will try a reverse flush and say a few prayers. The cooler shouldn't be super packed after one test drive....I hope. I was thinking of pouring some restore and restore + into the cooler and flush the heck out of it with real hot water.

If my coolant is staying at 192° how hot its too hot on the oil side before you could damage the head gaskets?

Joe

Sent from my SPH-D710 using AutoGuide.Com Free App
 
#26 ·
When you flush a system that has a coolant filter on it do you just close the ball valves and flush as usual?

Sent from my SPH-D710 using AutoGuide.Com Free App
 
#28 · (Edited)
Just a few things to ponder. I started with twenty degree plus deltas.

I just accomplished a full flush recently with Restore and Restore Plus. I used distilled water...unless you are absolutely positive of your tap water mineral content I'd stick with distilled. My tap water is hard so it was a no brainer. One more recommendation is drive the truck during the flushing process. I did one flush where I was in fast idle for 15 mins and up to temp but I got nowhere near the contaminents when i drove it for a good thirty minutes at temp--just food for thought--just a data point I and I cant tell you why.

I installed a new thermostat and installed the drivers side Fumoto valve but passed on the starter side--its a royal PITA and was taking to long--I wanted to do this all in one day. I collected every drop of the flush so I could inspect it. I got more contaminents than expected. I had lots of FINE silica--it was unreal..not to mention rust, goo (Ford Gold) and other crap. I was astounded. Use a white bucket then put it in clear jugs let it settle a day or so (it will be cloudy) to clear up then look at the bottom--it will blow your mind.

I installed a coolant filter at the end. I'll be changing it real soon (500 miles since flush) for another inspection. I'm glad I did it--I put in Delo ELC but I expect even more crap when I change the filter.

I've now got deltas anywhere from six to ten degrees max. Good luck!
 
#29 ·
Thanks for the info. Since I may have plugged my cooler, I am in the middle of flushing again and this time running chemicals including simple green through the oil cooler. I captured all of my new ELC that came out and filtered it back into the original jugs plus a empty gallon jug from the distilled water. Now that I'm flushing the cooler I'm finding silica like sand in the catch basins. Should I just go buy new elc and not use the used one time stuff I just removed? I filtered with a fine mesh paint bag type filter. Not sure it would catch sand.

Joe

Sent from my SPH-D710 using AutoGuide.Com Free App
 
#30 ·
Joe, personally I'd just put new ELC in. Here's why. While I was flushing the liquid coming out would be anywhere in color and cloudiness even after using Restore plus. But you couldn't see any contaminents. Only after it sat and cleared up could you definitly see the silica on the bottom of the jug. So unless you have a way to micron filter the old coolant I'd just put in new. I would bet the containers you have put your old ELC will have residue on the bottom. Your call certainly but as you've already noticed that damx cooler will trap the contaminents and slowly release them during flushing....trust me I went through over 40 galllons of distilled water before I had a clear enough flush to feel confident. Even still, I bet my filter change at 500 miles will have plenty of crap.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top