Does anyone have an idea of the cost to have a coolant flush fill on the 6 liter at the dealership?

Would you be comfortable having it flushed/filled at a general repair center?

 

i would be most comfortable doing it myself. if you take it somewhere other than a dealer they need to use motorcraft gold of Xerex gl-05, or you can have the complete system switched over to Fleetrite or something made specifically for diesels.

 

if you do it a dealer and they quote you 99.95 for it its the wrong flush. thats just a coolant flush machine or worse a drain and fill. the tsb for it pays about 4.5 hours to do it correctly. so figure cp time at 1.5x warranty plus chemicals like vc9.

 

The question is, given the high cost of the coolant flush... are we better off to bit the bullet, pay for the installation of a coolant filter system, and then once it filters clean do an "on the fly" flush --- i.e. replace 1 gallon of coolant every 6 months by bleeding it off, and adding fresh?

 

Would not do it that way.... not enough "new coolant" is being added/repalced to bring your nitrate levels up to spec.

Diesel's are very hard on coolant and the cavitation (air bubbles) of weak coolant is what ruins the insides of the motor.

Only use the proper rated coolant that meets the Ford spec and flush it properly... and use distilled water if you can. A coolant filter is a great addition and I have one to... but "cleaning/filtering" your fluid is only part of the process... you have to have suffucient concentration of the active ingredient to prevent "cavitation" inside your motor... that is what kills a diesel!!!!

Flush and do it right or find a shop that will. Drain and refill only does a small percentage and leaves a lot of old coolant in the block. One needs to flush the heck out of it and then add new coolant Gold coolant (not any Gold coolant... the proper spec Gold coolant) and fresh water (distilled is preferred).

Do it right and check around rather than worrying about cost.

Diesel's are expensive to maintain... and boy do I know. This is why so many change their own oil, fuel filters and coolant... saves money and we all know it gets done right!!!

There are good shops out there... just keep looking and knowing what to ask for (hense the reason your asking on this site).

Good luck,

 

Ok, so I'm confused but trying to learn here. Why is the dealer quoted $129.00 coolant flush/fill not what I want?

I have experienced no issues except nitrite levels too low...which is the reason for the flush to begin with.

I have a 2006 with 38000 miles and want to keep this truck for another 50000 miles and 3-4 more years....wish I could do it myself, but it is cold, snowy and i am not on a city sewer system....so off to a dealer.

Anyway...what exactly am I looking for....and why is NOTHING easy with this truck?

Thanks to all for the replies!!!

 

there is a tsb for flushing a diesel wich requires alot of work. the $129.00 is what we call the spill and fill wallet flush. for $129.00 you will not get what you need done to the truck.

 

Ask the dealer the following:

1) Expalin flush process that they do for the price they quoted you?

2) Your truck holds 27 qts or so of coolant/water (50/50 mixture) so does their "process" completely flush out all 27 or more quarts?

3) Do they use distilled water or tap water (either is fine, but distilled is better and some dealers will let you bring your own).

4) How many gallons of Ford Premium Gold coolant do they use (the answer better be 3.5 gallons)... so let them reply first to see what they state. 3.5 gallons is 50% of your total cooling system capacity... so they better use this amount to ensure a complete flush and the right amount of coolant. They may charge you ofr 4 gallons, and just ask for the 1/2 gallon left over.

5) Do they use any cleaning additives during or after the flush and prior to installing the new coolant and water (the correct answer they give you is the Ford VC-9 cleaner (if your truck needs it). Otherwise, no additves or cleaners are needed unless you have a very dirty cooling system.

Good luck... but like President Reagan stated in regards to the Russians.... "Trust but verify!!!"

Good luck,

 

I and many on here have learned the hard way...if you want it done right...then do it yourself. Then you know what was done and can sleep at night knowing you saved a buck and did it right...or in some cases at least know it was actually done. I'm talking most fluids and filters...some things you obviously can't do without the proper knowledge, skills or tools...but alot of it you can. Flushing your coolant and installing a coolant filter...you can do that in your driveway. Well, that is after you've driven it in between flush cycles to open up the thermostat and actually cycle the distilled water thru the entire cooling system (approx 4 to 5 times depending on how clear the remaining flush looks)....then just top off with 3.5 gallons (Thanks Mark) of the Gold or Zerex G-05.

 

Thanks for the scoop!!!

 

Who has had their engine blow up because of drain and fill. A show of hands please.

 

For those who want to read TSB

http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/bk...olant_loss.pdf

 

this is an interesting question...
The number of failed oil coolers from being pluged is pretty high. So the spill in fill will not cause an engine to blow up but will do nothing to help reduce the issues that casue oil cooler and egr cooler failers. Now if you just need to correct the mix ratio it may work out ok. If you have a ph issue it will not solve it unless it caused by the lack of buffer chemicals. If the ph is caused by the area water then distilled water may fix it. If its casued by iron deposits it will do nothing for more then a few weeks at max.
I can on on this subject for a little bit longer if you need me to.

 

That's fine but if your EOT and ECT are within 9 degrees from one another and everything else is fine accept you have over 100k on your coolant, spill and fill won't do anything but help.

 

thats what I said. I think you misunderstood it.