What happened to radiator caps on the radiators??? I looked at how to change the antifreeze in the E350 and saw that it was capless. Has anybody done the fush and change and can give any tips on the V10? Do they have an air bleed valve? It's that time of year.

 

Just changed mine. There was a plastic valve on the bottom driver's side radiator bottom that got a lot of the antifreeze out. Then there was a block bleeder in proximity to the oil filter. Apparently there's another block bleeder port above the starter but I wasn't too thrilled about removing the starter just to change the coolant.


I drained the radiator, then drained the block bleeder port I could get to, then filled everything up with distilled water, ran it, then drained the radiator again. Then fill a fair amount with 100% to compensate for all the distilled water left in the engine until you get the concentration you want.


By the way, my owner's manual (2005) makes a really big deal about antifreeze concentrations not being above 60% even though the rest of the world emphacizes 70% and I have no idea why. Might have something to do with Xerex.

 

BareBones covered the actual mechanics of it, but I'd like to add:

Look in the owner's manual for your cooling system capacity. Drain the entire system, flush it as needed, and drain it again. If you're going for a 50/50 coolant/water mix, put in HALF the capacity in coolant, and then fill the rest of the way with water. That way, you wind up with a 50/50 mix no matter how much water is left in the engine.

Of course, this assumes you can easily dispose of the waste and flush water.