Just wondering if Zerex G05 is the way to go with the 6.0. As mentioned in another thread, I am getting ready to have the full BulletProof Diesel kit installed later this week and I need to round up some coolant. I just did a full distilled water flush on this engine about two months ago with the Ford Gold coolant, but now my oil cooler went south. I want to get away from that coolant and all the problems I hear it can cause.

So, do I hunt down the Zerex G05 or is there something else out there that does a better job?

Thanks!

 

The Zerex G05 is the equivalent of Motorcraft Premium Gold. In your shoes, I wouldn't use it. Look up the threads on ELC coolants. That is what I would use once out of warranty.

 

I woulg go ahead and change coolant to ELC mobile or delo "red" .
Flush old with distilled water and then do the VC-9 before you change the oil cooler.
Then switch to ELC.
Drain the lower rad hose and driver block plug (8mm allen) each time.
Im in Tampa if you want some help looking things over

 

Wow- didn't know that! Don't want to go that route. Typing in 'coolant' on the search here brings up a TON of posts- most of it not related to my question. I'll try to look again using 'ELC' as a search phrase.

LOOnatic- glad to see another Tampa member here!

 

Here you go this will save you some time hope it helps
The 6.0 is known to blow head gaskets. This is why it happens. The Ford Gold coolant contains silicates. The silicates are not able to handle high EGT's generated by a good load or relatively high boost when run through the EGR cooler. They break down into a jell like sludge and fall out of suspension. This crud gets caught up in the tiny coolant passageways of the oil cooler. As the cooler clogs up it restricts coolant flow to the egr cooler. Now the egr cooler doesn't have enough coolant to carry off the heat generated by high EGT's. The limited amount of coolant in the egr cooler flash boils causing high pressure in the cooling system and the truck pukes coolant from the degas bottle due to the pressure. (it has to go somewhere)
Your uninformed Powerstroke owner is not monitoring his coolant temps and oil temps so he doesn't know whats going on and he keeps driving it this way. The problem get worse, the pressure causes the egr cooler to rupture. Now the egr cooler is leaking coolant into the intake manifold which then runs into the cylinders. Again the high combustion temps cause the coolant to vaporize. This causes unacceptably high cylinder pressure, the TTY head bolts stretch due to the additional pressure and there go your head gaskets.

Ok now you know the problem. Here's the cure. Get a good engine monitoring solution like the Edge Insight so that you can monitor your ECT and EOT. If those temps get more than 15* apart at normal cruising when at normal operating temperature your oil cooler is clogging up. Rebuild it now to prevent all that down stream damage from occurring. Flush that Ford Gold coolant cxxp out of your engine with a couple bottles of Restore. This is made specifically to clean out that silicate residue. Now refill it with a silicate free Cat EC-1 rated ELC coolant. This removes the silicates that clog the oil cooler from the equation. If you live in an area where you don't have smog inspections delete the egr system. If you can't delete it replace the egr cooler with the cooler manufactured by Bulletproof Diesel. This is vastly superior to the Ford oem egr cooler and it will not fail on you. If you find that you need to replace head gaskets replace the TTY head bolts with ARP studs and use black onyx (Victor Reinz) head gaskets. If you have to replace the egr cooler always replace the oil cooler. That is the source of the problem.



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. You can skip the block drains if you want except for the final drain before adding fresh coolant. You will just have to flush a few more times to get the block clear.

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 tap 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 tap water. Drive truck or run on high idle for 60-90 minutes. Drain and flush 3 or 4 times.

Add 2qts VC-9 or 1/2gal of Restore Plus, top with tap 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 if you are draining the block or 5 times if not. This is to replace any tap water in the cooling system with distilled water and very important.

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. The part number is RT-1169

Here is the Restore Product from Cummins dealer
http://www.fleetguard.com/pdfs/product_lit/emea_brochures/LI33024-GB.pdf

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You can get this from your Napa parts store
Valvoline.com > Products > Zerex > Antifreeze Zerex > Zerex® Extended Life Antifreeze / Coolant
or i got this at the International dealer
ChevronTexaco Delo® Extended Life Coolant
Hope this helps
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Diesel pop, is that entire procedure really necessary? It seems like a hell of a lot of work. I cant imagine the techs at the dealership driving around aimlessly for two 60-90 minute cycles just to flush coolant.

 

I think they take the thermistate out and set it to high idle at the dealer
Its not to bad just time consuming

diesel pop where did you get the restore from??

 

That is why when you get something back from the stealer it is never right so why would you have them do something like this if you want it done right, i went through 44 gallons of distilled water when i did mine, if you want it done right you do it yourself.
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Cummins dealer in Portland Restore about $28 Restore+ about $32
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Yes you pull the t/stat then i ran 2 strips of cardboard down the front because you have to get it up to +185* for the 2 Restore treatments to work after the restore that junk came out like honey or a thick slim this stuff works the VC-9 will not cut the slim it cut the minerals you can see the difference in the 2 products in my other post
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The 6.0 is known to blow head gaskets. This is why it happens. The Ford Gold coolant contains silicates. The silicates are not able to handle high EGT's generated by a good load or relatively high boost when run through the EGR cooler. They break down into a jell like sludge and fall out of suspension"



So no EGR cooler.....no problem running gold coolant right???

 

Im wondering the same thing going to be doing an egr deleate in the next week or two

 

Have a look here then tell me if you think it is worth it,
Replaced oil cooler still difference in temps - Page 21 - Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum
what is the price of a oil cooler,egr cooler,HG and down time worth, for me it is worth every penny of my time plus my 06 only pulls a 14k 5er and my 97 PSD is my daily driver
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I have not had an EGR cooler for years now, did an FCDP kit...I just recently replaced the lower hose (it rubbed enough to worry me on the p/s gearbox...check yours) and did a third flush. New distilled, new gold coolant.

I'll bet my left nut, it is just fine.

No offense, but is it just me or do some people take things to another level that should never be reached....unless ofcourse necessary?