Ok Ive read flushing,colors of coolants and so on and ect till I have completely confused myself..My truck has 96000 on it.I have test strips but havent tested it yet.Its a 2002...Looks green in color.What should I be using exactly to put back in my truck after a flush?Ive read so much I cant see straight.It seems certain years take certain colors.I just want someont to tell me what I should use....If test strips come out ok should I still change it?I read 100,000 was a magic number somewhere..When putting those block plugs back in do you need to put some teflon tape on them?Do I have to take block plugs off?I dont want to cause any problems for what seems like should be such a simple procedure

 

i was in the same ballpark with mileage as you are ,when i flushed my system. Had the green coolant, so changed to the ELC, along with a new airtex w/p. I removed the plugs for draining, replaced both top/bottom hoses, flushed with 20gal of distilled water, then re-installed plugs (had them slightly seated for flushing) with trflon, and filled up system with 4gal elc, 4gal of distilled...it is an easy procedure, just time consuming. I used a 10 dollar kid pool from wal-mart for flushing..

 

Yea go with an ELC like Rotella, CAT, etc. and be done with it for several years. I wish I could run ELC in my E99, seems to have lots of advantages and is easier on the water pumps from what I understand.

 

Check out this thread. It'll clear up your confusion. It's straightforward and chock full of a ton of good info provided by the coolant master Gooch: Gooch's Coolant Flush Procedure and In-Depth Coolant Information - FTE

International (who makes the 7.3L for Ford) recommends a Heavy Duty OAT ELC for your truck. That's what I have in my 2002 F250 and my 2000 Excursion.

Early '99's take the conventional "green" coolant. Late '99's and up take a HD Organic Acid Technology Extended Life Coolant, per International.

Ok, in that case, use a Heavy Duty ELC.

Stewart

 

You really have a lot of options, you could continue to run the green using the MC additive, switch to gold or go to ELC. Most people go to ELC cause it is the lowest maintenance coolant out there. Personally, I am running gold cause Zerex was readily available when I needed to change mine.

100k is the magic number for gold, ford recommends that you change the green stuff every 15k miles.

 

Yea the color of mine is actually a transparent gold, I pulled some out of degas bottle yesterday.where did you get the zerex? Wallyworld has none. Napa? I need 4 gallons of pure concentrate right?

 

When I flush mine I do not bother with the plugs.Drain the radiator.Pull the thermostat and reinstall the housing.Fill the rad with DI water and let it run several minutes.Keep flushing untill I get clear liquid.Install a new thermostat.I used the ELC and have had good luck.

 

Is it neccasary to change therm? 97000 miles. Not leaking and still works. Not looking to cause more problems leak wise and spend a ton of dough just for a coolant change?

 

Napa typically has Zerex G-05 and Zerex ELC...G-05 is 3-4 bucks cheaper usually and yes you need 4 gallons of concentrate.

Where are you in CT?

 

East hampton

 

I want the elc so I dont need to andd anything to it right?

 

Gotcha, not far from New Britain right? They destroyed my HS when we played them...they were pretty nasty.

Really your truck will run fine on G-05 or ELC. Between three vehicles I have put 200+k on them and they are fine. Most PSD people love ELCs cause they are low maintenance and have the HUGE service intervals. One thing to note, most have a year requirement thrown in there too, so most ELCs are designed to be run for 6-8 years.

 

Ha ha, Newbritain is about 20 min or so from here.Ive been out here for 8 yrs , spent the other 31 yrs of my life in wallingford...

 

Should I change the therm as well? Are they known to go around this mileage? I would need the housing and gasket as well or is that included. Im gonna change to the dual alt upper hose as well if serpentine belt goes again.. Changed it 10000 miles ago.A mess because of that hose..

 

Ah, my folks lived for Wallingford for like 3-4s back in the late 70s.

Honestly, I don't know what the life expectancy of a thermostat is. I changed to the 203* T-stat in mine at 64k. I don't think I NEEDED to do it but I figured while I was flushing might as well. The gasket comes with it but you will need to get the housing, it is like $20 at most dealerships. My factory one was sooooo rusted through.