Originally Posted by Bryangoku

My cilynder heads as well as the camshafts on my 2005 f-550 are grinding down, now i need to replace them again, i bought the truck and had the same issue. Im just curious if the oil cooler is the one at fault since i just replace before i knew of the issue.

Originally Posted by Dentedvw

I bought this 2001 E350 a few weeks ago as salvage, most of the damage is to the right front suspension, fender, door, bumper and grille. Having replaced most of that, I got it inspected and licensed this week. Something I noticed right away once it was off the trailer is how dark the coolant bottle looked, and when I opened it, it looked like someone had poured motor oil into it. Some people should never have been shown where the hood release is.

I have never done a flush before, so I called around to local shops and got prices in the 85 to 200 dollar range. Whew! Naturally, being the Red Green type, I figured I could do it myself in the comfort of my own small unevenly made driveway. Once I got the first four gallon bucket filled with gross coffee looking liquid, I started thinking maybe I made a mistake. I ran the hose into the reservoir until it was coming out of the drain at the bottom of the radiator and looked clean. Then I closed it and filled up with water. Then I filled the reservoir up with a gallon of coolant, and ran the van, but it wasn't taking the stuff. I drove it around the block, and when I got home, the bottle was overfull with oily gross liquid again, more of the junk from the rest of the system, probably including the rear heater. I don't have enough buckets to keep doing this, and I don't know what I am supposed to do with the bucket of ugly junk I already collected. Ugh, I feel like a dolt.

So, the problem is how to properly flush this thing out so that there is not oily crud in there, and I don't have to worry that the sucker will freeze up now that it's winter in Utah. One shop I called told me that the radiator might be mixing engine oil with the coolant. The oil doesn't seem to have any water or coolant in it, but I haven't drained it yet, maybe I should do that this morning. I need more buckets, stat.


Thoughts, tips, warnings, experiences?