After some searching I dug this old thread up so I could give some feedback. I finally did all the flushing and amazingly the oil cooler is happy! The t-stat change definitely helped - I now routinely run 190-195 ECT, whereas before I would often run around all day at 185. Deltas are about 7 (range 5-9) on my Egde CTS. I am a bit surprised that I didn't gum up the oil cooler and it is only 2 wks so far, but it looks good.

 

So, if I'm changing the oil cooler, switching to CAT ELC and adding a coolant filter, can I just do a flush with water?

 

There is an incompatibility between ELC and Ford Gold which apparently can make gel so you should flush with Restore and Restore+ (or vc-9 or CAT flush). The CAT dealership should have sold you their flush with the ELC. The bottle has all kinds of warnings about trouble if you don't properly flush out the old coolant - the old coolant apparently adheres to engine parts and you need the cleaner to strip it off. it is $30 and a little time - don't take a chance.

 

how do you flush the heater core? or does it do that automatically when you do the coolant flush

 

Do not listen to Sullid unless your deltas are over 15 degrees already.... then you can throw a "hail mary" and do the chemical flush like he has mentioned or a backflush etc.... Chances are good however that if your deltas are too high now, a chemical flush is going to loosen all that crud and lodge it in your oil cooler..... leading to a little extra work or a few $$$ spent at the shop.

If your deltas are fine and you just want to switch over to ELC..... flush lots (and I do mean lots) with water and distilled water. Check the tech folder or do a search on this forum... there has been tons of discussion on here about the pros & cons as well as procedure. I followed the write-up in the tech folder last summer and my switch to ELC has been fine...... and that was using no chemicals.

 

my deltas were about 12* pulling a 7x18 enclosed trailer with 2 atvs going 65 on flat ground

 

Just to clarify, I wasn't telling anyone to do anything. If you want to change to ELC, I think a lot of flushing is in order. I changed b/c it was time for a coolant change anyway. There is definitely a risk of clogging a good oil cooler doing all those chemical flushes.

Bruin - it's up to you. Your oil cooler is probably fine right now. The safest road if you need to change your coolant is just replace it with new Ford Gold and call it a day. Wait on the ELC switch until the oil cooler is gone.

 

I flushed with Restore only, replaced oil cooler, deleted EGR, installed coolant filter, installed Rotella ELC, perfect Deltas for the last 3 years.

I don't believe in using Restore+ or VC-9 UNLESS rust is present in the system.

 

When I pulled my tstat I was surprised that there was a ring of rust on it. The coolant was pretty dirty considering there was a filter on it since the last change. I used the restore first and got a lot of junk out with that. Not that much came out with the vc-9.

 

O. Well. Im changing the oil cooler out now with the egr delete. So idk. Might just stick with gold coolant since im adding the filter. If not ill proab just flush with water n call it a day.

 

If you're changing out your oil cooler then go ahead and do the full Ford recommended VC-9 chemical flush before you change out your oil cooler then make the switch to Cat ELC.