First off, I need to thank all that helped me with my first post with the stumbling and black smoke issue. Just came back from Chattanooga TN. Pulled 9000 lbs trailer, no smoke as far as I could see. Boost was much better than before too. Fuel mileage averaged 10 MPG. Temps ranged from 207/217 to a high of 217/227. Of course at that point the fan is on and luckily the top of the hill was near and we were headed down hill.

I watched the coolant levels while on the trip. Whole time it stayed between min and max. Got home yesterday, drove it to work today. Checked the coolant and it looked like there was none in there. let it cool, took the cap off and it's actually full, really full, all the way to the old max mark. The coolant isn't dark, it's still a yellow gold color. The bottom of the tank has dark spot but using a turkey baster to pull some coolant out it's still yellow/gold color. I haven't drained any out yet as I ran into another problem. The cap won't go back on the tank. I tried 2 caps, the old one and a fairly new one, both Ford caps. They start to thread on then start clicking. The threads are not damaged on the tank or the cap. What is going on?? I was going to try a Stant cap but read mixed reviews about them. May just get another Ford cap and keep my fingers crossed. I'm worried that I need a new tank, I was planning on putting one in when I flushed but I'm not ready to do that yet.

As I said, I need to flush my system out. My deltas are fairly good and I figure I better do it now than later. I 'm headed to Texas in a few weeks and don't need this truck to overheat or worse. I know the process but I have no place to do it nor a place to get rid of the old coolant. Aside from the dealer, which I'm not crazy about going to, does anyone know of a place in NE Ohio that can do the flush the right way or a place I can go and do it myself?

Thanks for the help, again

Fred

 

Glad to hear that Fred, we have a hazmat facility that will take oil, paint, pesticide cem, anti freeze, for free better than going to the bay, as far as the Cap never heard that of the new OEM are you sure ford sold you the right one? your temps will be a little higher when towing as long as there not crazy high , it would be a good Idea to do the flush before your trip also put in a new OEM thermostat

 

Yep, the cap won't go on all the way. Just tried it again this morning with a colder engine. It goes further but then clicks away. Stock or the newer one. I'm off to Ford to get another cap. I have a feeling too that they sold me the wrong one, it worked but it wan't the exact one. I haven't found a place to take the old coolant, still looking for a shop to do the deed or a place I can do it myself. I have to lower the level in the tank too, so that has to be done before I try the new cap because if it goes on all the way it stays there until we flush out the system. If it's not one thing it's another.

 

Got a new cap, still won't go all the way on . I'm screwed, literally. New tank time. Might have a lead on a place to do a coolant change. Going to change coolant, tank, hoses, clamps, thermostat and temp sender (as long as I'm in that far).

Anything else I should change as long as I'm headed down this road? Truck has 112,000 miles on it.

If I do the change myself I'm going to backflush right after I drain. My deltas have been pretty good so my thinking is that if I backflush right away I may avoid log jamming the oil cooler with junk. I'm also thinking that I'm just going to use the VC-9 and nothing else but water flushes after. Is the VC-9 enough of a cleaner to switch to a different coolant or should I just stick with the gold stuff?

Thanks

Fred

 

It sounds like the threads are messed up on your degas bottle.

RiffRaf has the Degas bottle,

Riffraff Diesel: Motorcraft 6.0L Degas Bottle 03-07

As far as the flush goes i will give my $.02. I am not sure I would do a back flush. I have done a bit of work on the truck in the past two weeks, and had the degas bottle off several times. The first time I tried to catch the coolant as I removed the bottle. I got most of it. Before I put it back in I strained it through a coffee filter to make sure it was clean. There was no casting sand or any other contaminates that I could see.
The next few times, I just drained some coolant out from the radiator, much easier.

I am also getting ready to do a flush and fill. My temp spread is good, so all I want to do is get the old stuff out and put new EC-1 Cat rated stuff in. I am kind of concerned that if I do a back flush or chemical flush I may stir up some junk that will eventually get to the oil cooler. I will say that mine had the oil cooler changed, and a chemical flush a few years back before I got it.

I don't think you need to do the chemical flush to switch coolant. I think if you get all the old out you should be OK to put new in.


.

 

I looked those threads over and over and over til I was cross eyed. They appear to have no damage to them. It's not a fine thread, it's a coarse thread so damage should be visible, right? I have a feeling that heat and age swelled things up. This makes a bit of sense because the old cap fits farther on than the new ones meaning that it got stretched when the neck did. It is thicker plastic than the rest of the tank but with enough heating and cooling cycles it might be possible. Maybe the new cap would fit if it was winter and 10 below .

My theory with the back flush is that after draining, anything floating about gets stuck at the oil cooler. A back flush sends water the opposite way of the drain route to hopefully push the crap away from the cooler and out of the engine. I'm also on the fence about VC-9 but I've read more good than bad so far and I think using it after the back flush to clean out the engine should be OK. Famous last words, I know. I may be asking about coolers in a month or two but I have to take the chance and get right the first time. I don't want to come back to this for a while.

Need to add a coolant filter too. Put it in when the system is empty is a lot easier.

Fred

 

I just did a thorough draining, than refilled. I know it wasn't the "Preferred" way, but I wasn't having problem's, and didn't want to create one. I stuck with the Ford Gold coolant too. It has worked for 86,000 mile's that was good enough for me!

 

Well, I bit the bullet and replaced the tank. Could have gotten it cheaper online but the dealer gave me a decent price. Just for the record, I can do electrical, some mechanical but anything related to coolant I shy away from. I've had previous bad experience with cooling systems. Anyway, it's done. Cap goes on correctly now. The coolant I drained out was dark brown/black. I need a complete change NOW. Going to order a coolant filter today as there is all kinds of floaties in the drained coolant, the old tank and now the new tank. I replaced the drained coolant with half gallon of coolant and half gallon of distilled water. I set the level at just above the min mark. Ran the engine to 190 + to get the thermostat open and the level never dropped. Shut it off and the level went up to the max mark. I know the marks are for cold, I drained to reset the level to just between the min and max. Took it for a drive and the temps stayed in the usual range, 197/200. Went a bit higher when I turned the AC on. Checked the level again after the drive and it was just above the min mark. As it sat there I could see the level climb back up, never made it to the max mark so I think I'm OK for now. I don't know what my ratio mix is but I'm not too concerned as I'm going to get the coolant changed and set correctly ASAP.

Thanks for listening

Fred

 

That's pretty good thinking, I'm buying that.


Sounds like you need some fresh coolant. You may consider the chemical flush after seeing some floaties in there. A lot of guys like the Cat EC-1 rated coolant.

Good luck, let us know how you make out.

.

 

From my experience, flushing until clear can take 45 gal's of distilled water, 2 days constant work and more crawling under the truck than you can imagine.

Fumoto valves on each side of the block Left side (Pass) requires starter removal and you have to pull the lower radiator hose enough times to make replacing it almost a necessity.

You can save a few gallons of Distilled water by flushing with Tap until milky then switch to Dist.

I'll bet $ to Donuts you''ll clog your cooler by flushing with VC-9 or any other Chem flush I replaced 2 coolers over the course of 3 months and it's most likely not necessary if flushed thoroughly.

Ask anyone that's changed to ELC how much work is really involved.

Denny

 

I almost spent 2 days reading about coolants and changing it out. I don't think it's a 2 day process. I was going to do the VC-9 but because my deltas are fairly close I'm just going to do a whole lot of forward and backward flushes until I feel like a fish . I'd like to go with ELC but there is debate out there if just flushing is enough to allow one to go from Gold to ELC. Some say VC-9 and Restore is needed to do the switch, others say if you run enough water (be it hose or distilled) through the engine you can switch. Some say that ELC will lose it's effectiveness when there are traces of Gold left in there. You can't win once the Gold crap has been in there, either you use chemicals and will most likely plug up the oil cooler or don't use them and either stick with the Gold or take a risk with ELC.

I know that both hose are getting replaced. Debating on the radiator and heater core too. Sure, I could clean them or have them cleaned but if I want to really get this system cleaned out and switch to ELC it might be worth the investment.

Too many decisons, questions and still no place to get this done.

Thanks again

Fred

 

There is absolutely no reason to switch to ELC and spend that kind of time and money to do it. Do a good flush, and fill it with gold. That's the only way I do it. Never had problems with it. I work on a lot of 6.0's used for a lot of reasons.

Gold isn't even 1% as bad as some on the net would have you believe...

 

AMEN, David. I just read a thread on the .ORG where, even after switching to ELC, there were still the same problems with plugging and gelled coolant. It all goes back to proper maintenance. PERIOD.

 

Fred, the VC9 flush done right will clear all ,only if the oil Cooler is not that plugged . Hype on all this make me want to just SHr3em. . do the flush, vc9,simple green, pull the block plugs and thermo, flush well with tap, and then get down and dirty with distilled flush20 gal flush pulling block plugs, don't for get the Heater core line. its going to be a wet day.

 

Based on the mileage and the fact that I have a bad feeling that the coolant was never changed (I'm the second owner) I think that this may be the way to go. Still on the fence about the VC-9 which is a ruck and scale remover though.