I finally got around to my coolant flush. I plan to put in the red ELC coolant because this is a diesel 6.0L. The flush procedures mentioned on the forums have me quite intrigued... There are cleaners, back flushes, flushes with the degas bottle, flushes with no thermostat, special hoses to use when you remove the degas bottle... (See the Ford TSB 8-23-1 and the PDF how to at http://home.comcast.net/~lyon.family...ush%20v1-0.pdf )

I've got a new plan.

When I was cleaning my coolant passages, I noticed that even though I drained the radiator and the two engine plugs, there must have been a lot more somewhere. I found out later that I should have also removed the lower radiator hose.

So I am wondering about the heater core in the back. It looks to me that I should be able to drain the system better by draining coolant at the rear of the truck. I found a few pictures of the rear core and the lines, and apparently, that could be a way to drain it.

But hold the presses. Why not also do a backflush using those lines? It might be even easier to hook up a hose there than just about anywhere else.

I could post pictures, but the form is asking for a web address when I click "Insert image."

 

And for my next trick, I am going to ask why no one thought of this first. Why not install the coolant bypass filter at the rear of the truck along the frame rail or inside the little cubby hole where the rear air intake panel is? I use that hole for storing my Amsoil diesel concentrate, fuel injector cleaner, power service, or sometimes random things like that. It's like my secret spot. But it's a possible location for the filter maybe.

As far as I know, this heater core always gets coolant flowing through it, so I think it will work as intended.

 

All you need to do it remove the bottom hose.

 

All you need to do it remove the bottom hose. (how is diesel different ?)

 

I just did the drain at the back, underneath, next to the exhaust pipe. It worked good, and I was able to get compressed air in there and blow out a LOT of stuff, both from the rear towards the engine block drains, and from the lines by degas bottle back towards the rear heater coil. I got out a lot of soapy water from the Coolant flush stuff. I easily blew out the rear heater coil, too, with a little bit of dirty gunk, Yea!

I think it will work as a spot for the coolant filter, but there's not tons of room for the tee.

 

Hah, about 10% of the 6.0 forum threads explain the day long and 20+ gallons of distilled water process for us psd folks. We have an oil cooler which turns out to be a fine coolant filter too.

Lots of the normal ways to do things are B A D for the 6l.

Sent from my Sprint PC36100 using IB AutoGroup

 

I'll admit I know nothing about diesel trucks even though I was a heavy equipment mechanic for a couple years a long time ago.........when we removed parts with a cherry picker. I did a write up on changing gasser coolant though if anyone is interested.

 

By the way, I don't ever seem to add more than 5 or so gallons of fluid after a complete drain. I am going to measure it pretty accurately because I am not too confident in the various specifications pages I have seen for Coolant Capacity of a 6.0L Diesel Excursion. So I am going to remove the degas bottle, open every drain location that is low on the truck, and blow everything out.

1. Radiator drain **** (easiest)
2. Lower radiator hose
3. Rear coolant supply
4. Rear coolant return
5. Driver side engine block coolant drain
6. Passenger side engine block coolant drain (most difficult)

I will blow the top lines (located near the degas bottle) part of the way through.