I've always been a DIY kind of guy, one of the reasons I first joined up here years ago. I have a '71 4x4 F250 that was my daily driver for several years. I've kept it running well, but is now in need of some TLC. Between that and my bike, not to mention household stuff and honey-do's, I kind of have a full plate. I've already bought all of the stuff I need to do a coolant flush, except for the distilled water. I even bought some Fleetguard Restore and VC-9 before I changed my mind about doing a chemical flush. Lately it's been raining every weekend (and will be again this coming weekend,) and this morning it was 34* when I got up. I'm starting to think that my tinkering days are over.

I put my wife's car in the shop a while back to have brakes done, and it felt good to just pay somebody and know that a good job was done. Maybe I'm getting old, maybe I'm getting too domesticated. But for my daily drivers I'm beginning to like the idea of having my work done for me. My time is worth at least what I'm paying out to me, and I have that time freed up to do the other many things that I'm in the middle of right now -- building computers, getting a vintage stereo system up and running, caring for a 100+ year old home and 1.5 acres of landscape.

I went to a local shop to see about their coolant flush service. They can do it in a about 1.5 hours or so. I asked them about their process. They use a "kit" for flushing by Justice Brothers, never heard of it. It's two pint bottles, one is a cleaner and the other is a conditioner. They use a machine like most shops do, they use tap water with a filter and an 100,000 mile extended life coolant. I'm thinking about taking it up there this afternoon, but would really like to hear opinions on this.

Thanks.

BTW - I looked at the bottles in the kit, but I wasn't wearing my glasses. I did see that the cleaner contains no acids.

 

Other than for tires, if it is related to the motor, I would not take my 6.0 to ANY shop that did not know the motor and has a good reputation working on them. Even for a coolant flush.

I spent time in my Nor Cal chapter on FTE asking for 6.0 folks, interviewed a Ford factory trained shop owner and even went and met him, and I do send people to him. But for me his: my-way or the high-way, particularly on some of the 6.0 upgrades and that including going to EC-1 coolant, which he wasn't interested in, caused me to move on. His shop is 27 miles from me.

I drove 120 miles and had all my work done at a place that just does diesels, and has a couple top notch 6.0 guys -- I spoke to the tech that was to work on my truck specifically about how he did a coolant flush on a 6.0, before I even took it in.

I'm no spring chicken and have some worn out body parts -- I still try to do some things, but they tend to be external or oil/filter type stuff. Sometimes the pain I suffer at the end of the day was worth it 'cause I learned something. I just changed the filters and fluid on an Allison 3000MH, close to 5 gallons of fluid and several ways to make that trans a leaker if done wrong. Only took me half a day but it's dry, and done right with the Best fluid/filters. Yeah I saved several hundred, but I could afford it if I wanted to. I wanted to see the fluid coming out myself, look for metal and found out along the way that the 1st service had been done (read date codes on filters). Since I don't have much in the way of records on this new to me beast, that alone made it worth my while...

Anyway going off topic on you, but just wanted to say we are similar in ways and I have plenty of other things I'd rather do or should do. But the bottom line for my 6.0 is it only goes to someone that knows that motor - even for a coolant flush... Are you having fumotos put in the block drains? They need to pull the starter to do the passenger side, so that and the fact they want to do a "flush kit" at the place you are considering is at least a yellow flag... For me anyway - I wonder if they were/are planning on flushing the block drains...

 

No, they don't pull the block drains. He didn't say that, but from the way he explained the process, it sounded like the machine does all the work of flushing. I thought that the machine flush was just as thorough as the manual process, so it's not? Maybe I'll look around for a diesel shop. There's supposed to be a good one on my side of Houston call Powerstroke Magic. Maybe I'll check them out. The guy here said "extended life coolant" but are you saying that's not necessarily the same as EC-1? The coolant I bought is the Zerex ZXED1.

 

Idk of any shop that does a proper coolant flush

Except maybe Anthony or Mchane

Most shops do spill n fill


A guy I work with had ball joints done a year back we'll I told him not to let just anyone do it we'll he is lazy and don't know auto repair so he had it done

We'll it messed up bout 5 miles from shop 10 minutes after he paid the bill
Take it back to them and they supposedly fix it

NOW

We'll year later and the lower BJ Nut worked it's way off while he was driving he was going slow but it still jacked a bunch other stuff up

Now it's so messed up the original shop can't fix it they sent him back to the shop where he got the lift kit

 

If a shop is a must then do you research r he or send it to the dealer

Dealers can be hit n miss but with the power of FTE GROUP you can find a good shop

 

The coolant you have is fine -- I shortened the "CAT EC-1 rated" to just EC-1 which I believe yours is. My Shop used decent city water for the VC-9 flush and rinse, then a distilled flush and then a fill, they returned a couple of gallons of distilled water to me and their practice is to run the motor on the rinses with the block drains pulled (but they had installed my provided fumotos so it wasn't a pull the starter each time thing). I'll do my own change next time...

I know there are good 6.0 shops around Houston. Join your local chapter in FTE and you will find them, as did I...

 

The fact that they use tap water is enough for me to walk away. That's asking for problems in any of todays engines. They are selling a coolant swap, a 6.0 needs a flush, big difference.

 

Now that you put it that way, that sounds like what he was saying.

 

I've had work done at Powerstroke magic. The owner Garrett works on trucks himself. I've had good experiences with him bulletproofing my wife's 04 ex, and new oil cooler/egr delete on my old 05 f250. When I need work done on my f350 that I cannot or don't want to do, I will take it to them. They only work on Powerstroke engines and he owns one of each. They know their stuff and they have reasonable prices.

Another shop in Houston is Powerstroke enginuity. I have no experience with them but Toreador Diesel (Razzi) highly recommends them.

I'm sure either place can get you fixed up

 

I have no doubt of most people's positive experience with Powerstroke Magic, but in my opinion their maintenance services leave something to be desired. I took Friday off to make the trip to Houston to have my coolant flushed. I had called previously to find out about their procedures, and to make sure that their schedule would allow them to do this same day. I asked the guy on the phone if they used a machine to do the flush. He said, "Yeah, we flush the entire system and refill with ELC." When I got there Friday morning, I asked the guy up front (Mike) again and got the same answer. I watched as another guy did the job out in front of the shop. He drained the coolant from the radiator only. Then he poured a something in from a gallon jug. I asked him if he was doing a chemical flush and he said yes. I walked around looking at some of the other trucks on the lot and a few minutes later I heard him start the truck and drive off. When he came back, again he opened the radiator drain and let the truck run with a water hose running in the degas bottle. After a while, he pulled the hose out, backed the truck up to let another truck out of the shop and shut the motor down while the water continued to drain.

Sometime during the "flush" with the water hose, I wandered into the office and Garret came in and told me that my truck would be ready in about ten minutes. It struck me that I was not going to get a complete flush after all. I asked the Mike, "Didn't I ask you if you used a machine for your coolant flushes?" He said that he did not recall me asking that. I'll admit that I may have misunderstood his answer of "Yeah, we flush the entire system and refill with ELC" as affirming that they did indeed use the machine. Also, please understand that I am paraphrasing. I do not believe that I was purposely mislead or lied to.

I went back outside, watching the rest of the water draining out of my truck, also noticing that there was still some white foam in the water which lead me to believe that there was still some of the chemical flush in the system. I watched as the guy closed the drain, while water (with white foam) was still coming out. Since I had already been told that my truck was almost ready, I knew that there was no more flushing forthcoming. I went back inside, and explained to Mike what I had seen. I asked him if this was acceptable to him, and he assured me that it was just fine. Now, I'm not one to tell anyone how to conduct their business, and I figured that if this was how the did business, and if this was their accepted practice, then I was not there to change that. I told him that if he says that is fine, then I'll take his word on that.

So, I learned a $185 lesson. As I said at the beginning of this thread, I already have everything to do the flush, properly, on my own. Mike and I had already had a discussion on "internet myths" and all of the misinformation that can be found on it. I got the sense from him that all of the outlines found here as to the proper way to flush the coolant in a 6.0L is unnecessary nonsense. I have not done a proper 65 MPH to check the water and oil temp differences, but what I have seen so far indicates no change for better or worse. But then, there is always that possibility that I now have tiny particles of junk floating around in there.

I'm sure Powerstroke Magic does some fine mechanical work, based on their reputation, but I give a firm thumbs down on coolant flushes.

 

that really blows... have a great conversation by phone and then watch that happen to the truck. The 5 year old neighbor kid could have done better...

They chemically flushed it using a garden hose. Never pulled a block drain and then topped it off with EC-1... was it concentrated at least? Did they ever use distilled water? Since the block drains were not pulled, that leaves about 1/2 the system with tap water. They run the truck to full temp to circulate the water in the truck or pull the t-stat and lower radiator hose?

Did you go back and flush it yourself as soon as you got home?

Even a clock that doesn't run is right on time twice a day!

 

No, they did not pull the thermostat. I didn't see any distilled water put in. It all came out of a garden hose. I have not flushed myself yet. They did drive the truck to circulate with the chemical flush.

 

I think with what you observed, you'd be well served by flushing it right away.

Tap water/garden hose has mineral's in the water, like the silica in coolant and the reason coolers plug, silica fall-out. The minerals will cause rust and contaminate the system. De-mineralized water doesn't have those issues and therefore doesn't allow rust to form and also doesn't conduct electricity. When the water/coolant touches right at the cylinder surface, its probably boiling or very near it, that's why the silica solidifies, the minerals in the water do the very same thing. It then rusts and the pump spreads the rust throughout the system.

Ever pull the plug an a gasser's radiator, see it all rusted.... most probably from tap water. They even "rod" the radiator as part of a fix, opens all the little water passages.

You didn't want to do this yourself and like you.. I really understand your take on it.
I'd do this one again and the sooner the better. Pull the plug, lower radiator hose, the thermostat, and right side block plug. stick the hose in the degas and let'r rip. Then stick the hose in the upper radiator hose, same here, just let it run a bit. After a good run, kill the hose. Keep the T-stat out and reconnect the upper, lower hoses, right side block drain and close the plug. Fill with distilled, about 3 gallons. Start the truck, no need to wait on temperature, t-stats out. Let is circulate for a good couple minutes, then open the radiator drain and fill the degas at the same time.

Remember to turn on the heater, that will flush the heater core as well. Dump at least 10 gallons of distilled thru the degas, that was 3 gallons into the degas to fill and 10 more thru the degas to flush while trucks running. Close the drain and run the truck a few more minutes. It will replace a percentage of water each time you add more distilled as the passenger side didn't drain or the heater hoses and core. The more you flush with distilled, the better your chances of replacing that tap water percentage that remains and at $.97 a gallon, I'd run a bunch.

Kill the engine, drain the radiator and pull the block drain on the drivers side. Once drained, replace the block drain, close the drain valve, reinstall the t-stat and refill with EC1 rated coolant, about three gallons. Top with about 1/2 gallon distilled.

If they didn't drive the truck up to full temp, they circulated not much of anything.

Unfortunately, not even some pretty smart guys understand what's really needed, sorry to have heard this end not as hoped. Did this to mine about 4 months ago, took me better part of 2 hours and about 3 beers.

You'll be happier and the truck will thank you!

 

Randy, can one do this with RO water?

Reason I ask is I have hundreds of gallons at any time at work. It's not the cost, rather the fact I can access a hose from the RO tank and do this right in the maintenance bay at work anytime I want to.

 

Reverse Osmosis water will essentially substitute for distilled water. We have a RO system on the the drinking water line at the kitchen sink. I use a Total Dissolved Solids meter (TDS) to check our water. Our water comes from the Cross Timbers Water Supply Coop and from the tap it has anywhere from 550-750 parts per million (PPM) depending what the lake water/ground water ratio is. After the RO filter, it has around 35-55 PPM. Perhaps not quite distilled water but close. I will be doing a flush in a few months and replacing with Ford Gold antifreeze which I have used for the last 98K miles. My plan is as follows:

1. Hook up the garden hose with an inline RV water filter that can be purchased at Walmart for less than $20.. I use one on the RV so this is no cost to me. This will be the primary flush until everything is clear

2. The secondary flush will be done with RO water - again no cost to me. This will be done until I get a 35-55 PPM reading on the flushed water.

3. I will do the third flush with about 7 gallons of distilled water just to be sure I have the purest water in the system. About $7. I would probably do just as well continuing to use the RO water.

Since I will not be changing the fluid from Ford Gold to ELC type coolant,I will not use chemicals. Diesel Tech Ron has a video on how to do this through the heater and it seems straight forward. There has been a lot of discussion about whether Ford Gold (Zerex G-05) or ELC is the best route forward. Since I change it every 3 years or so, either product would probably meet my needs. Good luck and do get the Fomoto valve. It will save you some time and effort.