Yep; I was just there today and got the "internet" pricing.

 

Sweet, I live pretty close to the Everett WinCo, thanks for the heads up. I'm going Ford Gold for my new coolant. Radiator will have to be some other time, I've got other mods I'd rather spend the money on right now.

Speaking of mods, these aren't really mods per say, but they'll make the Ex look cooler driving down the road =)

 

Ford Gold coolant : Barf!

 

Do you have an experience you would like to share with the class???

 

Well Your rig being older does not have the issues like the 6.0L does with the
gold coolant and silicate drop out do to heat. That said the Ford coolant is not
the best price stuff out there. I would first check on the ELCs to see if they meet
the needs of your cooling system. Then if they do you will have a wider field
to pick from.

I run the Rotella ELC red coolant. I know that it does cost less.

 

I went from Green to Gold back in July/August, works for me.

NW Cowboy- Where did you get the bar for the flags?

 

So far I've avoided the irritating experiences that other people have had which such-and-such product for whatever application when I just go with whatever I choose first. We'll see how it goes. I really just can't see how all of these auto fluids can turn out to be much different from each other, but what do I know. If it sucks, then I'll have confirmation for everybody that it sucks =) Then I'll switch to what Yahiko said to use and he can say "I told you so, could've saved you money" and I'll say "you're right, here's a rep point" and such and so forth. lol

The flag holder is a Camco from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If it isn't beefy enough for driving with a flag then I figure I can get a metal fab guy to build a beefier one and I'll use this on the trailer when I'm camping. I still need to go grab a 2" metal pole that is long enough to get the tops of the flags up over the back of the Ex because if you don't get them high enough they just suck up to the back window. Might even need to bend the pole to get the flags away from the back window. I ALSO want to custom rig the pole so I can fly two flags together when I want to. Why not? lol

 

Looking forward to seeing the finished product...

 

Well after all that Ford Gold drama (sarcasm) I ended up going with Zerex G-05 simply because I had time on the way home from work to stop by a few places for errands and neither O-Reilly's nor Auto Zone had Ford Gold, so Zerex seemed like the next fun thing to try out.

Grabbed 12 gallons of distilled water at Albertson's. Bentley, I planned on going to WinCo but I made three stops in the same parking lot of Albertsons and the water was $1 a gallon.

I also grabbed two bottles of Prestone Flush & Cleaner to run through the first two cycles of the three I plan on doing. pgg0, I still remember your Walmart suggestion and I will see if that ends up being a place we can swing by. If not, I'll have something different to report. Hooray for more data! LOL

I'm going to grab a few empty multi-gallon containers of whatever sort I happen to come across while running a few more errands with the wife tonight.

I hope to knock the flush out tomorrow afternoon. We shall see if time permits, but I didn't realize I had the day off until this morning, so I don't have anything else planned since I was planning on being at work LOL.

ALSO... I grabbed a 60" x 1.25" galvanized steel pipe to use with my flag holder hitch. Again, I just grabbed whatever seemed OK at Lowe's with absolutely no research into what material I should get. It is heavy, thick, and seems like it will hold a flag just fine, so we'll go with it and see how things work out. I'm still formulating how I want to get it to fit snug in the 2" mount hole, but I'm sure I can work something out even if it is a bit like something you'd see on the Red Green show. I'm OK with that LOL.

STORY TIME. I was looking at the pipe selection and the Lowe's assistant in the isle was an elderly gentleman who looked to be putting returned things back on the shelves. He asked me "What are you building?" I told him I was trying to find a pole to use to fly a flag behind my rig. He asked "What flag? US Flag?" I answered that I would alternate between the US flag and my Ford flags. He then told me that he was a Marine Vet and that he had a lot of respect for the US flag and also for the folks that choose to fly it on their houses and rigs. I thanked him for serving our country and that it was an honor to talk to him and he then proceeded to tell me a bit about his service.
He served in the Marines in Vietnam, Pakistan, and I forget where else. He was shot three different times:
1) in the face in his left lower jaw and the bullet exited clean out his right lower jam. He showed me his scars and mentioned he had to have his lower jaw and all his teeth rebuilt
2) in the gut while in Pakistan, apparently that hurt like a bitch and recovery sucked
3) through the right shoulder while carrying someone else. I think he said he was in the DEA when this happened.. I forget. He used an acronym like that. Had a wicked scar for that also.
OK, so this man has apparently been through hell and back again three damn times, probably more, and here he is standing in front of me telling me all about it. I don't know what to say to the man, so I just thanked him again, told him I was sorry, honored and thankful all at the same time and glad I got to speak to him and that he was alive to tell about it. Told him to have a Merry Christmas, he told me the same, and off I went about my business.

Anyway, that's my story for the night. Gives a bit more special meaning when I eventually get to fly the US flag behind my Ex. I want to make sure its done respectfully, so if in any way there is a right way to do it I want to make sure to do it that way. Thanks to all the heros that have fought for this country, past, present, and future. Makes it possible for guys like me to live lives where we get to futz around with trucks, so thanks thanks thanks.

 

Attachment 288358

 

Looks like you have some cocktails to mix up there.

How does the truck take it drink Shaken And Not Stirred like James Bond?

The bit issue with the Ford Gold is the silicates that drop out if the coolant
is heater too much beyond normal. With the 6.0L the effect sort of snowballs.
The oil cooler has find passages for the coolant and from there it feeds into the
EGR cooler. As the oil cooler plugs up the flow through starts to drop and the
coolant in the EGR cooler takes too much heat and starts dropping out the
silicates that in turn go back through the system only to plug the oil cooler even
more with each pass. That is one of the issues of the 6.0L failures. There is also
one other place that the stuff can build up and that is the top of the radiator.
A few have found out that if the radiator is not taken out and really cleaned they
are putting a new set of coolers in it very soon again.

 

Great story, thanks for sharing. And Reps sent for the above quote. I never served; probably the biggest regret I have in life thus far. But feel honored to be here and able to do what we do...futzing with our trucks.

 

.

 

Coolant Flush complete, two water flushes with chemical help, new tstat, heat control valve, and coolant res tank.

Heat still only blows luke warm, but maybe more luke warm than before. Enough to make it comfortable when its 32F outside.

Didn't burp the system properly on the last refill and got an air bubble (noticed temps getting way too hot), shut her down and buddy popped the cap on the res tank without looking at the level and had mini-old faithful in the garage for a few seconds. Much fun was had by all =P

Bubble is gone and temps are much happier now. Idles warm at right around 190. Before I was only getting to 180.

The old coolant looks like coffee. Things looked pretty grimy when inspected, so maybe more to investigate on another day.

For now at least we've got fresh blood flowing and some new parts. Most importantly I got to have fun wrenching on the Ex in the random snow we got today

 

Very cool, was thinking the Zerex as ATG used it in the Excursion section. You should be able to dump the old coolant at the wastemobile or Snohomish county dump.

Cool story about the Marine too.