Looks like I am going to have replace the coolant in my PSD myself. The sorry *** dealer, Bay Area Ford in Clear Lake agreed to change it out for me and after waiting all morning on Fri they had installed the GREEN coolant - the worst scenario possible. I told them to get it out of there now and what I think they did was just put my old yellow coolant w/contaminents back in cause its real pale, cloudy with a major green tint. On Mon, I brought it back, the service guy in attendance said that they would correctly change it out and after waiting all morning again, I noticed that they had'nt touched it. Then the ASSistant Mgr. told me that they would not do it again - so I must. Question: Is Motorcraft Prem. Gold the only kind to use and is it fairly easy - is the draincock on the bottom - and what is the capacity of the 7.3 in gallons?

 

Yes, the drain is on the bottom of the radiator, on the driver's side. You will need to disconnect the bottom hose to get more coolant out than you can with the petcock drain, though. You'll need to fill and flush with distilled water a few times to make sure you get all the old coolant out. Then, fill it with your coolant mixture.........

 

Zerex makes a compatible gold coolant too. I think that AutoZone carries it.

It is about the same price as Motorcraft Gold at my Ford dealer.

 

Just drained my radiator and got about 5 gallons of coolant out of it. Did not drain the block. I think the total cap. is about 32 quarts. You might look at your drive belt and consider changing it since you have to disconnect the upper radiator hose to get it off. That was my real reason for replacing the coolant. I used the Zerex GO-5 gold coolant. It meets the Ford spec.


'02 F-250 PSD, 4x4, Crewcab, Short Bed, AIS Intake

 

Don't you love how you have to remove the upper radiator hose to change the belt? What a crappy design. I plan on ordering the dual alternator hose which goes around the belt instead of through it, as soon as I replace the belt with a Goodyear Gatorback.

 

Didn't know they had a hose that went around the belt. Crap! I should have done that!

 

Thx for the replies ya'll. Guess I'll need to carry four gallons of coolant, four gallons of distilled water as well as an extra belt on long trips! Ya'll mix the amber coolant with distilled water . I'm sure the dealer probably used tap water and about 2 Gals of coolant.