Okay, so somebody did me a favor and topped off my coolant, but they used the wrong antifreeze ..Now I have a bunch of great big boogers in my cooling system. How do I clean this out?

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ml#post8935201

 

Got pictures of the boogers? I'd expect that a full flush and refill is in order.

 

Be great if you mentioned the model year of the truck and the type of coolant involved. Cuz that be very relevant.

 

Didn't our trucks come from the factory with regular old GREEN coolant?

I know the EARLY '99s can't use the extended range (RED) coolant.

I know that MANY other Fords used the GOLD coolant but didn't think that our 7.3s ever did....

I'm pretty sure starting with the '03 6.0s they went to the GOLD coolant......MY understanding is with that it would gell up if not flushed/changed regularly...

I have to wonder what mix of coolant would cause these "boogers"??

 

If the boogers are floating in degas bottle, I would consider overflowing the degas bottle first to get them out the ‘‘top’. Letting that stuff drain down through radiator gives waaaay more surface area for the unwanted foreign matter to collect on. I specifically do this for oil/fuel contamination.

I do the coolant flush a bit different than the classic Gooch instructions.

Open the radiator drain and then pull the block drains to let all of the old coolant out. Put a ‘dummy’ t-stat in place (gutted t-stat), so you have full communication between block and radiator. Then, run the hose in the degas bottle until water runs out drains and over the top of bottle. Crank engine and let it run with water pouring out all (3) drains - turn water volume down so just keeping degas bottle full. Let it run like this until drains run clear. (NASTY trucks can run dirty for a looooong time) Remove heater core return hose from top of water pump and flush heater core back into block.

Once drains run clear, put plugs back in and close radiator drain and fill system with tap water, then drive around the block. Use radiator flush stuff if system is really dirty.

Repeat this until drains stay clear after driving/draining. When you feel like your cooling system is SQUEAKY clean, drain one final time. Remove heater hose and blow heater core out with compressed air. You can fill/flush with distilled water now if you want, but there is really only a a few spoonfuls of ‘dirty tap water’ in there.

Replace dummy t-stat with a real one and fill system with coolant.

TIP!! Don’t fill degas bottle over 1/2 way when adding coolant!!! When the engine gets warm and t-stat opens, it will BURP and if degas bottle is full, it will push coolant out and make a mess. You will have to DRIVE the truck to get it warm enough to open t-stat. It will never open idling in cold weather.

 

My late 02 came with gold coolant.

 

Sorry guys it is a 2000 f350 srw 4x4 cclb 7.3 .
I have put a cup of laundry detergent and some purple power through the cooling system and then rigged up a electric motor to drive water pump and flushed out with about 40 gal of hot water. Fairly clear now. I had the red extended life coolant in it and someone put regular green in it also. It was quite a mess. When I put the water pump on a couple years ago I was told it should have the red elc in it. So I did a total flush and refill. Apparently between now and then someone decided that it needed some antifreeze added to it. So apparently they put the green stuff in.

 

Curious as to if anyone uses the Prestone Flush & Fill "T" in the heater hose to flush the cooling system?
I use them on my gassers all the time, and IMHO they work GREAT!