I have a 97 F-350 DRW, 7.3 PSD, and the water pump has been leaking intermittenly. I suspect it is comming from the weep hole. It only seems to leak when parked and I am not around. All I see is a puddle and a drop or two on the balancer.

Anyway I am changing the pump on Wed and I need to ask a few questions about the coolant.

I have no idea what type of coolant or what type and how much additive I need to use.

I also see threads about testing the coolant...what is the coolant tested for?

Any help would be appreicated, Thanks in advance

Kevin

 

tested for an additive that prevents pitting of the cooling surfaces near cylinders. SCA is the additive. some coolants have it already- for the sake of simplicity and cost, i'd suggest getting undiluted pre-treated coolant. reason i say that is i just did it the other way around. next time i'll follow my advice.

i had a similar leak. if you have any questions about how my repair went- shoot me a note or post more questions while this is all still fresh on my brain.

 

Eric_F250,

Thanks for the info, I'll try to find the coolant with the SCA already in it.

Is there any special tools I need to remove the clutch fan and what do you use on the o-rings to the pump? How much coolant do I need for the 7.3?

Thanks again Eric!!

Kevin

 

total capacity is about 23 quarts. someone will chime in with coolant opinions/options. i just asked the guy at NAPA and he sold me something he said would work. manual says "Service refill recommendations are 50/50 mixture of water and permanent coolant/antifreeze such as Ford Premium Cooling System Fluid E2FZ-19549-AA or B or equivalent meeting specification ESE-M97B44-A plus 1.41 (1.5 qts) of Heavy Duty Cooling System Additive FW-15 or equivalent meeting Ford specification ESN-M99B169-A."

you can use a little light grease to hold the o-ring in place if you wish. i didn't use anything at all, but i did make certain that the sealing surface was super clean with fine abrasive pad. same goes with the t-stat gasket.

you can borrow a set of wrenches for the pulley / fan clutch at the auto store. there is a sticker on my fan shroud that yells, "RIGHT HAND THREAD". being somewhat dense, this led me to uncertainty if they were talking about perspective from the front bumper, or from the driver seat. i learned it was from the front bumper. you might already get it, but to loosen- i held the pulley still and turned the fan clutch nut left to the passenger's side. if you are stock, yours will be the same.

some guys like to whack the side of the nut with a hammer and chisel to help loosen things up before applying wrenches. i went the route of long pipes slipped over the ends of the wrenches for leverage (for both loosening and tightening). reinstall clean and dry- no anti-seize on threads. don't break anything, but make sure it is TIGHT.

be really careful with those wrenches because if you slip at all you'll round the edges of the nut. you want to make sure you don't damage the fan clutch nut and if you do, make sure that you either replace the fan clutch (not a bad idea if you have extra money since you are in there), or file the edges of the nut so they don't touch the back of clutch assembly.

when you get it all back together the fan and clutch must move independently of the fan clutch nut (feel mild resistance when turning fan by hand- nut stays still). i didn't pay attention to this and it cost me a new radiator because after i had everything back together, my fan spun right off and poked a hole in it. that was exciting- not in a good way.

good luck! don't hesitate if you have more questions.

 

Thanks Again Eric_F250!! Excellent Info.

Kevin

 

so i went out and looked, and found that i used "shellzone" coolant. a web search feeds back lots of info that makes it look like this is indeed a coolant that doesn't need the SCA additive and is rated for diesel rigs.

anyone else have experience good or bad with this stuff?

 

What color is it?

 

The only Shellzone coolant I can see is the proper low silicate formula but it doesn't have SCA's added



http://www.shell.com/home/content/ca...ifreeze.html#1

 

ya- that's the stuff. it's green.

all the stuff i read had me convinced there was no need to add anything to it. is this true?

 

I don't see any mention of SCA's in the data sheet:

http://www.shell.com/static/ca-en/do...cants/5-10.pdf

nothing about nitrites or molybdate either, and they're the ingredients in the SCA.

 

i got this,rmi-25 additive,203 thermostat and coolant filter.really easy installation.http://www.dieselsite.com/index.asp?...PROD&ProdID=27

 

you're right. a search of "shellzone SCA" pops up a whole different story. so the coolant is rated for diesel use- so long as you add SCA. thanks for the heads up.

 

Did my '96 waterpump and got a pump that has a different heater hose nipple fitting size (threaded hole in pump housing)...was too large for the threaded nipple from my old pump. Phoned ford and they thought it maybe a newer pump design which they sell a nipple for, it is a threaded metric o-ring boss type fitting. For a beeeegillion $$$$. Went to my local hydraulics shop, the guys hooked me up with a common #10 metric boss (iirc) o-ring fitting and we attached a nipple (5/8") into that for the heater hose....all brass, think it was $10.00....Ford's quote was well over 10 times that amount!!!!!

Is it any wonder.....they are having troubles...

jrc