I just flushed my coolant at 52k. I know it is suppose to be a "100k fluid", but with all the TSB discussions on nitrite levels, I thought I would just go ahead and flush it early (per Beachbumcooks advice). I also was one of the folks that got a lot of sand (or silicates) out of my first two coolant filter changes - so I wondered if there was amy more "hiding" in the system.

When I drained the radiator, the gold coolant was definitely "off-color" compared to the fresh coolant. It had a slightly darker tint to it when looking at the fluid in a 5 gallon bucket. It definitely did not have any oil, it was just a different color. I did not notice any sand in the bucket any of the times I drained it. I tested the old coolant (first drain) with a test strip for nitrites, and it the color of the pad did not match anything on the reference card - I really could not get a reading. I took this to mean that it was probably time to flush it.

I drained it and refilled with distilled water 6 times. The refill volume each time was between 3 and 3.5 gallons of distilled water. After the last drain (7th drain), I refilled with 3.5 gallons of Motorcraft Premium Gold antifreeze. This procedure gets about 98.5% of the old fluid out and leaves a 51% mix. I took my time and I let the engine cool before I drained and re-filled with the cool water.

While doing this procedure (leisurely), I was forum surfing. I came across the information below posted by a tech:

EGR coolers do not just fail there is always a reason for them failing. You can look at the EGR cooler as a fuse for the cooling system. If the fuse blows you need to find the short that caused the fuse to blow. There are many different reasons for them to blow. The #1 reason is the oil cooler is plugged. This is why Ford will not let you replace an EGR cooler without putting in an oil cooler kit. The reason oil coolers fail is poor cooling system maintenance. The oil cooler gets plugged because of poor coolant maintenance and then the coolant starts to boil in that part of the cooling system. This takes out the EGR cooler. You can also have a turbo over boost problem and the extra pressure can blow the EGR cooler. An overboost can be caused by many different things: like a seized unison ring in the turbo. bad or plugged EBP sensor, or a chip installed. These problems can also cause head gaskets to blow.
So before you just replaced an EGR cooler please figure out why you are doing it.

The post above is nothing new really, it just made me that much happier that I did the flush early. Who knows how much it might help, but it darn sure can't hurt!

Again, thanks BBC for advocating a conservative approach to maintenance!

Edit:
Total cost:
4 gallons of Coolant - apprx $50.00
20 gallons of distilled water - apprx $20.00
Driving around after each flush - fun (but it may have cost around $10.00 in fuel).

 

Mark, did you use a flush kit on a heater hose? Or just drain from the rad. ? How about the over fill bottle? I get your post reads several drains with inbetween fill and flush distilled wtr. Then last refil of the ford gold! Just trying to see if I understand the way you went about the job. Thanks ....Tim

 

The fastest way to drain the coolant is to drop the lower rad hose. It is more messy this way though. If you use the little valve on the radiator it will take FOREVER! When you drop the hose or open the valve on the radiator, it will drain the overflow bottle (I am assuming this is what you are asking).

 

I pulled my overflow bottle and flushed it separately... they was a LOT of sand in the bottom of the tank that I did not want mixing with the clean coolent.

 

Where did you find Ford Gold coolant for $12 a gallon?? I paid ~$19/gallon last year at a dealer.

 

My dealer sells it for $11.24/gal + tax.
I just bought a gallon when I did my coolant bypass install.

 

I get it for 10.99/gallon at my dealer. You gotta know people

 

List is $15.40 at my dealer, I picked it up for $13.86 southeastern Pa.

 

Mark,

Good info on the changing of the coolant. I had the dealer flush and fill mine at 60K (because I had a discount coupon). Now at 120K I'm getting ready to do it for this winter.

I added the coolant by-pass this past December but believe I most likly don't need it. Never a problem with the EGR or Oil cooler to date; maybe because I had it changed at 60K. Just a thought - you can never perform the preventive maintenance too soon!

Steve

 

I changed my coolant at 55K and removed the lower radiator hose after each flush with DI water. It is fast but as previously mentioned it makes quite a mess and I also had leak issue which required adding a second clamp to resolve.

Coolant cost me $19/gallon plus tax, guess I wore my T-shirt that says "I'm A Sucker So Charge Me Out The Ying-Yang".

 

I have a t-shirt just like that. Fortunately my wife (who bakes cookies for the guys at the Dealership) doesn't mind picking up the parts I need. She always gets a better price than me.

 

Guys.......the Zerex G05 coolant is the SAME as the Ford gold coolant. I've seen it for $8-$11/gallon. Why do you wanna pay dealership prices??? Advance and Autozone both have it, although not all stores stock it.

Just DON"T fall into the Prestone one size fits all trap. That crap will corrode your system. BTDT and got the doctorate to prove it.

 

Good post npccpartsman!

My coolant price was $11.84 per gallon. The zerex was about $1 per gallon cheaper. For $4 difference, I like to keep the relationship w/ the dealership. It has been helpful in the past.

The ONLY coolant that I have seen w/ the Motorcraft rating is the Zerex G05. There may be others, but it should be on the lable:

Ford specification WSS-M97B51-A1

 

It may be limited data so far, but something interesting seems to have happened.

Recently, I had been experiencing some fairly significant level fluctuations in the degass bottle. The variability was as much as 1.5 inches.

After one day of operation w/ the new fluid - back to normal fluctuations of say 0.5 inches or less.

As I said, it may just be that I do not have enough hours of operation to say that there really is a change, but it sure seems to be the case.

I wonder if the silicates were depleted and the boiling point and density had been affected?

 

Wow... what timing... I flushed my coolant last week at 153,000 miles (only 51,000 miles the coolant flushed out).

I to also used the flush procedure you used (oh, that's right... you used the procedure I posted several years ago.

I did not test my coolant... but just assumed that it was time as I was actually 1,000 miles past my normal service interval (sshhhhh.... don't tell anyone)!!!

I paid $11.00/gallon for Ford Premium Gold at my dealer and am just happy to use the Ford branded stuff!!!

The key to proper cooling system maintenance is flushing with 100% distilled water and using Ford Prem Gold coolant.... and a dieselsite.com coolant filter!!!!

BTW, I changed my coolant filter and had about 6 - 10 black specs of sand that poured out when I emptied the liquid in the filter into a coffee filter placed into a large plastic cup.

Thanks,