Just finished flushing the cooling system doing it the Ford recommended way as per post by cheezit and the 6.0 mechanic at the local dealer. Cost break down as listed;

2 qts. of motorcraft Iron Cleaner and 1 T-stat "O" ring = $63.73
4 gal. Zerex GO-5 coolant from Napa = $45.63
10 - 2 1/2 gallons containers of distilled water = $20.00

Total = $129.36

Ran the iron cleaner with distilled water thru the system for a 20 mile freeway drive. Came home, drained and removed t-stat and flushed 5 times with distilled water. Water coming out at the end of the 5th flush looked as good as the water going in. Installed T-stat with new "O" ring and added 3 3/4 gal. coolant. This is a little extra to compensate for the coolant filter which I installed a new filter after the flushes. Drained 1st thru rad. petcock, then lower rad. hose and then left block plug. Repeated this procedure 5 times. Hope this helps anyone contemplating doing their own coolant flush. Local dealer couldn't answer whether they used distilled or tap water so decided to do it myself. Glad I did. Now I can R&R the air filter in about 10 minutes. Piece of cake once you have a procedure. Doing the flush the way I did it will take most of a day so do not attempt it if you are in a hurry.

 

nice post 69cj!

 

Thanks Mark, They do think that their iron cleaner is gold plated but I couldn't find an alt. source or brand.

 

ya 29.00 a bottle for that vc9. Ive been stock pileing stuff for my truck. I have a few vc9, extra head gaskets, head bolts, egr valve, a few oem fuel and oil filters, and a ficm. now I just need to find a oil cooler kit, hpp and egr cooler.

 

$26.50 plus tax here. The O ring was $5.50.

 

Thanks for posting your experience on this. It is on my list of things to do this winter.

So, I'm interested in a discussion of the importance of the Ford iron cleaner. I'll start it off by saying, I don't plan to use any cleaner or flush solution, just the repeated drain/fill with distilled water. Interested in hearing pro/con opinions of others.

I'm at about 65k miles, current coolant looks okay, which is to say no fuel or oil contamination apparent in the degas bottle.

 

The VC-9 is in the Ford procedure for flushing prior to water flush and new coolant. Local 6.0 tech says they do use the VC-9 and then flush with water. If there was an oil cooler leak then after the VC-9 flush they then flush with Simple Green or Cascade, or vice/versa, also recommended by Ford.
Cheezit, A tech that posts here, also recommends the VC-9. I am assuming that it removes any scale build up on the internal iron parts. I can tell you that the t-stat housing looked like it had been scrubbed clean when I re-installed the T-stat. I know that the VC-9 is expensive but since it is once every 5 yrs. or 100,000 miles I will live with it. Why waste a days labor and almost 4 gallons of coolant to save $56 bucks?

 

Agreed on the cost. I don't care what it costs if it is beneficial with no downside risk. Does the benefit outweigh the risk?

I'm more concerned about any downside to using it. It is corrosive to some extent, or else it would not be an iron cleaner. So does it have the potential to damage a heater core, radiator core, or an EGR cooler? They have you take the t-stat out, so that tells me something right there. Why does my iron block need to be cleaned if the coolant has been maintained?

Never been a fan of ANY flush agent, so I am naturally skeptical. I'm certainly not criticizing cheezit or anyone else. My goal is to see a discussion from all sides.

 

To be honest with you Bill, I am no chemist and followed the Ford recommendation. Heater cores , Radiators etc. are either brass, copper or aluminum. Hopefully Ford would not sacrifice these for iron components. From the letter Ford sent out I am wondering if the iron scale could have something to do with the nitrate levels that all of a sudden have them so concerned. Hopefully some one with a more technical backgroud can resond to your concerns.

 

Vloney made a similar post about nitrate levels recently, so maybe he'll see this and post on it. I'd like to see some literature from Ford about what's really going on. Maybe their VC-9 helps to clean casting sand out also???

 

yes it has to have some kinda of chem in it. Is it good or bad in the long run? i dont know. I will say it works and I have yet to see a bad result from it. the reason you remove the t-stat is for flow only and not so to possible damage.