Thanks for the info. Bill. I feel a little better. The tap water were I live is not that great. So I will flush it again sooner then later. It only has about 2 gallons of tap in the system. I hate learning the hard way, oh well. Thanks.

 

Can I substitute reverse osmosis water for distilled? I have access to RO a lot cheaper.

 

I don't think it is as pure as distilled. Having said that, shops use it all the time. If they don't use tap water, they are using RO.

I can't say how much difference it will make between DI and RO. But for the $20 it costs to use DI, I don't understand the urge to go cheap. For what it is worth, the Premium Gold bottle specifically says to use distilled.

 

I always thought that RO was as pure water as you could get short of DI. I'm going to have up look into this more.

 

Difference Between Reverse Osmosis & Distilled
By Colin Campbell, eHow Contributor
Reverse osmosis and distillation are two different ways of purifying your water. They are both methods that require a mechanical set-up that is relatively easy to provide.
Reverse Osmosis Benefits
Reverse osmosis, a type of de-ionization, will remove all metal ions from the water, clearing it of any harmful minerals that you do not wish to ingest. This is done by straining water through a membranous filter.
Reverse Osmosis Drawbacks
Reverse osmosis, unfortunately, does not deal with organic matter that is present in the water. In addition, it removes any metallic elements that you may have wished to keep for health purposes.
Distillation Benefits
Distillation is the best technique to acquire absolutely pure water. Distillation boils water to turn it into steam, and then condenses the steam to regain the pure water volume. All foreign elements are removed from the liquid.
Distillation Drawbacks
Unfortunately, distillation is highly energy intensive, due to the energy required to boil the water. In addition, much like de-ionization, it may remove wanted ions and materials.
When to Purify Water
Purifying water is important in cases of acquired freshwater that you do not know is clean, recycling used water or waste water, or in certain scientific experiments where you need pure H2O instead of an ingestible hydrating liquid.

 

Excellent instructions!! great help thanks!!I plan on following them next week when I do mine. However I do have couple questions 1. since I will have a half gallon of coolant left over wouldn't it be better to take and mix with half gallon of distilled water and use this mixture to top off if necessary? and 2. why is the min level on the degas bottle now the new full level??

 

Because the total system capacity is 6-7/8 gallons. We assume you have reached a state of pure water during the flush. Adding 3.5 gallons of concentrate, and the rest all water, will be on the heavy side of a 50% mix. Keep that extra half gallon so that in the future when minor repairs loses a little coolant, you can mix it with 50% distilled water and top it off.

I believe it was an early attempt by Ford to prevent puking. I also believe that in fact, they were masking other problems. I know from experience that I can run my truck with the degas level at the original level, and I don't get any puking. Because I have a healthy system. So I tend to think that if you get a little puking, and lowering the level to the new spec solves it, you probably are just delaying an inevitable problem. But, it doesn't hurt anything to run the new lower level.

 

Thanks bpounds for the info great help

 

Great thread. My 2006 just went over 50K miles and I am trying to decide how to proceed to service the coolant. I am in the Phoenix area and I have called three Ford dealers all within 15 to 20 miles of me to hear what they offer and for what price.

Dealers #1 and #2 - $130; drain old coolant and refill with Ford Premium Gold

Dealer #3 - $325; flush with VC9 and refill with Ford Premium Gold, this dealer says they used to do the $130 service but no longer offer it because the more extensive flush is what is needed to properly service the cooling system; says the flush price includes over 4 hours of labor and the required fluids

A tech at one of the first two dealers was making fun of Dealer #3 and implying the more extensive flush was a rip-off.

I am thinking of just doing this myself but I am a bit afraid of how many flush cycles I may have to go through to get to clear water.

How many distilled water flush cycles are most having to do before being ready to add new coolant?

What sort of receptacle are most using to catch so many gallons of fluid when the radiator hose is pulled?

Any tricks to making sure the outgoing water ends up in the receptacle and not all over the floor? (and I don't want to go the route of Fumoto valve + plus hose on the engine block)

How long are most waiting after a drive before pulling the radiator hose?

After the initial VC9 flush, any harm in spreading the distilled water flushes out over a number of days to spread out the driving?

I am not crazy about driving around in circles for 30 minutes to an hour per distilled water flush unless I have somewhere that I need to go to. This would require leaving distilled water sitting in the cooling system until I had reason to go out with the truck again.

If dealer #3 is truly doing the procedure right, then $325 does not seem like too crazy of a price. I know they are removing the thermostat to eliminate driving around, but I don't know if they use distilled water or just tap water.

My cost for a DIY job looks to be a bit over $100, depending on how much distilled water is needed.

Coolant $50 (4 @ $12.50 ea.)
VC9 $35 (2 @ $17 ea.)
Distilled Water $20 (20 @ $1 ea.)

Total $105

I like the idea of saving a couple of hundred bucks, but will the dealer flush be more thorough if they remove engine block drain plugs?

 

To make the reply short and simple. Do it yourself. Forget about dealer 1 & 2. Mine took 48 gallons of distilled water before it ran clear. From what I have witnessed a large part of that labor time they leave the truck running in the parking lot with a garden hose sticking in the coolant reservoir with the tap water running constantly. Do it with distilled water and know it was done correctly.

 

Tenn,

At 48 gallons, that means you did about 6 or 7 flush/drain/refills.

Did you leave the t-stat in?

If yes, how long did you drive around with each distilled water refill?

Thanks.

 

A couple of things....

By dropping the lower radiator hose, you will drain out about 2.5 - 4.0 gallons of coolant/water. Obviously, this is how much it will take in fresh distileld water each time.

I personally us 20 gallons (give or take 2 gallons) to do a complete flush. This means that I basically use 4 gallons per flush and it takes 5 flushes to equal 20 gallons of distileld water.

Distilled water costs .99/gallons... so that is $20.00.

Ford Premiumum Gold coolant costs $13.00/gallon... so times 4 gallons = $52.00.... for a total (water and coolant flush) of $72.00!!!

I drain and refill with distileld water and drive until the temp gauge comes up to normal and probably drive 5 - 10 miles each trip. The first 2 flushes look the darkest, then the balance of them should get clearer and clearer.

I drain on the edge of my yard and let the coolant go into my grass. The worst that happens is that the grass dies and comes back next year.... if you wish to "catch the coolant"... then you need pan large enough to hold 4 - 5 gallons (from the lower radiator hose and the radiator - they both drain).

I would not go days with only distilled water in my system (corrission resistance issues) and driving for long periods of time... but if you don't have an afternoon to just do it from start to finish (and do it right), then maybe you shouldn't be doing it??????

I ended up this last time needing 24 gallons of water... but I wanted to have more on hand rather than not enough... and I knew I would need a gallon or two to top off my cooling system when done.

Either do it right or not at all (but that's me)... and the posts above are all you need. SInce my system is "clean", I do not do the VC9 additive/cleaner... so I am just flushing then using fresh coolant. If using VC9, then of course your going to have to flush it all out as well (more water).

 

Thanks BBC. I read the whole thread leading up to my questions. I saw earlier that you were saying you might use the VC9 at your next flush interval. Are you doing that just to experiment or have you now changed your mind on the necessity of using VC9? Earlier in the thread you had said you were happy with a 50K flush interval using just the distilled water. Then the VC9 fans seemed to change your mind. I am not implying you are a flip-flopper, just curious where you stand now. My coolant system has never been opened since the truck was new, as you said was the case with yours.

You answered a bunch of my questions in your response. I am glad to hear I can just let the drained fluids run out without having to try to catch and manage all of that fluid. Also glad to hear that I can just tool around for 5 or 10 miles to reach the proper temp to open the thermostat for each flush cycle. I live in Phoenix so we are starting with warmer ambient temps than most people in the US.

We have pavestones on our driveway and desert landscaping, so no grass to worry about.

If I skip the VC9, will what comes out of the radiator be likely to stain a pavestone driveway?

My driveway has a slope and a flat pad at the top in front of the garage doors. Can I get any benefit in draining fluid by parking the truck a certain way on the sloped part of the driveway?

I like to do things for myself when I know I can do it right and this job seems to be within my limited skill set (I have been doing oil changes and fuel filters since I bought the truck). I work from home, so I have the time, especially if I only have to drive 5 to 10 miles per flush interval.

 

I think I did around 12 flushes, about 3.5 gallons per flush. I drove about 15 miles per flush. I left the thermostat in. DO THE VC-9.......... You wil not regret it. Why do a half a.. job?

 

If you use VC9, you need to get it up to temperature (ie leave thermostat in or block the air flow). If you simply flush, then you don't need the thermostat.

Some people have plugged their new oil cooler with what was freed up w/ an agressive chemical flush. Not saying you would or you wouldn't, just reporting what has happened.

I agree w/ Tennesseepowerstroke that it is not good to drive for very long w/ straight distilled water. It is corrosive when the temperature elevates. Also, I would not be too crazy about a dealership using tap water.