At 205k miles I'd rather change the coolant temp sensor at the same time if taking it out means a bunch of coolant is gonna start spilling out when I go to change it after its crapped out. Its $15 on Rockauto.

Stamped steel? I can certainly imagine it might be rusty. I thought it was plastic. Need to pop my head under the hood.

Thanks my man.

 

Yes the housing that covers the thermostat (t-stat) is steel and I would replace it. I would replace the thermostat also. Are you calling the thermostat a sensor? because if you are then change it. Its cheap insurance.

 

Nope Im calling the coolant temperature sensor a sensor.

Yes for sure, I would most certainly change the thermostat, and now I know to change the housing as well.

Thanks.

 

http://www.riffraffdiesel.com/motorc...rmostat-96-03/

That's the only thermo I would recommend, personally. Unless you're running dual HPOS, in which case I would recommend the thermo Terminator Engineering sells.

Stewart

 

OAT Coolant test strips for your CAT EC-1 spec'd Heavy Duty Extended Life Coolant:

Stewart

 

I haven't seen this posted here before, so I am going to drop it in here for future readers of this thread:

elcfaq.pdf

Some great questions and answers from the people at CAT on ELC coolant, and it will help anyone to understand what it is and what it does differently.

 

Wealth of info in here... thanks to all.

I'm about to do a flush and I have a couple questions of clarification on the flush procedure:

When the "flush T" is inserted, is there a check valve in that? Which way are you pushing the water? Through the heater core and back into the pump, or back into the block?

I was building my own "flush T" including a heater shut off valve, and I was under the impression I could push the flush water toward the heater core, through it and into the water pump, through the radiator, through the engine and back out a second T in the heater hose from the block... I have a heater shut off valve between them so flush water only goes in that loop. would that work? Or am I not seeing this correctly. I think I would remove the thermostat so this loop includes the radiator and probably run the engine to get help from the water pump in circulating the flush water. But "back" flushing is mentioned -- does that mean you're pushing water back into the block through the heater hose, up through the radiator and...on your trucks out of the degas bottle? on my '95 it would have to disconnect the upper radiator hose. In that case does running the engine help, or do you do this just with water pressure and engine off?

For the distilled water flush, I took a 15 gallon sealed plastic drum, put a garden hose spigot at the bottom and an air quick connect at the top so I can pressurize it a little and push 15 gallons of distilled water through the engine.

I just need clarification on how the coolant/water should flow in order to flush effectively.

Also, I have an early '95 Powerstroke with the cap on the radiator and non-pressurized overflow bottle. I was also thinking I could flush water into the heater hose as discussed, and remove the thermostat and lower radiator hose... coolant flows top to bottom in the radiator, right? I'm just not sure where the coolant from the heater core goes when it enters the water pump...?? --to the radiator, then through the engine and back to flush T?

 

Ok, Here's what I came up with after a few more minutes of thinking --based on logic and what I do know about the cooling system:

1. I can unhook the heater line at the water pump and flush just the heater core that way -- first, maybe, since some people have expressed concern about flushing heater core junk into the engine.

2. The heater core is in the loop with the engine and the water pump is always pumping, so there must be a bypass (and I sorta know this, too) at the thermostat so coolant can just circulate the engine and heater core when the coolant is still too cold open the thermostat. So If I leave the thermostat in, I can flush just the engine and heater core until it's clean.

3. If I take out the thermostat, the water pump and flush water pressure will push coolant through the whole system including the radiator to flush it out as well. Though, one thing I'm not clear on is whether the thermostat closes the bypass when it opens, and whether with the thermostat removed I'll be pushing some water through the radiator and some will bypass, thus limiting my radiator flush... But I'm not going to do this with the engine got. I hear that people have and didn't crack the heads or block or gasket, but I think pushing 40 to 50 degree water inside a hot engine is pushing my luck.

Let me know what y'all think. I'm still curious about the direction that Gooch is pushing the flush water in his instructions, or if there's no check valve in that T and he's pushing water both ways --likely to me from the looks of it. I would think that you wouldn't be able to or at least wouldn't want to push water backwards through the system while the engine's runnin, and I think I recall the engine running while the flush was being done in his writeup?

 

i dont know if i missed it in all the reading of this thread, but is it still the 4 gallon concentrate rule with a ford excursion 7.3 since it has the rear heater core?

 

That's what I used when I did mine 4 gal of concentrate. If it was still low then I just kept adding concentrate till I was at the max line on the degaus bottle.

 

I know thread sealant is not necessary on the block plugs, but for piece of mind which kind would you use the tape or something from Permatex?

Great having a this info in one thread!

 

I use either the Teflon tape or the Teflon infused paste. In a pinch, I have used silicone RTV.

 

Thanks for the reply Roland!

I've got another question now:

Here's what going on:
I could only get the D-side block plug out so I can only get 6 gallon in when I refill I'm on my third flush. I still need to pull my old pump and put the new pump on, so I figured I'd put the new pump on with out the thermostat and do one last flush.

Here's the question:
If I can only get 6 gallons in and it's a 8 gallon system should put 1 gallon of distilled water in (after the last drain) then my 4 gallons of ELC then top off as needed with distilled water?

I know the answer is yes but I just want to confirm.

Thanks...Tom

 

I would first add the 4 gallons of concentrated ELC, then top off with the distilled water. This is still pretty much the same thing you are saying. You are just making sure that you can get all 4 gallons of antifreeze in before topping off. I usually mix up a little 50/50 to top it off after the initial fill up. I bought a case of 6 gallons when I did my first flush and change to ELC and had some left over for later.

 

Thanks again Roland, yeah after posting I thought about it the way you said. Also that's a good idea to get an extra bottle and make up some 50/50 for topping off after I'm done.