Ok, no problem

At least now it's mentioned yet again for future readers

 

Man its hard to impossible to find name brand coolant concentrate anywhere. I even tried a NAPA Truck Parts store and they only had 50/50 mixes. They sent me to Fleetpride. Had never heard of it until today, and I found the last 4 gallons of Fleetpride's house brand, OTR (Over the Road) ethylene glycol based concentrate.

Anyone ever heard of this brand?

 

No sir, I have not.

Tractor Supply Company (TSC) has Rotella ELC concentrate bottles by the gallon on the shelf or online.

That is where I bought my ELC from when I changed over after a Caterpillar location sold me some ELC blend stuff. I returned it and left the store because they insisted I did not need 4 gallons of concentrate ELC for my 7.3L Ford.

 

Right on Sous, I and several of my local 7.3 friends found the Rotella ELC locally from an oil distributor and at a very resonable price. Got mine in a case of 4 gallons.

 

I got the red ELC concentrate at Oriely Auto.

 

Got my concentrate at NAPA in McGregor, Minnesota.

Off the shelf item.

Pop

 

Does Gooch endorse the use of Ford VC1 system flush or Zerez XC1 or Thermoflush, Cascade, Fleetguard Restore or Restore+?

I assume those will plug up the oil cooler real fast eh? So I should put in the new cooler after flushing.

 

This is some high quality info from a real pro. Gotta love it when the pro's speak up.

One question and I believe its self answering --- run the heater when doing the flush - I would expect that would be a YES and should be added to the original instructions?

Thank you Gooch and friends.

 

The coolant circulates thru the heater core regardless if the heater is “on”’or not unless there has been a valve installed to stop the flow during the hot season. These era trucks did not come with such valve from the factory. The later models did though.

So so no it is not necessary.

 

Excursions do have a factory vacuum controlled shut off valve so if you're running the engine you'll need to turn the heater on or just disconnect the hose, the valve defaults to the open position.

 

Good to know. I knew the 6.0 trucks had a valve. Didn’t know the 7.3 excursions did.

 

2003 was the only year the 7.3L Superduties had one from the factory. It was vacuum operated and only shut when in MAX A/C.

 

If you've got a truck without the vacuum-operated shut-off valve, feel free to mod yours by adding one.

Or, a simple ball valve in one of the the heater core hoses, manually operated as the seasons dictate, works just as well.

Air conditioning system will run a bit cooler for your effort.

Pop

 

Ive been idling my truck for an hour and still the Motorcraft RT1201 Thermostat isn't opening. It's 75 F outside. It's a mechanical thermostat , so Iikely just need to keep it at 2000 rpm until it opens, but to add to the confusion it looks like I received a faulty Motocraft coolant sender from Riff Raff Diesel. They sent me the black colored F65Z10884AA https://www.riffraffdiesel.com/coola...-sensor-99-03/ and it seems it isn't working. The wiring harness to the sensor looks fine.

With this black sensor installed into the water pump, the temp gauge reads zero or red hot at the dashboard, even when the engine is cold and CHECK GAUGE light comes on on the dash.

So far I have added 4 gallons of coolant concentrate and 1 gallon distilled water. EDIT: ended up getting 4 gallons of concentrate and 2 gallons of distilled water after driving around the city for an hour. There must be 2 gallons trapped in their which are "undrainable".

Should i wait for the motor to cool off and switch the old temp sensor in or ignore the temp gauge and keep her running until she accepts the remaining distilled water?

I also installed new water pump and oil cooler plus the vastly over priced, but lovely blue-colored, Sinister Diesel coolant filtration system.

I am getting heat is the cabin.

If I plug the old light grey colored coolant temp sensor in and let it dangle, the dashboard gauge goes up 1/8 slowly (its getting hot touching the HPOP oil reservoir) and the dashboard doesn't indicate CHECK GAUGE. Torque app reads No Data for both new sensor, installed and sensor just dangling but plugged in. EDIT: I took out the black water temp sensor RiffRaff sold me and put the old gray one back, gusher of coolant included!, and now the temp gauge reads normally




I count on RiffRaff to sell me the correct parts. Maybe this one is faulty or could there be more than one coolant temp sensor???

 

Yes, there IS more than one.

Two, for example.

Pop