I did not pull the thermostat. There is a bracket beside the thermostat for lines I believe fuel lines, can't remember that I did not want to remove. I later asked a tech at a dealership about them and said he just bends them out of the way. I don't know how many do this, but i did not want to start bending them. It would be quicker to remove the thermostat but I am retired and in no hurry. My truck is a third vehicle and I would drive it for about an hour between flushes when I was going somewhere and then let it cool down overnight.

I put a sample of the last distilled water drained in a clear glass, ran tap water in clear glass, placed them side by side and you could not tell the difference. I was beginning to think it would never clear up.

 

Super helpful info. My relatively new to me Ex had green antifreeze in it so i had to flush through a few times to get it running clear.

I'm still not satisfied that at the air is out of the system because it has only been taking about 22qt with heaters on.

I'll drive it for few days and flush again.

 

Do you have the dual heaters with one in front and one for the back?
If so you may want to use the vacuum tool to refill the system.
Look for Radvac on Youtube.

 

I just skipped to the back of this thread so, I never had a problem bleeding the cooling system on my 05. After a total flush I would replace with the proper concentration of coolant, drive and top off. Never a problem.

 

After a flush I with hose water I do a few with distilled water and
then add in the coolant concentrate and top with distilled.
The rad vac helps remove any air pockets so your not going back
and topping off every few days.