Book says 20.9 qts. I only squeezed in about 10. Is the book wrong?

 

Did you drain the engine or just the radiator?

 

I donno where they put 20.9 qts. On my 5.4 F150, I drained the radiator, changed the tstat, put a flush fitting in a heater hose, took the lower radiator hose off and still could only put back a little over 2 gallons.

 

I better read again. I put about that same amount in; about 2 gallons.

Yes, I flushed entire engine with a hose in the reservoir and ran it about 10 minutes. I have a T pipe ahead of the thermostat that unscrews too. Let it all run at 2000 rpm for a bit too.

Thanks, both of you, for confirming. I questioned the 5 gallons the entire time!

 

Book and online show 20.9 quarts. Here's the page:

 

Right. Half of that is in the block and won't drain unless you find and pull the block drain plugs.

If you thoroughly flushed with water and drained what you could, 10 quarts of 100% full strength coolant is the right amount to add anyway. If you used 50/50 premix, you are not even close to being adequately protected.

This is why - just as in the case with transmissions - the best way to do this is take it to a shop that has the appropriate machine.

 

I was under the impression leaving the valve open and opening up the T and letting it run clear for 10 min would drain it all? Left it run with the water off for awhile too.

Guess I better test it to see how much protection I got since I did use. 50 50 mix.

 

I was thinking the same thing as you when I did mine a few weeks ago. I just tested mine and it looks to be between 0 and -5 degrees Fahrenheit for the freezing point. My tool says -34 degrees Fahrenheit is about 50/50 mix. I used premix 50/50 so I'm going to take GLC's advice and use 100% concentrate once drained.

 

If you are going to use 100%, flush it till nothing but clear water comes out, then drain all you can.

There are people here who claim that only distilled water should be used. That's going to be difficult without using a machine unless your water is from a filtered source.

You need it protected down to -34, not only for freeze protection, but also for a proper strength to protect against corrosion.

 

All of this is why I go to a lube shop and have them vacuum all the coolant out and replace with new. Worth the extra dollars for me.

 

I recently went to the dealer and paid for this service, they charged me $160. However, on the parts sheet it says they used the 20 quarts to fill it back up, and they mentioned they used some kind of pressure machine to flush it that "I can't do at home"

Makes sense now.

 

The way I do it is I drain the raidiator then I drain the block. Then I use the preston flush chemical fill it with hose water and run it several minutes. Then I drain the radiator and the block. Then I fill it with distilled water and run it several minute. Then I drain the radiator and the block. Then I use the unmixed prestone anti freeze and distilled water in equal as I can get it amounts. From now on I'm doing it every year to keep corrosion to a minimum. Had to replace the heater core this year and I never want to do that again.

 

Yup good advice. Thanks. That's normally my advice to myself. The one and only time I didn't listen to myself to save a buck...

 

I don't know if you care but I followed what GLC said and it's pretty much spot on at -34 Fahrenheit freezing point now.