Is there a better way to drain more fluid out of 2000 - 2010 F150 V8 cooling systems - on initial drain or after one or more flushes? One reason - to get more non-distilled water out - if it was ever used.

Blow out w/ air?
Mentioned https://www.f150online.com/forums/ar...ntifreeze.html - will removing drain plug on block get that much more out, or more trouble than it's worth? Maybe a couple of cycles of filling system (with distilled), heat & re-drain is as easy, if not faster?

I guess one solution is use only distilled for a few flushes and for final fill.

I've read there's more fluid left than drained, if you just open the radiator drain or even remove bottom radiator hose. Which may require several flushes, heating & cooling cycles to get all old water & coolant out?

A mechanic once told me loosening a coolant hose on top of the engine drains a lot more from system (break vacuum). Don't remember which one he said or if it matters?

When I only opened the petc (forum censored the correct term?) + removed top & lower radiator hoses + opened overflow reservoir, very little drained - from very warm engine. IIRC, maybe 2-ish gal, if that.
I could possibly use compressed air or modify a large wet vac attachment to suck some out - as some shops say they do. Hiring most maintenance done isn't an option at my age.

This post https://www.f150online.com/forums/pr...ml#post2557002 - I don't understand Bruce's section on:
"So the water falls down into the water pump" ?? If reading it correctly, what's the purpose of letting water "fall into" the pump?
Did he leave out a step about removing T-stat - or I missed it, or something else?

 

Duplicate post.

 

I have been doing cooling system maintenance for 50 years, and have never bothered with distilled water. In my opinion (and you know what they say about opinions) name brand quality coolant has adequate additives to retard corrosion if you change it fairly regularly. I also use full strength coolant, not that 50/50 stuff.

I usually put a flushing tee in the heater hose and do my flushes that way.

 

Thanks glc.
1st, I've seen those flush kits & even used one 30 ? yrs ago. They used to go on the return heater hose? But I'm not sure how much they flush from the engine. From heater core - possibly.
I could probably get to the heater hose on my F150. On my Hyundai Elantra, have to remove many parts - even if a flushing Tee was installed.

Wish I'd found actual, unbiased tests for products & methods like cooling system flushes. Rarely do.

The devil's in the details. Re: distilled water. Some of how much "scale" (mineral deposits) has to do w/ the local water supply. Where I grew up, tap water was very soft (lake water) - rarely problems w/ radiators. Other cities with hard water, build up in cooling systems is a bigger issue if you didn't change coolant regularly.

Really, much would depend on exactly what minerals and ions were in the water supply. Some are much more corrosive or prone to depositing scale than others. Using hard water or water with appreciable levels of certain things like chlorides would use up the antifreeze corrosion inhibitor faster. It pays to know the chemistry of your water. High heat also speeds up these types of chemical reactions.

Today, some auto mfgs & most antifreeze mfgs recommend using distilled water. Never seen extensive, independent studies on 50 / 50 coolant mix using distilled vs. fairly hard water.