i flushed my cooling system, 50,000 miles, this is what i did:
BUY: 4 jugs MC premium gold coolant from dealership, 20 gallons distilled water from walmart, zerex coolant flush,

1: remove radiator drain plug, let it drain, replaced drain plug.
2: removed t-stat housing and t-stat (8mm socket), replaced housing, removed upper rad hose from radiator.
3: put garden hose into radiator, had to use a section of air hose cut to form a "gasket" for the garden hose to seal into radiator, attached a length hose to upper radiator hose, had to make a "gasket" with section of air hose again, and use the hose clamp to hold it together... it all sealed up pretty good.
4: turned hose on, I alternated from keeping the resovoir cap off and on, to allow it to spill out of the resovoir or closed it so all the water came out of the hose... ran water for 30 minutes
5: removed drain plug again, installed T-stat, reinstalled upper rad hose, filled resovoir with distilled water (only 3 gallons would go in, i thought we had 5 gal capacity).. started truck with heater up and squeezed upper rad hose when the t-stat opened up, to expel air (took about 15 min).
6. drained again, then filled again, I hadnt planned on using the zerex flush, inside the upper rad hose there was sediment even after the flushing, and the resovoir had some white scum in it, which i never noticed till it was just water in there, so i went and got the flush, drained and added flush and refilled... then garden hose flushed (step 4), then repeated step 5 till all my distilled water was gone, about 5 times, zerex only the one time though... after the zerex, my radiator hose was squeaky clean and my resovoir was clear again (i had thought it was good)
7. I even removed lower radiator hose to get more water out for the final fill, but it didnt release that much more, maybe .5 gallons, so i filled with 3 gallons 50/50 coolant, ran it through, then drained the coolant out, and refilled again with 3 gallons 50/50... the thinking is, that whatever distilled water would have mixed with the coolant the first time through, and after draining, what is left is diluted coolant mix, then i add my regular 50/50, im assuming my coolant is a little heavy on water, but itll be ok

at 50k i thought my coolant was strait, considering its 100k interval, but it was actually kinda scummy and murky, with other scum too, after the flush my tank and fluid is super clean again... i recommend not waiting the 100k interval, you would be surprised how your coolant is

IMPORTANT: well maybe not that important, but before i drained, to fill with distilled water, or getting it ready to flush with the garden hose, i left my truck on, and switched my AC on to make my e-fans kick in, with my temp probe i waited till the engine reached about 160deg before shutting off and commencing, so as to not have the engine be hot when the water came in, you can just as easily get a hunk of cardboard and fan the engine till it cooled off a bit, it actually brings it down pretty fast

 

oh yeah this was a lot of effort and I only saved about 60 bucks, i wanna know from a ford tech or someone that actually knows.... but does the dealership service flush MC gold mix through or just tap water, oh and i just realized i could have got all the coolant/water out, by attaching my wetvac hose to the radiator hose... 5HP craftsman shopvac probably would have sucked everything out

 

It would have been nice if you included some pics. I Took my small car for a coolant flush, did not have time to mess with it. The dealership is charging close to 120 dollars for a coolant flush. You saved yourself a lot of $$$$.

 

Old school thought, I always drained the block as well when flushing/replacing coolant. I haven't done this yet on mine so I can't say if there are fittings on the block that will allow you to drain it, but pretty sure there must be. It sounds like you did a thorough job and should be good to go for many miles. Just insure you check the coolant with coolant test strip to make sure you are protected from freezing in your area. Main reason is because you didn't drain the block and you may not have a 50 to 50 ratio. Thanks for the write up, will help me out when I do mine.

 

I would just flush twice with reg water, then put in your mix of choice with distilled water, and go from there. And yes its a 3gal capacity

 

when you flush with the garden hose you are leaving tap water inside the block, even though you pulled the top/lower hose. Really nothing you can do to avoid it other than having a machine flush with distilled water.

 

If you flush twice with garden hose, then filled with distilled, then drained enough to put in coolant, you will have 10% reg water at the most. Not a concern since alot of people just run straight tap water permanently

 

Maybe where you live, and I wish I lived there, but it can easily get down to minus 35-40 degrees here where I live. Had my share of lower radiator hoses and engines freezing up all these years. Just better to make sure I have the best protection I can get and test the coolant every fall.

 

hey so its 3 gallon capacity? cause i thought it was 20.7 liters, that comes out to over 5 gallons, huh. also, i drained/filled with distilled water ran it... for like 4 cycles after the last time i flushed with the garden hose... i didnt know about a block drain plug, sure would be nice, but the lower radiator hose attaches to the block, i had the rear tires up, nose down it looked like an angle that would force out any water in the block, but im not too worried about it, if we have a 3 gallon capacity cooling system, espically since i filled with 50/50, ran it, drained, and then refilled with 50/50, thats why also i only saved about 60 bucks, cause i bought 4 jugs of MC premium gold at 15 bucks a piece

sorry about the pics, it ended up being at night anyways, so they would have been crappy...

what do you all think about using the shop vac to suck out all the water from out the upper radiator hose, you think it will damage anything? cause ithink it would seriously empty the cooling system completely.. for next time that is

 

mengela, you should be fine the way you did it. Just to be one the safe side you can pick up a bottle of test strips and check the coolant, make sure you good to go. I don't know how cold it gets in your neck of the woods, but it's very important here. I don't think there was enough "water" left over in the block to worry about. The test strips I'm talking about will tell allot about the condition of your coolant.

 

I hate my shop's coolant flush machine... it's a piece of crap. I'd rather replace the engine than flush the coolant with that thing...

Although besides that... we use tap water mixed with whatever the vehicle calls for... green, gold, orange, purple, magenta, fushia...

Oh and every garage I've worked at forces the techs to put this discusting "radiator sealant" in with the flush... I would never do that to anyone's vehicle voluntarily...

 

sweet, thanks for the info, specially about the "sealant", thats why i opted to spend most my day slowly doing this rather than pay to get it done, i know im thorough, i just dont have faith in quality control from someone else

 

Did you replace those dirty old hoses and thermostat or just throw them back in after going through all that work?

 

well I'd use the flush, but never the sealer or the additive and I'd make sure that flush crap was completely out before I put my good stuff in... just distilled water and coolant.

 

uhhhg...