I'm guessing that they are referring to yellow being Motorcraft-approved long life and orange being GM Dexcool - which should NOT be used.

 

Exactly.

However, I didnt see any Motorcraft coolant. Just Peak, Prestone and some generic brands. I just picked 2 quarts of 50/50 Prestone yellow. Autozone guy looked it up in the computer and told me 2 1/2 juggs is what my truck needs from empty. Is the water that is in the 50/50 distilled?

 

It's demineralized water. If you are going to use that stuff, you need to flush the system and do a COMPLETE drain.

 

I cant find the drain block. Yet I have located the drain plug(radiator). Would that be a problem since this would not be consider a "COMPLETE" drain?

 

If you follow the hose coming off the bottom left of the reservoir, it goes to the side of the engine block. When I did mine, I removed the hose from the side of the engine block and drained the block form there. Drain the block from there, drain the radiator from the drain plug on the bottom left back side of the radiator. And your heater hose is the one about 1" diameter coming off the thermostat housing. The thermostat housing is behind the fan, in the valley of the engine block. It will have the TOP large radiator hose going to it, you can follow it back from the top of the radiator to find it, once you find it you will see the heater hose as well.

This will get about 95% of all the coolant out of the system. Without a flushing machine, thats about the best you'll get.

 

If you can't do a complete drain, take the 50/50 back and get straight coolant. You need 2.5 gallons coolant plus 2.5 gallons water, the cooling system holds about 20 quarts, which is 5 gallons. You need a 50/50 mix of water and coolant for proper freeze and corrosion protection. If you can do a complete drain, you need 5 gallons of 50/50, not 2.5.

PhqChevys, are you referring to the V-6 or your 5.4 V-8? I don't think they are set up the same way.

 

Sorry, I just realized that he has a V6. I was refering to a V8 5.4L, which is what I have and how I did mine...

 

If you can't get to the block drain plug or it seems like it will break off before it loosens, why don't you drain what you can with the radiator drain plug. Then fill with water from the hose and drive it for a day or two. Then drain it again. You should be able to get 99% of the impurities out of the system.
If you are doing this to make your AC run cooler, maybe you should spray the radiator and AC coil out while you are there with the hose.

 

If I find the drain plug do I still need to slice and add the tee?

 

Adding the tee makes it a lot easier to flush the system - otherwise you will be draining, filling, running, draining, filling, running - etc etc till it's clean.

Well, this *IS* the V-6 forum..........................

 

this

 

Got a photo of an already cut heater hose? I still dont know which to slice?

 

To prevent yourself any additional stress, go to your local parts store and buy the $21.00 repair manual. Chiltons, or Haynes do a decent job in showing (with pictures) how to do tasks such as a coolant flush. I also have the Ford factory manuals, but the $21.00 repair manual does just as good for these types of tasks.

Do yourself a favor and buy it.