i looked at my coolant today it looks like a swamp i was wonderin how hard is it to change and what brand of coolant i should use

 

If you can't have it flushed at a repair facility, then at least, drain the radiator then refill it with fresh coolant and drive it for a while and do it again, a few times may be necessary. You may want to purchase a radiator drain plug/pet**** while your at the parts store, they do break often and it is better to have one next to you if it does. I have seen alot of "swamp" in cooling systems and the best thing to do is flush it, and even then it doesn't remove all the build up and may require another one to get rid of most of it. As far as coolant goes, only use Ethylene-Glycol (green) anti-freeze/coolant, that is what is recomended. Ford does not condone the use of "extended life" anti freeze/coolants, pre mixed is o.k. but requires more. You should change your coolant once every two years at least regarless of mileage (unless you drive 100,00 mi a year).

 

You might disconnect the bottom hose or open the pet**** if you have one on radiator, and then stick your water hose in the top hose and just let water circulate through radiator and drain out the bottom. Reconnect hoses and circulate some fresh water through engine and then again, disconnect hoses, drain and circulate water through radiator. You could also use a 'flush' additive available from any auto stores.

Just be sure to fill system with correct mixture of antifreeze/water, 50%,and be sure to only use distilled water. Distilled water doesn't have any dissolved minerals that can lead to sediment buildup in radiator. And as Techdoc suggested, change fluid at least once every two years.

This is the method I have followed with my '01 5.4 and I have never had any cooling issues, never replaced a hose or waterpump, and vehicle has 204k miles and still runs strong.

 

there isn't a way i could flush it my self and what we cant say pet**** lol

 

i live in michigan if i flushed it with water through the engine would any get stuck in there and freeze up

 

I think they recommend flushing it with distilled water because of the minerals eat up the radiator.

 

I had mine done at ford while they were doing the cruise control recall, mine was very dark and brown, I know I never changed it before, and I'm sure the previous owner didn't. It was about $65, which I didn't think was that bad, and the coolant is a wonderful clean bright green! I feel pretty bad for puttin' it off, but I was always "planning" on swapping out the motor but hasn't happened yet

 

I didn't want to mention the water flushing to you only because of that reason, but, yes you can do that and no, it won't freeze if you refill with the proper amount of anti-freeze/coolant (I have seen a cracked block from a person not quite grasping the refill instructions) . As long as you only flush through the radiator, all of the water will drain out on it's own and it will be no problem when you refill the system, you could also leave the pet(o(k open a little when you first start to fill it then close it when you see green, if you want the reassurance. I don't think it will hurt to wait until sping time to do a complete flush of the engine if it is something you wanted to do yourself, it requires a little more effort though but is definitely something you could do by yourself. good luck

 

Then why did they use the extended life orange coolant for a factory fill on mine?

 

As it says in the manual... only replace with same color coolant.

 

petcack?

say it like your a chowderhead.

 

The color of your factory coolant should have been yellow or green , and the yellow is what Ford calls thier "Premium Gold" coolant. I merely wanted to avoid him mixing the two different types because the orange coolant "Dex-cool" is not recomended by Ford (and not as good of a quality, in my opinion).

 

IMO- You can't beat paying the 55$-85$ (have seen many different variations) To flush out your system.

You have no clean up! Nor do you have to worry about disposal of the old coolant.

I have used the "flushes" you can buy at the parts house, and, also used the water hose trick. They all work, just the machine flush is easier. IMO

 

"Premium Gold" and "Dexcool" are not the same formulation if I'm not mistaken - and yes, Dexcool is nasty chit.

Maybe I just can't tell the difference between yellow and gold.....

Anyway, I had mine flushed this past summer and the garage put the same color in that was in there. I trust the mechanic, he's a Ford truck owner too and I've known him for over 20 years. He also told me that he used purified water, they have a machine that makes it.

 

It's always good to have someone you can trust with your truck.