My 98 4.6 has 51,000 and never had a coolant flush. Is this about the right time? I want to do this myself since quick lubes charge $50+ to do this. Do i need to change the hoses too? I think the easiest way to drain coolant is to disconnect lower hose and let drain, but im not for sure. Any instructions,tips,pics would be greatly appreciated
Also what type of coolant is best?
Thanks
-Patrick

 

I believe you are right on schedule for the coolant change. If memory serves me correctly, the manual calls for it to be changed the first time at 50,000 miles, then every 30,000 miles thereafter. I understand it is not a very difficult flush, although I paid about 30 or 40 bucks to have it done while getting the transmission fluid and fuel filter changed.

 

i had my tranny serviced at 33,000 should i go ahead and have it all done at next oil change at around 54-55,000?
also how about rear end lube. does it reallly need changing?

 

I don’t want to set off any panic alarms with you, but I’ve always changed the coolant every 18 months in all my vehicles, no matter what the miles are. I bought my ’97 in early 2000 and did not know when the coolant was changed last, so I changed it the first weekend I had it (it did have 61k miles on it then). I just got done changing it again not too long ago (96k miles now!).

The biggest issue is that overtime, coolant becomes acidic due to the different metals in the engines. I don’t know what all the chemistry terms and reactions are, but I know it’s usually not a good thing. I suspect that as long as the coolant is the same spec that Ford requires for your specific rig, you are probably fine. I would change it at any rate.

This is how I did mine. I’m not saying it’s the only way or the best way. Just what works for me. It’s a bit time consuming, but heck, I’m working on my own truck in my own garage and not having to do yard work!!

First, I don’t remove any hoses. (I’m still running the originals, and they are all still in good shape, no soft spots or leaks).

I try to get the truck as level as I can. I have a steep driveway, so I drive the rear end on car ramps and that pretty much levels me out.

Drain rad. Dispose of the coolant in a safe and legal way!
Fill rad, start motor, turn on heater to hottest setting (you don’t need to run the fan on high, but you need the temp on high), let warm up. I keep the rad draining as I keep water going in the top. When t’stat opens and warm water just starts coming out the drain, shut off motor. Let drain.

Fill and repeat until all water is clear. Usually takes me three of these cycles, then I’ll let the thing run for about 10 minutes, letting it drain and fill at the same time. Keep an eye on the water coming out, when it’s clear, it’s all you need to do.

Drain again, and use the ‘flush stuff’ of your choice. I just use Prestone AF (the green stuff) and their heavy duty flush stuff. I checked and their off the shelf stuff has the same spec as Ford recommends for my year of truck anyway…

Follow the instructions for the flush. Mine said to leave in for 6-10 hours of driving time, but I didn’t have that kinda time, so I drove it around for ½ hour, brought home, let sit until engine was cooled down. Probably another hour or so, then drained out the flush stuff with the above procedure. What came out was pretty dirty, so I feel it did a pretty good job of cleaning the system out.

Drain rad (again!!) and pour in two gallons of AF (remember to close the drain!). Should just fill up to the bottom of the reservoir. Start motor and let warm up. Leave cap off the reservoir, so any air bubbles will be circulated out of the system. Just watch the level of the tank and fill with 50/50 mix as needed.

I’ve not changed the T’stat yet either. Was going to this last time, but just didn’t….. Will do it on the next change for sure.

I’ve also heard that you ‘should’ use distilled water. Helps keep the build up of calcium and such to a minimum in the rad. Well, this might be true, but I’ve used just good ol’ hose water forever and not had any problems. I’m sure it makes a difference, but I’ve just not done it myself……. Use the water of your choice and you’ll be fine. I’d be really curious to know if the dealers actually use distilled water???

I tried to install one of those flush kits that you hook a garden hose up to and are able to flush out all the AF in one try, but could not find easy access to the proper hoses. Heck, I could not even find any of the heater hoses, except for the ones on the firewall, and those are basically out of reach.

Anyway, while my method takes some time, I find other things to do while it’s running or waiting for it to cool down. Just figure on it being an all day thing. I also have a TV in my garage, so I can watch all my favorite ‘car and racing’ shows at the same time anyway (got a beer fridge too, I'm set!). Makes for a good way to watch a Nascar race on a Sunday afternoon!.

Good luck

ps. just saw that you added a couple other q's. I changed my rear and front diff fluid recently too. It's close to 100k so figured it should be done. I used Amsoil 75/140 in the rear and 75/90 up front (4x4). Cheap insurance and I feel better about it now.

 

My truck is like yours and has 46k. I just flushed the coolant with a quick flush and drained it. Then flushed with water again 3 times till it came out clear then drained it and added 2 gallons of Prestone ($9.99/2gals) at Costco.

I attached a hose onto the drain and drained it into one of those Yellow Anti-freeze trays from auto zone. Flushed it down the toy toy, heh.

I plan on flushing my tranny every 25-30k or so. I had to have my tranny rebuilt on warranty so it's cheap insurance I figure. Rebuilt tranny's are about $2k not including r&r. Do the math. 16 qts mercon V @ $3/qt. Autozone will take your old fluid/oil.

The rear end was real bad dirty stinky too and I'll be doing it every 30k or so now too. I Used Royal Purple (3 qts@$8/qt and got the gasket ($7) too all at NAPA.

 

If your already just over 50,000 miles, go ahead and get your engine coolant and transmission flushed aswell as replace the fuel filter. At that point you'll do the 3 at the same time about every 30,000 miles, and should be in great shape. Flushing your engine coolant every 18 months regardless of milage seems a little too conservative for me. The book recommends every 30,000 or 3 years whichever occurs first. I've seen others on here do it every 2 years regardless of milage. I drive about 15to20,000 miles a year, so for me every other year is about 30 to 40 thousand miles which IMO is often enough.

As for the rear end, it has no regular scheduled maintenance. In the manual it says it should be fine for life unless it is submerged in water. I'm at 90,000 and have never checked it. I plan to lube it anyways at 100,000 miles to be safe. (If I was in severe conditons or did a lot of offroading or mudding I'd check it a lot more often!) My friends with Jeeps that have a lot of money in their rear ends do theirs monthly!

 

yea i had to have my 3.55 rear totally replaced at 400, yes 400 miles cause of NO GREASE from the factory. Techs pulled the cover and dry as a bone. But its ok now.
I really appreciate all the info you guys help alot. a couple more questions:

1) Do i disconnect the lower radiator hose to drain the fluid? Do i disconnect it from the motor or from the radiator?

2) Spark plugs-im gona install a set of new factory plugs. Can i do this with normal tools? its a 98 4.6.

3) Tranny fluid-is there a drain plug i can pull in order to drain the fluid or do i have to pull the pan off full of fluid? Is the drain pan metric measurements on the bolts? Will i need a new gasket for the pan to go back on?

4) I plan on Mobil 1 5w30 full syn. for year round driving. Ill change around every 4-5k miles.

5) and finally, pinging. I need to clean the EGR, but im not sure how to find this. Im not too comfortable under my hood cause of all the electronic stuff i might screw up. Its a little bit different than my stock '53 chevy with the orig. inline 6!

Any tips and info appreciated!
-Patrick

 

You should be able to drain the radiator from the pet **** on the bottom of the radiator. Attach a hose to it and drain the old fluid into a recepticle.

I'll probably get flamed for this but when I flushed my tranny I couldn't get the line that returns to the transmission from the radiator off so I unhooked the tranny line to the top of the radiator and attached about a 5 foot hunk of clear 1/4" ID hose with clamp to the unhooked tranny line and ran it to a 5 gallon home depot bucket. Started up the motor and pumped out as much old fluid as I could (takes about 15 - 30 seconds - also shifted into drive1 for 5 seconds) which is about 4-5 quarts. Then refilled the tranny thru the filler tube an equal amount. Started up the engine and pumped out as much as I could till it was just about not pumping again, then refilled with equal amount of new fluid thru the tranny filler tube. Did this a third time, then reconnected the line to the radiator and filled the tranny to full. I know this wasn't a complete flush (due to tranny cooler not be changed) but I figured it got 80% of the old stuff out and if I'm going to flush it regular. It's gotta be better than what was already in there and what most other people are doing.

Put a lid on the 5 gallon bucket and dumped the old fluid at autozone where I bought the new mercon V.

 

thanks for the replies. What was the word that got bleeped out of your first sentence that i might need to know Hapynzap?

 

Pet koch haha

 

And by that, he means "valve" - not "housebroken rooster" or "ladies plaything!"

This valve will be on the lower left engine-side corner of the radiator, when facing the engine compartment. It should be either a wing-nut-like "T" with a hole in the center, where you put the hose, or it will look like a hex hose fitting without a hose in it.

If you spell petc0(k as one word, as it should be spelled, does the moderator still zap it?

 

What I did was took out the thermastat, and that proceded to fill, run around the block, and then drain the radiator about 10 times. Now the coolant looks like it came from the factory brand new. its easy to take out the thermastat, and that way you don't have to wait for it to open everytime you run the motor. Hope tha helps

 

thanks ill take a look under there and see what i can find