Coolant flush/ cleaning on a neglected 2002 F350 V10

GON

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Purchased a one owner 2002 F350 V10 two years ago. One owner vehicle, but prior owner appeared to have been very tight with his money when it came to vehicle maintenance. No proactive or preventive maintenance appeared to have happened in the trucks first 150 k miles.

The overflow tank was yellowed and had residual material in it. Decided to replace the tank. Issue is, even OEM replacement tanks appear to be at risk of poor quality and leaking shortly after use. I went with OEM, but a bit worried. I also replaced all the hoses with OEM. Very easy to replace all the hoses, kudos to Ford. Two hoses go to the oil filter for cooling, so had to remove the oil filter to remove those hoses so I also changed the oil.

Could not find Thermocure or any other cleaner locally other than Prestone. Put the Prestone in, two bottles, and followed the procedures. Water came out rust colored. Flushed the cooling system three more times and although the water was less dirty, it was still dirty. Put in another bottle of Prestone cleaner/ flusg. Then three more cooling system flushes, still dirty water coming out.

Did a road trip to many auto parts stores, but all I could find was Prestone and Blue Devil. Prestone is citric acid based, and the Blue Devil did not list their ingredient. I chose not to use a product that does not list the ingredient. Kept driving and found a Napa that sold a Zerex cleaner/ flush. Purchased that, ran the procedure. Zerex cleaner contains ETHYLENEDIAMINETETRAACE TIC ACID, TETRASODIUM SALT.

After three distilled water flushes post Zerex clean, the radiator drained clear. Put in the Zerex G05, and all is well. Used over 30 gallons of distilled water from Walmart, but at .80 a gallon not a showstopper expense.
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Very complete flush great job. How many gallons of coolant does a 350 V10 take to get the proper mix?
Thanks..... The 2002 F350 V10 coolant capacity is about four gallons. Seemed I could only drain about 3 1/2 gallons, so I went a bit heavier with the coolant to distilled water ration to balance what I believe is the 1/2 gallon of distilled water that was left in the cooling system. Here is just some of the empty water jugs.
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Looks good! Being a little lazier, I just had the radiator boiled out/repaired on my F-450 when I first bought it & put on a coolant filter with SCA-2 & new green coolant. Caught enough silicate to fill a small sandbox!
 
You do not need 30 gal of distill water to "flush" a radiator. I think you probably would have done better if you leave your acid flush in the system for a bit longer than manufacturer suggested instead of so many bottle so fast.

Maybe only 3 gallon to flush out the tap water in the end but that's really flushing money down the drain.
 
Nice job, but...

1) How did you dispose of 30+ gals of waste coolant?

2) Would it have been more efficient to replace the tank and radiator, then refill with new coolant? If you were not experiencing any problems, what is the point of cleaning the system?
 
2) Would it have been more efficient to replace the tank and radiator, then refill with new coolant? If you were not experiencing any problems, what is the point of cleaning the system?

From past experience, the stain may come back if you do not "acid flush" the whole system first, even a new reservoir may get stained quickly afterward.
 
90% isn't good enough though. A new reservoir looks like "wow this is a well maintained car".
A reservoir isn't a maintenance item. Some here will say a new one looks like you're hiding something, like a car with new pedal pads to hide high mileage or a just washed engine to hide oil leaks. I'd think a clean original reservoir looks better than a brand new one.
 
That is neither legal or ethical.
Actually depends on municipal, in my area they say used coolant without oil contamination can go down the drain and will breakdown at the treatment plants. A small amount of course, like 1 car a week, not a mechanic's scale.
 
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Actually depends on municipal, in my area they say used coolant without oil contamination can go down the drain and will breakdown at the treatment plants. A small amount of course, like 1 car a week, not a mechanic's scale.
Do you have a link? I have heard this before but every policy I have read states otherwise.
 
Do you have a link? I have heard this before but every policy I have read states otherwise.
Hmm, now that I searched I see that it really depends on your local treatment plants:


I guess I was doing it wrong if they say bring it to a recycle station instead of down the sewer.



Having said that, they do break down in a few days to a few weeks, if it hasn't killed any fish or microbes. It is not a heavy metal so it won't stay "forever" in the environment.
 
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