Recently picked up an '01 Grand Marquis that's just shy of 150,000 km (93,750 miles). The coolant has never been replaced and there's actually plain water running in there right now, because the coolant pump was replaced at one point or another and the owner never bothered to add coolant. Would it be a wise idea to use a coolant flush at this stage, or should I just drain the old stuff, refill and drain again before adding Motorcraft G-05 coolant? Thanks!
Draining factory coolant
- Thread starter Falcon_LS
- Start date
- Status
I'd drain and refill a couple times. You know about the block drain right? You can get a bit more out that way.
If the water has been in the system for an extended period of time, I would consider a flush. Regular coolant has corrosion additives and you may have some scale/rust in on the surfaces of the block/heads if iron. I like G-)%.
I wouldn't fool with the block drain, I've heard too many stories of stripped threads/other problems associated with doing that. You can flush with a hose initially, but if you can get some use distilled water for the fill along with the G-05.
Originally Posted By: hate2work
I wouldn't fool with the block drain, I've heard too many stories of stripped threads/other problems associated with doing that. You can flush with a hose initially, but if you can get some use distilled water for the fill along with the G-05.
I agree 100% a 9 year old car with water instead of coolant, I would not touch the block drains with a 10' pole.... I would also waste ( I say waste I don't know if it does any good) some money on the prestone coolant system flushed, drive it around with some diluted coolant for a week or so. So half a gallon of coolant, a bottle of coolant system flush drive for a week or so, and do this after you have completely flushed the system of tap/city or whatever water you want distilled water in the coolant system with a diluted anti-freeze/coolant, and a full dose of the radiator/coolant flush that would be my strategy. Then after bringing the coolant system back up to spec I would again do a system flush in 6 months using only distilled water, coolant, and prestone or whatever the best coolant flush/descale you can research and find.
I'm not advocating this, however I had a really corroded radiator, and I assume the entire system was scale, gunk.. after several flushes with prestone etc I used dish detergent for a day, then ran tide washing powders for a couple of days, this left the system super clean, however I may have got lucky not destroying the engine... I found this info on the internet I had nothing to lose, and this was done on a corvette even with tide washing powders.
I wouldn't fool with the block drain, I've heard too many stories of stripped threads/other problems associated with doing that. You can flush with a hose initially, but if you can get some use distilled water for the fill along with the G-05.
I agree 100% a 9 year old car with water instead of coolant, I would not touch the block drains with a 10' pole.... I would also waste ( I say waste I don't know if it does any good) some money on the prestone coolant system flushed, drive it around with some diluted coolant for a week or so. So half a gallon of coolant, a bottle of coolant system flush drive for a week or so, and do this after you have completely flushed the system of tap/city or whatever water you want distilled water in the coolant system with a diluted anti-freeze/coolant, and a full dose of the radiator/coolant flush that would be my strategy. Then after bringing the coolant system back up to spec I would again do a system flush in 6 months using only distilled water, coolant, and prestone or whatever the best coolant flush/descale you can research and find.
I'm not advocating this, however I had a really corroded radiator, and I assume the entire system was scale, gunk.. after several flushes with prestone etc I used dish detergent for a day, then ran tide washing powders for a couple of days, this left the system super clean, however I may have got lucky not destroying the engine... I found this info on the internet I had nothing to lose, and this was done on a corvette even with tide washing powders.
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2002
- Messages
- 39,798
I've run tap water and cooling system cleaner with nothing else for months. This was on a newer system ..that come to think about it isn't that new any more. It happened by accident. I got interrupted in the flushing process and that was it. It had to be a couple of months at least. Cleanest system I've ever seen
Gary I have been on the other end of the spectrum, I tried flushing a Ford Ranger 4.0 with tap water only I admit, and I had a horrible mess in just one week or less. It looked like rust all in the system, I flushed for 6 months to correct the situation, and from that point on I have used distilled water only as it's very cheap at walmart, and you also have the solution to set your coolant in place when your ready to add coolant of your choice which of course now is about as bad or worse than choosing which oil to use when deciding to chooe which coolant to use !!
Thanks a lot for all the input!
I've always run distilled water in my vehicles, and this one will not be an exception. Although I'm probably going to try Liqui-Moly's Coolant Flush and run it for 30 minutes (as per instructions) before flushing it all out with distilled water. Then replace the water pump, thermostat, radiator cap and coolant hoses. Although I think it might be worthwhile leaving the flush there for a day or two.
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2002
- Messages
- 39,798
Quote:
Gary I have been on the other end of the spectrum, I tried flushing a Ford Ranger 4.0 with tap water only I admit, and I had a horrible mess in just one week or less.
I think it was the fact that I had the wizbang Prestone HD cleaner in there too.
..but I got lucky. I guess that could have sounded otherwise.
Gary I have been on the other end of the spectrum, I tried flushing a Ford Ranger 4.0 with tap water only I admit, and I had a horrible mess in just one week or less.
I think it was the fact that I had the wizbang Prestone HD cleaner in there too.
..but I got lucky. I guess that could have sounded otherwise.
- Status
Similar threads
