Fixing two pet peeves on the Ford Taurus

Based on my experience with someone adding "universal" coolant to a Vulcan with G05...

Change it all. And I mean pull the block drains, flush it with distilled water... the whole 9 yards.

Question: As mentioned earlier is are we positive this is a Vulcan and not a Duratech.

Statement: "Universal" is a lie.
 
I have an 03 parts car here and an 04 that's on the road. I'll look and see what holds the coolant bottle in. Looks like its missing a couple 8mm bolts and some spring nuts. That's what holds most of these cars together.
 
Based on my experience with someone adding "universal" coolant to a Vulcan with G05...

Change it all. And I mean pull the block drains, flush it with distilled water... the whole 9 yards.

Question: As mentioned earlier is are we positive this is a Vulcan and not a Duratech.

Statement: "Universal" is a lie.
Yup, I agree, flush it and fill it with fresh G05.
 
I just read from the product description that the G-05 is an HOAT.

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This gives me cause for concern.

I don't think  any of my Prestone stuff is HOAT. IIt's probably mostly the IAT old school Ethylene Glycol stuff. I gave @97K15004WD right around 600lbs I would guesstimate a solid 550 and possibly more of my Antifreeze stash (still have about half remaining) and aside from SOME of the Extended Life 150,000 mile stuff (the yellowish/green, color not advertised on bottle.. says it mixes with anything) and maybe SOME specific POAT coolant that I've always been afraid to mix, because it has always been aaid doing so can eat head gaskets of coolants of different types.. MOST of what I have is straight up Autozone Universal Yellow (is yellow, says it is yellow, says it mixes with anything.) Followed by plain, old school Green EG coolant. Which I now wonder what cars you can actually use the old green EG in.

So now I'm questioning if I did anything wrong by starting a partial exchange of the Autozone Universal Yellow. It DOES say it mixes with anything.

There was a statement made.. "You cannot go by the color" some thread in Antifreeze subforum.

So then. Point of all this.. IF I find the Zerex G-05 (would look in Walmart first then look online, more than likely. A sure-fire way to not overpay) .. I would then arrange to have the system flushed, since while the coolant looks CLEANER now that I've done a partial exchange of about 3 quarts, twice I believe (some say partial drain and fills are fine) . https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/any-partial-coolant-drain-advocates.324279/ - what I'm doing is somewhere between Post #4 where @PandaBear says he drains and fills the overflow tank every 6 months or so, which is basically what I did twice in two weeks, and more than that.

Aside from possibly introducing a flush into the system and to keep doing that, if I'm on the wrong track with the Universal, I can stop. The system would need to be flushed before going full G-05. So now I will look for the system capacity of the G-05.

Apparently it holds 11.6 quarts so basicly 3 gallons. So I've replaced approximately 1/3 of it. Think any damage occurred?

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Quite the stream of consciousness there….

If it’s 11.6 qts, and you did 1/3 with universal, I personally wouldn’t be a fan.

Notionally the AMAM stuff has been tested to be stable with silicates and not make them drop out. IIRC the theory with Dex goo is when silicates were added to a majority Dex system as a top off.

I’d want to keep the silicates in my system as stable as possible. So I’d probably try to flush out the AMAM stuff with new g-05. Since it’s the winter you can’t just temporarily take it to pure water. But I’d probably do a few sequential partial drains and fills. You could probably even do at least one with straight distilled if it doesn’t get that cold at night. That would save some money, just don’t do that more than twice in a row without filling back with 50/50 G-05.
 
Streams of consciousness aside (I am working on that. Shorter..) I had the same ideas of introducing straight water to re-stabilize the mixture back to G-05. Even trips around the block for 5 minutes, maybe 3, 4, 5 of those, then building back up to G-05. I arrived at same conclusion as @JHZR2. I can set up a flush as an extra precaution. Not sure when the coolant was last touched on this thing.

No pics to produce, the car gets driven.. often, so I can't work on it always (as it isn't here) but yep, says Vulcan right on the VC. "3.0L Vulcan" it says. As posted, agree it is a nice smooth ride and I want to keep it nice.. that's outside the scope of this thread (detailing, etc.)

It has been. Like 50 and 60 lately. @JHZR2 is right, dare not leave water in it when Temps go freezing.

That's all I got for now, seems flushing agent and partial exchanges back to a G-05 baseline.. because now I'm not liking my Universal stuff as much anymore. Thought it was cool. Seems Iike, "nope!"
 
Streams of consciousness aside (I am working on that. Shorter..) I had the same ideas of introducing straight water to re-stabilize the mixture back to G-05. Even trips around the block for 5 minutes, maybe 3, 4, 5 of those, then building back up to G-05. I arrived at same conclusion as @JHZR2. I can set up a flush as an extra precaution. Not sure when the coolant was last touched on this thing.

No pics to produce, the car gets driven.. often, so I can't work on it always (as it isn't here) but yep, says Vulcan right on the VC. "3.0L Vulcan" it says. As posted, agree it is a nice smooth ride and I want to keep it nice.. that's outside the scope of this thread (detailing, etc.)

It has been. Like 50 and 60 lately. @JHZR2 is right, dare not leave water in it when Temps go freezing.

That's all I got for now, seems flushing agent and partial exchanges back to a G-05 baseline.. because now I'm not liking my Universal stuff as much anymore. Thought it was cool. Seems Iike, "nope!"
Why don’t you figure out where the block drain is and just drain the whole thing once and for all? It’s best practice anyway…
 
Why don’t you figure out where the block drain is and just drain the whole thing once and for all? It’s best practice anyway…
Post could probably be viewed as "stream of consciousness" as to answer so I'll PM it to you to avoid that.
 
Then how about include everyone on a nice, succinct response? Folks here are trying to help. PMs don’t.
Alright, I can.

There are a few reasons why I would doth protest about what you see is a simple flush.

One is.. Splash underguards, they are in tact on this car. Car is generally in really good shape. Little plastic clips and things. Not friendly for removal, put back together clean..

Then the worry about petcocks breaking (plastic?) Most people remove a lower hose. Again I think the splash guards hide it real well. And if they are what @mk378 insists are not banjo clamps, but people call banjo clamps or at least hose clamps, everyone I know calls a non-screw clamp a banjo clamp even if it isn't.. this would make a clean reinstall difficult to impossible.

Third is an HOA
Fourth is not having the catch equipment to capture 3 gallons of coolant. It or most or some would end up on floor. We don't have the stuff to put powder over it.
And last but not least is that EG or Antifreeze "tastes sweet to animals," and mine love to go exploring in the garage.. kitty MAY have had his close call as a result of licking something 2016-ish era, thankful made awesome full recovery because I may have been at fault (he's all better now, best possible outcome over something could have managed better) and I'm just not all a fan of making a great undertaking to 1. Buy things 2. Try to get things off without breaking 3. Then contain said thing Then 4. Put back together while 5. Making sure pets are safe...

I DO now how to 1 gallon siphon from the top.

There were a few points but that's maybe shortest possible version. It could be done, I have a feeling that's where you were going with this but there's a Type O Negative song @OVERKILL likes (maybe I'll let him do the honors to post? Maybe) it is called.

Love you..
To...
 
Alright, I can.

There are a few reasons why I would doth protest about what you see is a simple flush.

One is.. Splash underguards, they are in tact on this car. Car is generally in really good shape. Little plastic clips and things. Not friendly for removal, put back together clean..

Then the worry about petcocks breaking (plastic?) Most people remove a lower hose. Again I think the splash guards hide it real well. And if they are what @mk378 insists are not banjo clamps, but people call banjo clamps or at least hose clamps, everyone I know calls a non-screw clamp a banjo clamp even if it isn't.. this would make a clean reinstall difficult to impossible.

Third is an HOA
Fourth is not having the catch equipment to capture 3 gallons of coolant. It or most or some would end up on floor. We don't have the stuff to put powder over it.
And last but not least is that EG or Antifreeze "tastes sweet to animals," and mine love to go exploring in the garage.. kitty MAY have had his close call as a result of licking something 2016-ish era, thankful made awesome full recovery because I may have been at fault (he's all better now, best possible outcome over something could have managed better) and I'm just not all a fan of making a great undertaking to 1. Buy things 2. Try to get things off without breaking 3. Then contain said thing Then 4. Put back together while 5. Making sure pets are safe...

I DO now how to 1 gallon siphon from the top.

There were a few points but that's maybe shortest possible version. It could be done, I have a feeling that's where you were going with this but there's a Type O Negative song @OVERKILL likes (maybe I'll let him do the honors to post? Maybe) it is called.

Love you..
To...
I get it that draining coolant is a big mess, even with a big pan.

A splash guard should be screwed on. At least any one I’ve ever removed, and a number of my cars have them.

So you can siphon a gallon out from the radiator cap or something?

If a petcock breaks it’s a sign. They do sometimes need to be finessed out and the orings replaced/silicone greased. Block drains should be no issues. In recent memory I’ve used them on 1982-1996 vehicles with 160-235k miles without incident. My MB even has a nipple on the block drain so it can be drained with a tube attached.

Sometimes it is wise to drain the system vs suction it, IMO, if you’re trying to remove sediment.

But in your case if you can indeed get 1/3 out by aiphon that is a clean and decent approach. My scheme would be the following:

1) suction 1/3, refill with distilled, drive
2) suction 1/3, refill with 30% g05, 70% distilled, drive
3) suction 1/3, refill with distilled, drive
4) suction 1/3, refill with 50/50 g05, drive
5) test and adjust if/as needed to 50/50

I’d buy G05 concentrate and distilled water gallons and make your own coolant. Distilled is cheap, coolant isn’t. It’s not that cold currently and I assume this can all be done by the weekend.

So you need maybe 4-5 gallons of distilled and maybe 2 gallons of G05 concentrate.

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I wonder how difficult the block drains are to access on a transverse application? Easy on a Ranger.
Easy on MB Diesels. The bolt has a nipple that can take a tube for easy clean draining. If the engine was turned 90 degrees, so long as it was facing forward, or on the side it would be easy-ish.

96AF9BDD-AD68-457D-A4AF-5931558242FA.jpeg
 
Easy on MB Diesels. The bolt has a nipple that can take a tube for easy clean draining. If the engine was turned 90 degrees, so long as it was facing forward, or on the side it would be easy-ish.
It's a V6 so there will be one in each bank. I suspect access to one is going to be hindered (or very difficult to impossible) by the transaxle. Ive not had much luck finding pictures.
 
It's a V6 so there will be one in each bank. I suspect access to one is going to be hindered (or very difficult to impossible) by the transaxle. Ive not had much luck finding pictures.
Wouldn’t some path converge near the water pump?
 
Wouldn’t some path converge near the water pump?

Yes but the WP is quite high, i do expect if you could get one out it would drain significantly more of the system than the radiator pet cock. There wont be a nipple or any thing unless some on has put one there, just a pipe plug...

Considering the facilities/tools/skill/time passed and maintenance level of cooling system... probably best to circle back to the multiple radiator drain and fill but i would attempt to dilute the existing to the greatest possible extent...
 
Great minds think alike, and that is not exclusive to @JHZR2 I devised a "very similar" plan of attack.

The process has begun.

Firstly, we begin with a not flipping or flopping around "I bought this tank last year on Amazon" non-Motorcraft tank that only looks like this after a speed nut . So it didnt look like this last week. As this thread shows in great detail.

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Onward. So now.. we look inside.

It is disgusting in there but it is better than it was . "Two or three" partial drain and fills were performed prior to the attention being given to the speed nut. The coolant was "drained and filled" over the summer (not flushed, hmm. I think when the water pump was changed) and not sure with what. (Yeah, you'd think they would know or put G-05. I wonder if they put in Dexcool. Or Universal .)

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It is near impossible to see, but for those eagle eyed, it is to the level where I rest my long screwdriver.

Process has begun cold.

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@JHZR2 For clarity, this is what I am doing, what I described, and did previously with the "Two or three drain and fills."
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So we have a style of presentation that can get to numbered jugs.

Let's start with Jug 1.

This coolant is disgusting. Showing the in the tank, the in the jug, the clean container to show color, and color show of Partial Drain And Fill With Water 1.

By the way, that's just after being pumped into the jug so all the air is from the pump. I dont suspect a blown head gasket and well yeah let's just go with this for now. Aerrated fluid due to orange pump.
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Starting with regular water will transition to distilled because my name is not J.D. Rockefeller.
 

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What I would do here:
* Drive up on ramps.
* Empty the reservoir, and unbolt it.
* Detach the hose from the bottom of the reservoir (the larger one, which leads to a plastic(**) tee in the lower radiator hose) and place a stopper in the hose.
* Pull the reservoir end of the hose down to under the car.
* Have container(s) ready and remove stopper. Nearly all of the coolant should drain out of the car in a controlled manner.
(that which is trapped in the engine requires removing the block plugs as previously mentioned).
* Reassemble and refill.

** Be ready to buy a new lower hose and/or radiator, since this car is the age where the plastic cooling system parts will begin to crack.
 
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