best way to drain coolant from block?

[GREASE FIRE]

the F250 7.3 i just bought did have sca put in it but the previous owner (for the last 10K miles) said he just used tap water instead of distilled water because that is just how he operates - he spent over $350 for a new radiator, bought new upper & lower hoses plus 4 gallons of coolant plus sca but then decided to skimp on $3.50 worth of distilled water....
so as i understand it the sca didn't do much good, so now i am going to do the job right.

Now on my 6.2 i had the radiator off this summer and the lower radiator hose but this did not drain the block of coolant. what about on a 7.3? will most of it come out when you remove the lower hose or is there another way to do it?

thanks,
paul

 

[FordGuy100]

I would think taking off the lower rad hose would be able to drain the block .

I hope you the best of luck, and I pray that your truck doesnt have the big C because of the PO.

 

[HammerDown]

I would think taking off the lower rad hose would be able to drain the block .

I hope you the best of luck, and I pray that your truck doesnt have the big C because of the PO.

Hmmmm. I think the radiator petcock is lower then the engine> (maybe not) but that doesn't fully drain the block.
I know one of my block drains are froze solid...take a drill to it, install a rubber freeze plug

 

[WildWest]

Often times the water pump is at a higher level than the lowest part of the waterjack.

Id use some compressed air if there isnt a drain plug towards the botom of the engine on know on chevrolets there are drain plugs on the bottom of the WJ on each side of the block on boats you will see petcocks there. On automobiles its a hex headed plug

Im just getting into the ford's / ford diesel scene but thats what id check for.

 

[icanfixall]

I just drained my block because I pulled the motor to replace head studs. I found the block holds around two gallons of coolant. I drained five gallons from the radiator pet **** and the rest from each block drain on each side of the block. I had installed pet ***** on the block so it was easy. The oil cooler will have very little left in it after the block is drained.

 

[h2odrx]

I just drained my block because I pulled the motor to replace head studs. I found the block holds around two gallons of coolant. I drained five gallons from the radiator pet **** and the rest from each block drain on each side of the block. I had installed pet ***** on the block so it was easy. The oil cooler will have very little left in it after the block is drained.

What he said block drains do the trick!!!

 

[GREASE FIRE]

I had installed pet ***** on the block so it was easy.

how did you install pet *****? did you have to remove the freeze plugs to do that?

thanks,
paul

 

[WildWest]

Should be a threaded plug that you will remove to install the petcock

 

[RLDSL]

how did you install pet *****? did you have to remove the freeze plugs to do that?

thanks,
paul

There's a 1/4" npt plug on each side of the block, pull those out and look in the radiator section of your parts store for a couple of 1/4" npt drain petcocks and you're good to go. Makes at a real joy to drain the thing. you can pop those suckers open and get out of the way before taking a shower

 

[GREASE FIRE]

what about refilling with coolant?

is there a specific way to refill the engine with coolant after draining it? i have heard on some engines if you don't do it right you can get trapped air pockets, not sure if that applies here or not. can you just fill the radiator all the way, start the engine and then keep adding to the radiator till it stays full? or do you have to remove the thermostat and top off there as well before starting?
thanks,
paul

 

[jimraelee]

Makes at a real joy to drain the thing. you can pop those suckers open and get out of the way before taking a shower

how about putting a piece of tubing off the spout, and hang into the drain bucket???? I've don't that before on cars with the rad tray right under it.