mohave_steve
Registered User
Hello Everyone,
I have a 2005 E450 with the Powerstroke 6.0 and have cooling system questions.
It is a "short bus" built by Thomas on a Ford E450 cutaway van.
Either Thomas or the original owner removed the original coolant that Ford used and replaced it with a red colored antifreeze. I understand that one of the steps that folks take to help the 6.0 live longer is to flush the cooling system and switch to a different antifreeze than what Ford used.
The rig has about 130k miles on it and has been a great rig until a recent mishap. I was on a 300 mile road trip and about 60 miles into the trip, in my mirror, I saw coolant spewing out of the back of the bus.
Coolant temp looked ok but I was obviously loosing coolant.
I pulled over and investigated. It turns out that a plastic 90 fitting in the coolant line that feeds the rear heater had snapped.
I hiked to the nearest auto parts store and asked for "red antifreeze" compatible with my application. I took several gallons back to the bus and started adding. If I recall corectly, the guy at the parts counter said that my cooling system capacity was 14 gallons. I had to add 3.5 gallons to bring it back up to top.
The antifreeze they sold me was NOT red. It was a light amber or gold tint. It is Zerex DexCool.
I did also bypass the rear heater.
I started down the road and all seemed ok. About 15-20 minutes later the temp started to rise. I pulled over and let it idle. The temp continued to climb for a few moments then dropped back to near normal. I let it cool for about 30 minutes and added another 3/4 gallon of antifreeze.
It started and seemed to run fine for the rest of the trip. About 200 miles. The check engine light did come on. I later checked the code and it indicated that oil temp had exceeded a threshold.
Questions:
As the bus seemed to run fine for the final 200 miles is it likely that I avoided real damage?
What is the red antifreeze that was originally in the bus? I want to change back.
What kind of flushing proeedure do I need to follow when switching back?
Thanks you.
Stephen
I have a 2005 E450 with the Powerstroke 6.0 and have cooling system questions.
It is a "short bus" built by Thomas on a Ford E450 cutaway van.
Either Thomas or the original owner removed the original coolant that Ford used and replaced it with a red colored antifreeze. I understand that one of the steps that folks take to help the 6.0 live longer is to flush the cooling system and switch to a different antifreeze than what Ford used.
The rig has about 130k miles on it and has been a great rig until a recent mishap. I was on a 300 mile road trip and about 60 miles into the trip, in my mirror, I saw coolant spewing out of the back of the bus.
Coolant temp looked ok but I was obviously loosing coolant.
I pulled over and investigated. It turns out that a plastic 90 fitting in the coolant line that feeds the rear heater had snapped.
I hiked to the nearest auto parts store and asked for "red antifreeze" compatible with my application. I took several gallons back to the bus and started adding. If I recall corectly, the guy at the parts counter said that my cooling system capacity was 14 gallons. I had to add 3.5 gallons to bring it back up to top.
The antifreeze they sold me was NOT red. It was a light amber or gold tint. It is Zerex DexCool.
I did also bypass the rear heater.
I started down the road and all seemed ok. About 15-20 minutes later the temp started to rise. I pulled over and let it idle. The temp continued to climb for a few moments then dropped back to near normal. I let it cool for about 30 minutes and added another 3/4 gallon of antifreeze.
It started and seemed to run fine for the rest of the trip. About 200 miles. The check engine light did come on. I later checked the code and it indicated that oil temp had exceeded a threshold.
Questions:
As the bus seemed to run fine for the final 200 miles is it likely that I avoided real damage?
What is the red antifreeze that was originally in the bus? I want to change back.
What kind of flushing proeedure do I need to follow when switching back?
Thanks you.
Stephen