3.5 duratec coolant question

[DeluxeStang]

So I followed the forums advice and got a coolant flush and change at the dealership yesterday for the first time. 2017 explorer, 32k miles, not abused or driven hard at all.

Is this a normal coolant level for a car that just had its coolant changed yesterday? I'm probably just paranoid, but you would think the coolant level would be near the top of the "cold fill range" and not just hovering half and inch or so above the bottom of that range, but maybe that's normal.

I should add that this car was driven about an hour before this photo, so maybe the engine needs to cool down a bit more to have a truly accurate reading. I'm probably just paranoid, there was a guy on the forums who mentioned how his car kept going through coolant really quickly, so that's on my mind.

I think I'm good, I've never heard of the water pump on these engines going out at 30k, or anywhere close to that, it seems like for most people, it's like 70k worst case scenario, most people see it well after 100k miles. So I should be good, but I want to be sure.

 

[FordFlintrock]

At 32k miles I would not be worrying about a water pump failure. As the engine cools to cold the level will drop a tad further, still safe to drive though. It seems the tech was a little quick in stopping the fill process. Give it a couple days to settle out then when cold mark bottle level with a sharpie. Return to dealer and point out your cold level and ask for a few more ounces to be added. When hot the level should be at least to the black portion of tank.

 

[vmozer]

Hi there, just did a water pump replacement a couple of weeks ago which involved dumping *all the coolant flushing the cooling system with distilled water a couple of times before adding new coolant. After draining and refilling the system, you will always end up with some air trapped inside and the engine needs to "burp it out". This is probably your case too. So unless you noticed a coolant leak a drop by 1/2 to 1 inch is normal during this procedure - at least it was for me. I just topped it up to the max fill line until it got stabilized - always wait until it cools down which takes a good couple of hours, depending on the outside temperature. Some of the burping occurred immediately after filling the system and revving the engine a bit (once it warmed up) and some of it required shakes and bumps that happen during normal driving. So I would not worry and if there is no leaking coolant just top it up with a 50/50 mixture of your coolant and distilled water (you can buy it premixed like this too). Just make sure that you have the correct coolant which should be the ford yellow one now, but double check.

*With standard draining you are unable do fully drain the cooling system which is 11,5Liters (12,2 quarts) - I got out about 5ish liters (approx 5,5 quarts) using the draincock. The remained is in the rest of the system (block, heatcore, lines etc). When refilling I was able to get in about 4,5 liters and the remainder needed burping to get in as much as I got out.

Vlad