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Coolant Flush (Two Missing Details)

nvexplorer

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City, State
NV
Year, Model & Trim Level
2013 Explorer XLT
Preparing to flush my 13’ XLT for the first time. I’ve done quite a bit of research so far, but have two remaining questions that perhaps folks who have already been down this road can answer.

1). I plan to flush with distilled water until clear, to remove as much of the orange coolant as possible, before refilling with the new replacement, yellow coolant. On my last drain, is sounds like quite a bit of distilled water will remain in the block and heater core. Does anyone know approximately how much concentrate I should add, before completing the refill with 50/50? I’d like to avoid wasting as much new coolant as possible, attempting to get to 50/50.

2). To test the coolant strength when I’m done, I assume it’s best to collect a sample from the radiator drain, as I don’t think the expansion tank contents mixes with the rest of the system when the vehicle is running? This is the first vehicle I’ve owned without a radiator cap, where I would generally test strength.

Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

***Update 6/25/2022***
After 9 years and almost 78k miles, the old orange coolant looked pretty good and clean. I got the system flushed with 10 gallons of distilled water and VC-1 coolant system cleaner. The last four gallons or water came out practically clear. I got 1.25 gallons of new yellow VC-13-G concentrate in, and will run with that for a week or so, and then check the ratio from the drain. Thanks for everyone’s input!
 



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Why don't you just refill it with the recommended coolant as per the manual? No need to add 50/50 or measure the strength then. As for measuring the coolant, you should be able to use the coolant reservoir.

Peter
 






I can't answer your first question, but all I did with my 2014 was drain and fill with OE Orange coolant.

For your 2nd question, I would say yes, take the sample from the radiator drain after driving for a while (maybe a week).
As you say, the coolant in the overflow may not have same concentration as inside the engine/radiator.
 






Why don't you just refill it with the recommended coolant as per the manual? No need to add 50/50 or measure the strength then. As for measuring the coolant, you should be able to use the coolant reservoir.

Peter
Since it’s never been done and my explorer is almost 10 years old, I figured a good flush with motorcraft vc-1 and distilled water is in order. Besides, if a simple drain and refill only replaces about a third of the coolant in my vehicle, I don’t feel like I will have accomplished much. And I have no interest in attempting to remove block plugs to evacuate more coolant. Thanks.
 






I can't answer your first question, but all I did with my 2014 was drain and fill with OE Orange coolant.

For your 2nd question, I would say yes, take the sample from the radiator drain after driving for a while (maybe a week).
As you say, the coolant in the overflow may not have same concentration as inside the engine/radiator.
Isn't the reservoir used to add the coolant to the system?

Peter
 






Isn't the reservoir used to add the coolant to the system?

Peter

Yes.

The issue is that the coolant that remains in the reservoir after topping off the system doesn't readily mix with what is in the radiator/engine.
So, if you top off with 50/50 mix, it doesn't necessarily mean the mix inside the rad/engine is the same.

If there was a radiator cap, you could check the fluid inside the radiator and verify the concentration and then top off with more concentrate or 50/50, depending on the result.

@nvexplorer - Thinking about it, if you know the full capacity of the system, you could measure what you drain out and calculate how much remains and add that much in concentrated to get 50/50 mix inside and then top off with 50/50 mix.
 






Yes.

The issue is that the coolant that remains in the reservoir after topping off the system doesn't readily mix with what is in the radiator/engine.
So, if you top off with 50/50 mix, it doesn't necessarily mean the mix inside the rad/engine is the same.

If there was a radiator cap, you could check the fluid inside the radiator and verify the concentration and then top off with more concentrate or 50/50, depending on the result.

@nvexplorer - Thinking about it, if you know the full capacity of the system, you could measure what you drain out and calculate how much remains and add that much in concentrated to get 50/50 mix inside and then top off with 50/50 mix.
That is my plan, If there are no solid numbers from folks with prior experiences.

I did find a post by member @jons901. After his flush, and with the entire system filled with distilled water, he drained out 1gal of water and put in 1gal of concentrate. After letting the engine mix that for 10 mins. the ratio was 33:66 fresh coolant to water, so he drained an additional 3 quarts of that mix, and then added 3 quarts of concentrate to reach the 50:50.

I think I will run the math based on jons901's experience, to try and hit a 50:50 mix on my first refill and ride around with that for a week or so, and then check the ratio from the radiator drain to verify strength.

Thank you!
 






When I have done coolant flushes on my diesel truck I have never removed the block drains since they are in tight enough that I don't want to go to the bother of fighting them.

I always do a good flush with distilled water and then use concentrate coolant to refill the system, and since I usually change the hoses out also I'll cut the old upper radiator hose so that I can use it as a funnel to fill the radiator before I place the new hose onto it. Then put the required amount of concentrate coolant into the radiator before adding anymore distilled water.

As long as you know the capacity of the cooling system you can add the concentrate to come to a 50/50 mix pretty easily doing it this way.
 






The degas bottle works different from the old reservoir. With the degas there is actually a coolant flow constantly and increases as the thermostat opens and/or the engine rpms increase. With this system I did a coolant flush about a month ago, I still had a mix of orange and yellow (which is fine) but I wanted to have as close to 100% yellow as possible. The dealer I went to didn´t have the concentrate so I got 3 gallons of prediluted yellow coolant. Disconnected the small hose that enters at top of the degas bottle, that is the return hose. Attached a clear hose to that and the end to a clean white bucket. Started the engine and watched the still orange coolant drain, when the degas bottle was at the level of the bottom hose I filled with new yellow coolant (and kept doing that as the process lasted). Had a second bucked and kept the 1st as low as possible to take a look at the color of the draining coolant. Also had some new coolant in a small container to compare. After 2.5 gallons I could see the color of the draining coolant and the new were the same (eyeballed). Now my degas bottle is yellow. I´m a happy camper...
 






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