Well done and nicely explained. I would like to add. . . . Always replace the radiator cap when you change / flush the coolant. If the cap has rings pressed into the seals, Replace it. Replacing the cap every 2 -3 years is a good practice.
Just so you know for future reference. The gauge you were focused on when you said the engine temp was normal was your oil pressure gauge. Your temp gauge was still cold
Great video, I have the same exact ranger with 50K miles only and I just did the exact same procedure...you have 181K miles on yours and ....thats impressive! God job maintaining you vehicle buddy!
Great job. That's the way to do it. Do the flush after you get all the crap out. Great idea. That's what I'm gonna do tomorrow. 93 Ford Ranger. Rusty water in the radiator. Can't wait to clean her out.
Great video but like most people who do this they miss a very important part. Once you start putting coolant in your system is completely filled with water at that point except for the radiator which is empty. So 50% of your system - and it could be up to 60% if your system - has water in it predominantly. Then when you fill it with 50-50 premix you now bring down the total system coolant level to like 80/20 or at best 70/30 - way too low. My point is you should use full strength 100% concentrate when you fill the system. Let's assume 50% of the system is drained when you drain the radiator through the petcock. If the rest of the system has water in it then you need 100% coolant to make the final mixture 50-50. Getting to 5050 is completely impossible using 50-50 pre-mix after flushing the system like you did. Moral of the story know what total system capacity your car has. Also know what drains out of the radiator and any engine block drains you might use. That will let you know what amount of concentrate you need to refill the system and get you to the proper mixture. Thanks for the video
I just did a coolant drain ,flush and change on my 2006 pontiac pursuit 2.2l eng ,it calls for a 50/50 with dexron cool ,,however I am confused about the coolant as it comes in two forms ,pre mixed (does not specify ratio) and concentrated ,,both labels say it can protect from cold weather down to -34deg C ,how can both do that if they are different? if i took the concentrated form and diluted it down to say 50/50 will it not lower the protection level? the concentrated label does not mention anything about mixing with water or any ratios so i assume they want you to use it straight, but how come the premixed stuff says it can also handle -34deg C? is it specially formulated to do the same job despite it being premixed?? i am worried i made a mistake in putting the correct ratio because i live in cold weather and it can get down to -30degC here possibly and last thing i need is a broken engine ,,here is what i did,i have a coolant reservoir and no radiator cap so all is done through the reservoir cap,,i opened the res cap and then the petcock on the rad and drained out what i could ,i started the engine and reved it a few times to drain more out with the pump ,i then filled it with distilled water and heated the engine till it reached 105deg C and the fan kicked in and the thermo must have opened because i saw it drastically start dropping back down to 75degC in a few minutes ,while this was happening i put the heater on max and turned on the fan but i dont think this was necessary as it will shorten the circulation time because it only removes heat from engine faster and the thermo will close faster plus i think coolant in the heater core is always circulating with the engine jacket no matter what ,,anyways i drained it and re filled and done this about 4 times till it was coming out nice and clear enough , i then measured what i collected to be about 4 litres and subtracted this from the system capacity of 6.5 litres to tell me what was left in the system so about 2.5 liters of distilled water ,but what i dont understand is how come there was no heat coming out despite that amount left trapped in the engine jacket and heater core? its as if everything drained out so if that was the case i am worried i may have made a mistake with the ratio when filling with coolant and water,,,anyways i wanted 60/40 so assuming there was 2.5litres water left in the system i simply did the math and added 3 litres of concentrated coolant directly in to make it 5.5 litres of 60/40 and since there was 1 litre of coolant left to go i mixed 600ml of concentrated coolant with 400ml of distilled water to once again get 60/40 and top it off,,it filled nicely right up to the cold fill line on my reservoir,,i heated the engine and let it circulate and then burped it opening the res cap once cooled and the level remained where it should be,,so far so good but now im worried if i got 60/40 or more? if its more then its ok but will 60/40 be enough to withstand our cold temperature here? or is this too diluted now?? hope i did not make things worst but i had to do it because my car is 14 years old and i never changed the coolant lol even though it was coming out looking like crystal clear coolaide when i first drained it and it did not smell that far gone either after all these years, amazing and very little sediment came out too after all this work,,so idk if im gonna be ok or i made it worst? i calculated it to be either around 60/40 or 90/10 (if it all drained out and there was nothing left,but according to the manual there must have been 2.5ltrs left)
yeah true,,i also told him this "on a big engine like yours you will have alot of water left in the system so its gonna end up being less than 50/50 seing how you did not take that into account when adding the coolant,,also it is needless to turn your heater on while trying to warm the engine up to temp as it removes heat and only make it take much longer to come to temp ,,besides once thermo opens it circulates through the whole system ,you dont need to turn the fan or heater on to do that ,,think about it ,imagine it relied on you to turn on the heater system and you did not do that then you engine would over heat all the time ,you think the coolant in the heater core and engine will not be circulating? obviously this will over heat if it relied on you all the time so i might be wrong but i think its pointless to turn the heater on,,there is always circulation once the thermo opens up and has nothing to do with putting your dial on hot and turning the fan on" so the other thing is its needless to mess around with the heater when doing this job and only makes it take lomger
I highly recommend OEM coolant to lubricate the water pump properly. When I was around 21 my water pump froze shredded my timing belt causing my valves to hit the pistons in my Civic si. Defiantly not just the Prestone coolant then but anguish of changing my motor through the night keeps my OEM. Tell him to sell you a gallon of the concentrate then buy a gallon of distilled water you now have two gallons of Ford coolant. 2022 Amazon $28.55 delivered.
I also blew out my heater core with a garden house, more crap came out of that too. You have to disconnect both lines into the heater core and blow it out.
After you got back from the test drive, let the engine cool, and prior to adding new coolant to the system, would it be worth it to do another flush of the system with water to remove any residual amount of cleaner? Thanks!
I just did a coolant drain ,flush and change on my 2006 pontiac pursuit 2.2l eng ,it calls for a 50/50 with dexron cool ,,however I am confused about the coolant as it comes in two forms ,pre mixed (does not specify ratio) and concentrated ,,both labels say it can protect from cold weather down to -34deg C ,how can both do that if they are different? if i took the concentrated form and diluted it down to say 50/50 will it not lower the protection level? the concentrated label does not mention anything about mixing with water or any ratios so i assume they want you to use it straight, but how come the premixed stuff says it can also handle -34deg C? is it specially formulated to do the same job despite it being premixed?? i am worried i made a mistake in putting the correct ratio because i live in cold weather and it can get down to -30degC here possibly and last thing i need is a broken engine ,,here is what i did,i have a coolant reservoir and no radiator cap so all is done through the reservoir cap,,i opened the res cap and then the petcock on the rad and drained out what i could ,i started the engine and reved it a few times to drain more out with the pump ,i then filled it with distilled water and heated the engine till it reached 105deg C and the fan kicked in and the thermo must have opened because i saw it drastically start dropping back down to 75degC in a few minutes ,while this was happening i put the heater on max and turned on the fan but i dont think this was necessary as it will shorten the circulation time because it only removes heat from engine faster and the thermo will close faster plus i think coolant in the heater core is always circulating with the engine jacket no matter what ,,anyways i drained it and re filled and done this about 4 times till it was coming out nice and clear enough , i then measured what i collected to be about 4 litres and subtracted this from the system capacity of 6.5 litres to tell me what was left in the system so about 2.5 liters of distilled water ,but what i dont understand is how come there was no heat coming out despite that amount left trapped in the engine jacket and heater core? its as if everything drained out so if that was the case i am worried i may have made a mistake with the ratio when filling with coolant and water,,,anyways i wanted 60/40 so assuming there was 2.5litres water left in the system i simply did the math and added 3 litres of concentrated coolant directly in to make it 5.5 litres of 60/40 and since there was 1 litre of coolant left to go i mixed 600ml of concentrated coolant with 400ml of distilled water to once again get 60/40 and top it off,,it filled nicely right up to the cold fill line on my reservoir,,i heated the engine and let it circulate and then burped it opening the res cap once cooled and the level remained where it should be,,so far so good but now im worried if i got 60/40 or more? if its more then its ok but will 60/40 be enough to withstand our cold temperature here? or is this too diluted now?? hope i did not make things worst but i had to do it because my car is 14 years old and i never changed the coolant lol even though it was coming out looking like crystal clear coolaide when i first drained it and it did not smell that far gone either after all these years, amazing and very little sediment came out too after all this work,,so idk if im gonna be ok or i made it worst? i calculated it to be either around 60/40 or 90/10 (if it all drained out and there was nothing left,but according to the manual there must have been 2.5ltrs left)
Question? If your not supposed to run cold water through a warm engine, how do you keep putting tap water in the radiator? Do you let the engine cool down every time?
When you went for a drive and said that the water temperature was normal you were looking at the battery voltage meter and the oil pressure gauge. The water temp is on the top left just so you know. Great video though and thanks for explaining the step by step procedure.
So I have a manual 99 ranger, for some reason I can only fit MAYBE 2 1/2 gallons total in the radiator and reservoir. I wait for the thermostat to open while the engine is running and by the time it opens the engine has already spit out the amount I need to put back in in order to get it full again. Anyone have suggestions or diagnostics?
When using 50/50 you do not add water, if you do you further dilute the coolant/anit freeze making the mixture much weaker and possibly unable to not freeze during winter months (depending on location).
This is OK but doing a radiator 'drain' and fill is only 40% of the cooling system. You can keep draining and filling the radiator and driving it until the tstat opens but it takes a while. I would get one of those heater hose 'Tee' flush kits that you use a garden hose on. You're going to get a more complete flush plus clear out the heater core. Normally you put the 'tee' on the return side of the heater hose to reverse flush it and it also flushes out the block and radiator. It's a lot faster and more complete. You should get distilled water and cycle that though a couple times and bear in mind the block will retain 2-4 quarts of water so increase the antifreeze concentration to keep about a 50/50 mix. I made a flush adapter for my heater core which I connect to my air compressor and keep the pressure regulated which clean out the system nice. You'd be surprised how much garbage comes out of the core. NEVER use any of those sealers. They all end up settling in the heater core. It's the highest point and has the least flow and collects all the junk.
I was just given a 01 Ranger EDGE with the 3,0 V6 with only 5300 miles. Basically brand new. I changed out the oil but the coolant is still bright green from the factory. Should I change the coolant?
Id recommend flushing the heater core and then bypassing it after. You do not want to run the cleaner through the heater core...it will likely put more deposits into it.
@@manwiththecigar2606 yes,but bypass it during the flush. 5/8 barb fitting or a piece of pipe will work. If the system has a lot of sediment buildup, it would likely clog the heater core.
I have a 2003 ford ranger 3.0 v6 is it okay to use this coolant from the video on it? The 2001 model in the video appears precisely the same. Just checking for clarification.
Hello! Thanks for makin this video. At 9:46 you can hear the engine run, and there’s a click and the engine idle sounds a little different, another click, engine idle changes again. What’s that sound all about? What’s happening? My ‘07 4L ranger does that and it works fine, but it’s a deeper “clunk” instead of a “click” before the idle changes. I don’t understand it.
I heard mine do that in the chickfila drive through this morning and wondered that exaxt same thing. What the heck is that? lol nothings wrong but im just curious
@@KleinHeister My brother thinks its the AC compressor, and said he heard of it being normal for rangers. When I looked it up, some people are saying to recharge the freon if the timing is short, but mine's already been done so I guess it'll stay as is!
Is it safe to use Prestone All Brand in our Ford Ranger? I've been reading on Forums that Ford calls for G05 coolant (brand?) and my concern is that since 3.0 Vulcan V6 engine is made of cast iron, it might want a specific brand of coolant.
Hey man, I was trying to get a straight answer on this one for a while myself. I have an 03' Ranger, and the answer is: Yes. Prestone (all makes/models) is fine, just don't mix colors/brands! If you're going from one to another, flush well :)
It seems when you drain your system there is still some liquid in the engine block so when you drained the flush isn't there still some flush in your system when you filled it up with the 50/50 mix. Also when you filled it up with the 50/50 mix if there is some liquid in the block and you fill it up with the 50/50 mix won't it be weaker then 50/50.
I'm Just Curious.... Why is it When He Said the Temperature Was Where it Was Supposed To Be... He Showed us The Oil Pressure Gauge instead of the Temperature Gauge... !!? And He Did This Both Times in A Row....!!??🤔
My 99 ranger with the same engine had a plastic cover over the bottom of the radiator. It was a simple matter of removing 4 10mm bolts then popping it off, but it would have been in the way otherwise.
Are you an instructor, should be, well delivered production. Safety briefing, ie safety glasses, gloves/skin contact, poison to pets/wildlife. I have to do my Ranger -2.3, always afraid of airlocks in the system when I had a '75 ranchero, 351cu overheated. thx for the post btw!
I'd never buy that 50/50 stuff. It's dang near as expensive as pure antifreeze and it's easy enough to pour a half gallon of the pure into an empty jug, then fill the two half full jugs the rest of the way with water.
I buy the 50 50 for topping off should it ever need it. I keep coolant in the back of the truck for emergencies. But in the case of changing it like he's doing yes it's way cheaper to buy the concentrate then mix into another jug half way. Your one gallon then becomes two after you create the mix and it's only a few dollars difference when buying it. Goes alot farther that way.
Did you tighten the radiator drain plug underneath before you put garden hose water in the radiator to flush out radiator by starting engine and heater process and then again open the plug to drain the nasty water out???? If so you did not say this.
on a big engine like yours you will have alot of water left in the system so its gonna end up being less than 50/50 seing how you did not take that into account when adding the coolant,,also it is needless to turn your heater on while trying to warm the engine up to temp as it removes heat and only make it take much longer to come to temp ,,besides once thermo opens it circulates through the whole system ,you dont need to turn the fan or heater on to do that ,,think about it ,imagine it relied on you to turn on the heater system and you did not do that then you engine would over heat all the time ,you think the coolant in the heater core and engine will not be circulating? obviously this will over heat if it relied on you all the time so i might be wrong but i think its pointless to turn the heater on,,there is always circulation once the thermo opens up and has nothing to do with putting your dial on hot and turning the fan on
You still have water in your engine block because you only flushed your radiator… this is wrong you need to remove the thermostat and take the lower radiator hose off and run a hose through where the thermostat is
that is not true .....you can put cold water in an over heating engine . it is a myth that you can not . I am a technician at a business that specializes in radiators . just saying
Next time do it properly. Remove the thermostat for the water and cleaner additive to circulate inside the entire system to flush . then reinstal the thermostat back when finished, then fill up the system with the proper coolant. I can see you wasted time and money, your system is still dirty. sorry , NO BUENO
