1specman

i'm flushing my 5.4 L and after the flush i'm only able to put 12 qts/ 3 gallon of water on the refill. my book states ~20 GT or 5 gallons. before i add the final coolant, i want to make sure i use the correct amount of antifreeze.

what could explain the difference of 2 gallons, i did drain radiator, removed thermostat for flush (Still out) and verified hear core is flushing, high heater setting, and have remove lower hose for drain.

could that amount be left in heater core and or engine?

1specman

sorry, meant 12 quarts instead of 12 gallons

FrozenTundraGuy

That's about right, mine took 11 qts-5.4L with factory tow pkg-heavy duty cooling system. I hope you used distilled water, and not tap water. tap water has too many minerals that can clog up the radiator, etc. I just drained mine, filled it back up with distilled water, drained it two times (came out clear) and just added the antifreeze in. I did have the heater on maximum, but didn't take out the t-stat.

tomb1269

You will never get all the water emptied out. The water jackets around the pistons are full and will not drain out to start, the heater core is lower then the top of the motor so it will not empty completely out. You can only "drain" about 25% of the coolant from an engine without turning it upside down and disconnecting the heater core and removing it. This is normal.

JByrd825

There is a block drain located on these engines for getting the majority of the coolant to drain from the engine block. I pulled mine when I did my full flush last year.

1specman

that explains it all then. makes alot of sense. i'll just empty what i can then add antifreeze/ dist water to 50% by hygrometer.

thanks to all

jamie930

I think 21 quarts is the total capacity.

So for a 50/50 mix you would need about 11 quarts of pure antifreeze.

So add the pure stuff first to get your 50% or 70% mix then top off with distilled water. It will all mix together