I have a 88 f150 5.0 4x4. Over the summer I decided to flush the coolant system. I sent my wife to the store to get some antifreeze for me and she brought dexcool back. ugh. So instead of runnin back to town i just filled it with all water. Well This morning i went to start my truck and it would barely turn over. Keep in mind that it got down to 15 last night. I quickly realized what was wrong. Im Stupid!!!!!!!!! Competely forgot to put the antifreeze in it. Now i have water leaking from the block. It is dripping from the driver side motor mount. Im not sure where the freeze plugs are located. Does ne one know if there is a plug above or behind he motor mount? Have ne of you change th freeze plugs. How big of a pain is it? Do i have to pull the motor? Thanks Guys

 

Yes there is and yes it is a pain the smart thing to do is pull the engine and change them all. there is also a chance there is more than one at least partialy pushed out and also the posibility that the block or head is cracked. You can change it in the truck but you will have to remove the moter mount and raise the engine to work on itBubbabud

 

thanks bubba. i was afraid of that. Im really hoping that the block isnt cracked. Does the block typical crack around the freeze plug hole? how bout the heads? With my lack of tools and time im gonna send this to my neighbors kids high school shop class.

 

Do what you want, but I would never allow any one with out ASME certification to work on my vehicles. I am a better mechanic than most of them.

 

Thats what freeze plugs are for....they are supposed to come out to prevent the block from cracking...allows the water that turned to ice expand ...replace the plugs...and fill with antifreeze and you should be fine.

 

The real intent of freeze plugs holes is to get the sand out of the casting after the block is cast. And later they do as techrep says.

 

wow, that sounds like an expensive lesson. I wonder if the dexcool would have helped some; couldn't have been any worse that plain water.

 

I read that dex cool will ruin your water pump and plug up the water passages in your heads. Thats why i didnt use it. And yes this could end up being a very expensive lesson.

 

Yup it will ruin it, you need Ethylene Glycol, not Dex Cool

 

This is the same way i learned all my lessons with vehicle maintenance when I was younger..,hehe. You can do it yourself if you have access to nice warm garage. It isn't a monumental undertaking if you have the correct toys to work with. The freeze plugs did exactly what they were designed to do...problem is now you have to basically yank the block to replace them. (It's just SOOOOO MUCH FASTER) Trying to replace them properly while in the vehicle is just begging for a screamfest from sheer frustration....
If the shop teacher at your kid's high school is competent then it should be ok to let them do it, great experience for them. Take advantage of free labor and have them toss in a set of headers while they're in there, maybe change the rear main seal that is probably leaking anyways...