Thanks, but I need the concentrate to offset the distilled that will be left in the block.

 

Update:

First, thanks again to everyone who replied with your experience and advise, it is much appreciated!

I replaced the coolant yesterday as follows:

Drained the radiator with the petcock on the driver side using a long flat screw driver as Kyle G mentioned. The petcock is red plastic and does not come all the way out. I used tubing to direct the coolant into a 5 gallon bucket, since it has a 90 degree nipple that points toward the front of the truck.
Since the truck was cold, I only drained 3 quarts. In retrospect, I should have warmed the engine so the thermostat would be open to drain more.

Then I closed the drain and filled with distilled water only. Ran the truck until the motor was hot, with heat on high, revving it up and down to circulate and try to get air out.

While still running, I drained the system again, adding distilled (about 8 gallons) to keep it full. I did this until clear water was draining out.

Closed the drain, filled with distilled, ran the motor and heat as before. Shut off the motor and drained. I measured only about 5.5 qts on the drain, so I was concerned since there wouldn't be room for enough concentrate to end with 50/50 in the 15.9 qt system.

There must have been air trapped during the draining process, because it took almost all of the 2 gallons of full concentrate, which makes it very close to to 50/50 with the water in the block.
I then drove it around with full heat and various speeds to expell air and circulate. Engine temps were all good.
I used a coolant tester to make sure the mix was correct.

Not a terrible job, but it was more difficult to get the air out than I thought. There were times the heat would blow cool at idle.
I will keep an eye on the levels for the next few days.

One thing I found interesting, now its difficult to see the level of the new coolant through the plastic tank, which is yellowish itself.

Used 10 gallons distilled, 2 gallons Motorcraft yellow concentrate. Cost was less than $50 and a couple hours time.

 

Good deal, but worth mentioning.....

Ford's, at least most of them, use a "live" heater core, it's always flowing, using a blend door inside the cab to control whether you feel the heat from it or not. This means having your heat on high isn't needed like it would be on other vehicles.

My engine uses a de-gas bottle, i'm not sure if yours is still classed as that, but it should do a good job of getting the air out, but you mentioned some cold air sometimes, so sounds like it's go some in there anyway.
That being the case, i've used this product twice now, on the truck and on my Wife's car, which would otherwise be airlock city, and had zero issues, zero effort required to get air out as it never had any when i drained/replaced the coolant, best $16 i ever spent.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01I40ZQ...ing=UTF8&psc=1

 

Thanks for the follow up and glad to hear it went well. I too noticed it took a little longer to get all the air bubbles out. I found myself adding just a little bit of coolant over the next few drives to get the level right. Sounds like a nice thorough flush.

I think it is the coolant itself that could be generating build up as it deteriorates over time. That is what i believe triggered the TSB's mentioned previously and the need to switch from the orange to the yellow coolant in these particular engines while completing a thorough flush. If you push enough distilled water through during the flush, it'l push all the old crap out. Unless I'm misunderstanding your post.

 

thanks man
I was going to buy that but, didn't want to spend the extra $ and wasn't sure after reading the description if it would fit mine.

I do have the degas that is located on top of the radiator.

Interesting about the heater core. I "think" I'm good now

 

Thanks again Kyle

I feel that 99 percent of the old orange is gone. It was just much more of a pain in the *** "burping" it than I thought it should have been. Hopefully all good now.
I found yet another Ford Tech video today where he ran the motor at 3,500rpm for 30 seconds to get air out, so i did it for good measure

 

I will never not buy one of those now, i've been so impressed with it, having done many coolant bleeds and burps over the years on all sorts of engines. It comes with a ton of adaptors, i doubt you'll struggle to fit it to most things out there.

 

After this, I would definitely give it a shot. Thanks 👍