Does anyone have a shop manual or instructions on how to change the coolant in the 4.6 3V motor? I have had my 2005 for two years and would like to change the coolant.

Any help is appreciated!
Dan

 

It's a 5-6 year fill. Don't change it until you reach 6 years and then change it every 3 years thereafter (read the scheduled maintenance guide). It should be using the Ford gold/yellow anti-freeze, which is the same as the G-05 formula.

I crawled around the Stang and saw the standard plastic petcock on the lower right hand side of the radiator (passenger side). Look for a large plastic nut with a spigot fitting on the bottom (drains out anti-freeze here). This is about all you need to drain 65%-75% of the coolant. Getting rid of the rest requires removing the special freeze plugs on the block.

 

to get rid of atleast 90% you have to drain it, put new coolant, run the motor for a bit then drain again then add new coolant all the way and it will have replace atleast 90% of the original coolant with new

 

well actually to do it right, when you want to do the antifreeze flush, at that time its probably a good idea to change the thermostat as well. You can pretty much get 99.9% of it out if you change that, while thermostat is out, you can flush straight thru block heads etc. Just make sure to more than 50/50 back in , as there will be clean, clear water already in the block, so make it more like 60/40 or 65/35, in other words more straight antifreeze to mix with the water already in the block. So if you are going to wait 6 years, which too me is too long, then you should probably change both at the same time. I myself wont wait more than maybe 3 years. condensation etc gets in there, and next thing you know your going to have rust etc unless you flush a little more than 6 years, just my thoughts. Good luck

 

I agree but the new yellow anti-freeze is good for 5-6 years / 150k miles. Ford claims to change it every 3 years after the first 5-6 years is up. There was a Ford cooling engineer on Modular depot that chided me for changing out the yellow fill in the 03 E-250 only after 2-3 years

 

I need to drain and fill my coolant, right down to the block in my 4.6 because I'm installing a block heater in the frost plug hole.

Are there any special instructions for filling? Looking at the design of the system it should fill from the bottom up, I'll just fill as much as I can with the engine off, then fire up the car and add as required to the reservoir.

 

Got details on the engine block heater? I want to do this to my stang but I am afraid of what the stealership will charge. Got a guide or a howto? Id like to do this myself.

Thanks.

 

My dealership did it for free, but buggered up the job. Left half the coolant out of the engine and the car overheated.

The element should point to 9 o clock when installed. Mine's at 6 or 12.

Drain the coolant out of the rad, then pull the block drain. The frost plug is on the left rear of the engine, as is the drain.

Hit the frost plug on one side (3 or 6) with a punch and hammer. It should turn enough that you can grab it with pliers and pull it out.

Clean up the hole with some fine emery if required. Lubricate the O-ring on the frost plug heater with some petroleum jelly (it's what I would have used, anyway)

Install the frost plug heater, tighten bolt to ??? You should feel when the toggle lock is tight on the inside of the block.

Open rad cap, install coolant until catch tank is between marks. Start engine, allow to warm to operating temp, adding coolant as required, squeeze upper rad hose periodically to help bleed air from system... it seems to fill pretty well, I did mine on the side of the road w/the ford tech watching.

Good luck!

 

I can't say I disagree with you being uncomfortable with waiting 6 years, BUT am NOT worried about rust! Aluminum heads. Aluminum block. Plastic intake... Not much in there that can rust!