Here's something I do for oil and coolant changes.... After the drips stop put a shop vac on blow, rag over the fill hole, to persuade the liquids out. Messy but effective.
Pete -...Speaking of coolant, one trick that might help a little with you racers if you run hot is to reduce the amount of glycol mix to water. Instead of 50/50, go to 40/60 (glycol/water) or 33/67. Water has a higher specific heat than glycol, and it's less viscous, both of which which help increase heat transfer.
Here are a couple of threads that may help.Can someone provide a procedure for coolant draining ?
Distilled water is correct. You don't want any minerals in the water that might cause corrosion.I'm coming up on the 4th. year of ownership and have been having the oil and filter changed on a regular basis. Now I want to change all fluids for a fresh start.
The owners manual recommends radiator fluid mixture of 50/50 Motorcraft Premium Gold Engine Coolant (yellow-colored) VC-7-A and distilled water. Is this correct regarding the water, distilled? Also someone mentioned there is supercharger fluid but saw no mention of this in the manual. Is this the intercooler fluid I've seen talked about elsewhere?
Change intervals are all listed in the manuals. I change engine oil and filter, brake and clutch fluid every year, coolant and transmission oil every three years as per Ford instructions.I am about 6 months from my 10 year anniversary with the GT. Was thinking that it would be a good time to change all the fluids. Other than transmission fluid and oil, are there rules of thumb for coolant, brake fluid and steering fluid? Am I missing anything. Should any of these be fine and not ned to be replaced after almost 10 years and 11,000 miles?
Thanks for your help.
David
Stuart,
It is your car and you can certainly choose to have anyone you select to do your maintenance. Yes our GT is relatively easy to work on, but hands on experience is certainly a valuable asset. Especially as indicated above replacement of the oil pump belt. Does the dealership mechanic know to look for rust traces around the pulley/shaft interface indicating possible relative motion between the two? Likely the dealership has never done this service on the one or two GT’s that they service (if that) in a year. You have been on this Forum since October 2006. Certainly you have read many posts about owner experiences with dealer mechanics albeit “Factory Trained on the FGT” with less than desirable results. Have your axle bolts also been changed?
I find it somewhat perplexing why new owners of our car (which you are not) fight so hard to resist the service recommendations of those who have experienced issues on both sides of the maintenance fence. For me the liability of poorly executed service (to be fair which may or may not happen based on the service complexity) is just too great to risk. Since your GT is based in Florida, the GT Guys are your closest source for this 10 year service. Rich and Dennis have made trips to Florida to service groups of owners. Talk to them if another trip is scheduled in the near future. But it is certainly worth a call to them to discuss any of your proposed work.
But again it is your car and your call….