Everyone agrees that I need to rid my truck of the orange coolant in favor of green, but there are a ton of differing opinions on the right way to flush the system, and which thermostat is best.
So far, I haven't been able to find a how-to on the forum for flushing the coolant out completely without seeing a lot of subsequent replies saying how the how-to has wrong info. Does anyone have a good how-to for it?
Also, I am looking at the Motorad thermostat model 439-180. Summer weather is dry and hot where I live, and it never snows in the winter. My other thermostat option, according to Atlantic British, is the warm weather (gray) thermostat. Which is better for me?
I am looking at doing this next weekend, hopefully, so I want to get the thermostat ordered soon. Thanks guys.

 

Pull the lower hose there is no drain valve, fill it with distilled water (.79 a gallon at the supermarket) and let it run a 1/2 hour or so dump that and refill with 50/50.
Motorad thermostat model 439-180 & warm weather (gray) thermostat are basically the same stat. (I believe the gray one) was origianly a freeland t-stat. But i could be wrong.

 

I just installed the grey thermostat yesterday and used green coolant. My engine temps dropped by 10 degrees. Go grey. I used prestone 50/50. A messy job to say the least as d2's do not have a petcock to drain the system.

 

The t/stat can be found on Amazon for $40.
As for the flush, remove the lower hose and drain, pop the upper hose off to help drain the engine, when done reinstall the upper hose and start dumping distilled water thru the coolant bottle, start the engine for a minute or so and keep dumping distilled water till it comes out pretty clear from the lower hose, shouldn't take but a minute.
Then replace the t/stat and the coolant cap add your green coolant along with a bottle of either Water Wetter or Purple Ice to the coolant and bleed the system.

 

This is great. Thanks guys. I will order the Motorad right now and then flush.

 

Don't forget to replace the coolant pressure cap.

 

You can run hose water through for the flush and save the distilled of course for the final fill. It will help ensure a thorough flush not having to worry about rationing it. It feels weird putting hose water in the system but the pressure helps wash out some extra stuff and very little will remain so the minerals are not an issue.

 

Well guys, after a heldful call from a member here, I got through the flush. This photo is the upper hose T connection with years of Dexcool caked on. I shudder to think what the inside of my engine block looks like. I thougt it might be goopy, but it is baked on solid.
Many thanks for all of the help on getting this one done. The new thermostat from Motorad will go in this weekend.

 

Think what the inside of your radiator looks like, it is not long for this world.