How much coolant does a ford 5.4 hold? The Ford F150 can hold up to 5.4 gallons. This means that every time you add coolant, you need to add distilled water. In total, it should be 2.7 gallons of distilled water and 2.7 gallons of coolant.
With this information, you should be able to fill up your coolant tank safely.
If you’ve never done this before, below, we’ll go over everything you need to know about your system coolant and how you can fill it up at home.
Contents
What is Engine Coolant?
Coolant is a type of liquid used to cool down the engine. You see, your car’s engine produces a lot of heat inside—enough to blow up your engine.
How does it work? Well, when your vehicle reaches operating temperature, the thermostat will open up.
From there, coolant will flow from the water pump throughout the system to cool down the engine.
How Often Should I Change My Coolant?
You should always change your coolant after 120,000 miles. But, of course, this can change if the coolant is leaking for whatever reason.
Checking your coolant system and changing coolant is incredibly easy, and it doesn’t take any effort.
However, if you have no idea how to check or change the coolant, have your vehicle checked by an authorized dealer.
Coolant VS Antifreeze: What’s the Difference?
You’ve probably noticed that both coolant and antifreeze are used interchangeably.
In fact, you’ve probably been told to check the antifreeze level before, meaning you should check the coolant level.
So, what’s the difference between these two? Well, antifreeze is a concentrated liquid.
But the moment that you add water, it becomes coolant. But, it’s not coolant until it’s been diluted.
But you can also get concentrated antifreeze or one that has already been diluted, which means you wouldn’t need water.
But on the other hand, engine coolant is just a mixture between antifreeze and water.
4 Signs You Need To Change Your Coolant On a Ford 5.4
We know it is easy to put off most things in life, but they can sometimes do more harm than good.
So, with that being said, here’s how you can tell you’re running low on coolant:
Engine Is Overheating
Noticed that your engine is getting too hot? Well, it means that you’re running low on coolant. You see, your coolant cools down the engine.
Without it, the engine would quickly overheat and stop working. So, if you’ve noticed that the engine is getting too hot, check your coolant.
A/C System Is Acting Up
If you’re running low on coolant, you will notice that you’re A/C will blow hot air. Why? Because your A/C system needs coolant to regulate the air.
If there’s not enough coolant, then the system will produce hot air.
Sweet Smell
If you’ve noticed a sweet smell while going down the road, then it most likely means that you’re running out of coolant.
This smell could either come from the air conditioning or under the hood.
This is not always 100% accurate, but it can point you in the right direction. When in doubt, check the actual coolant to rule this out.
Terrible Gas Mileage
If you’re spending more money than you usually do on gas, then there’s a good chance that you have a coolant leak.
Remember, if the temperature of your vehicle changes, it won’t burn fuel efficiently, which means that you’ll get terrible gas mileage.
4 Reasons Why Your Coolant Is Leaking
How much coolant does a Ford F150 hold? You need 5.4 gallons of coolant to fill up your tank.
But it just does not disappear overnight. When your coolant magically disappears, it means that you have a coolant leak in the car.
Damaged Radiator Cap
One common culprit that could cause your coolant to spill away is a damaged radiator cap since there’s no way for the cap to stop the coolant from coming out.
When this happens, the engine will overheat. Luckily, this is a very simple and cheap fix.
Overflowing Reservoir
As you might have guessed, coolant is incredibly toxic and should always be inside your reservoir tank.
But if this liquid is overflowing, then there’s a high chance that you have a problem with your radiator cap, thermostat, or water pump.
Bad Radiator Hoses
Your vehicle’s cooling system needs radiator hoses to work since they carry the coolant to the radiator itself.
That said, if you’ve noticed a huge puddle of coolant underneath the vehicle, it means that the radiator hose is leaking coolant.
To rule this out, please diagnose the radiator hose since it doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s a problem with it.
Blown Head Gasket
A bad head gasket can also cause coolant to leak. Unfortunately, this is a costly fix, unlike the previous ones.
If your problem is the head gasket, please take the vehicle to a professional since driving with a bad head gasket can damage the engine.
How to Check Coolant Level on a Ford F150
Still not sure if you’re running low on coolant? Then here’s how you can check your coolant level:
1. Warning
Before getting started, please let your vehicle cool down for several hours. You will burn yourself if you try to take off the coolant cap.
2. Take a Good Look
You don’t have to take off the cap to check the coolant level. Instead, take a good look at the side of the coolant tank.
See those little marks on the side? If your coolant is within this range, then it means that you have nothing to worry about.
If it’s not, make sure to add more coolant.
How to Change Coolant On a Ford 5.4
How much coolant does a Ford 5.4 hold? Remember, you need 2.7 gallons of coolant and 2.7 gallons of distilled water to fill up the coolant tank properly. That said, here’s how to change your coolant:
1. What You Will Need
Get these tools to change your coolant:
- Distilled water — use distilled water when adding coolant
- Gloves — things can get pretty messy when changing the coolant. So, wear gloves
- Funnel — use a funnel to pour the coolant inside the system
- Bucket — coolant will come out of the system when you try to drain it. To avoid making a huge mess, place a bucket underneath the truck
2. Warning
Before getting started, please make sure that the engine is fully cooled before removing the coolant cap from the tank, or you could hurt yourself.
3. Remove the Coolant Cap
First, pop the hood of your truck.
Now find the coolant tank. See the little cap on top of it? Go ahead and remove it and then put it somewhere you can find it.
4. Get Underneath the Truck
Crawl underneath the truck and then find the drain plug. Before removing this little plug, please make sure to place a bucket underneath.
Coolant will come out of it the moment you take it off. This will take a while, so hang in there as coolant is coming out.
Once there’s no more coolant, put the plug back in.
Since you’re at it, make sure that that the plug is still in great shape. If it looks damaged, replace it.
5. Add Coolant & Distilled Water
For every part you add coolant, you need to add distilled water.
Therefore, coolant should never be poured into an engine system by itself. Instead, it should be mixed with distilled water.
That said, grab your funnel and stick it inside the coolant tank.
Now take your coolant and pour it inside. Next, add distilled water. Remember, you want to keep it 50/50.
6. Check Your Coolant Level
Get a flashlight and point it at the coolant tank.
Now take a good look at the tank and ensure that the coolant is at the recommended level. If it’s below the recommended level, add more fluid.
7. Start Up The Engine
Start up your truck and let it warm up. This way, it’ll open up the thermostat and let the coolant go through various channels to get an actual reading.
After a while, take a look at the coolant tank to make sure it isn’t going below the recommended level.
Need a walkthrough video? Here’s a YouTube video we suggest watching:
How to Properly Recharge A/C On Ford 5.4
If your truck’s A/C doesn’t blow cold air anymore, it might be time to recharge the A/C.
If you’re not sure what that means, it just means to add more refrigerant to the A/C system so that it can blow cold air again.
That being said, here’s how to properly recharge A/C on a Ford F-150:
1. Refrigerant For Ford F150
The first thing you want to do is find out the type of refrigerant you need to use.
The easiest way to figure this out is to pop the vehicle’s hood and then find the sticker located underneath the hood.
The sicker has all the information you need to purchase the proper refrigerant.
For example, it should say something like “HFC132a,” which is the type of refrigerant you should get. The sticker should also indicate how much you need to use.
2. Start up the Engine
First, get inside your car and then turn the engine on. Next, turn the blower on full speed and make sure that the A/C is on the coldest setting.
3. Recharge Your A/C
Pop the hood of your truck and then find the A/C port. Now take your A/C recharge hose and hook it up to the A/C port.
Now squeeze the trigger on the refrigerant and make sure that the needle swings up to 40.
However, depending on your application, you might need to put a little bit more in or less.
Once you’ve recharged the A/C, disconnect the hose from the A/C port, and you’re pretty much done.
If you got stuck somewhere, please watch this short video:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
For more information about the coolant capacity Ford 5.4 and how it can impact your vehicle’s performance, check this out:
What coolant does Ford recommend?
Use Motorcraft gold concentrated antifreeze/coolant. This is the type of coolant that you want to put inside your coolant system.
However, keep in mind that it is concentrated, so you must use distilled water.
How do I recharge my F150 air conditioner?
First, get a refrigerant. Second, turn on the engine and then put the A/C on full blast.
And finally, pop the hood of your vehicle and hook up the refrigerant to the A/C port.
The needle will now go up and recharge the A/C.
What happens if you use the wrong color antifreeze?
Please, never mix different coolants since it never ends well for the driver.
This can lead to severe problems like the engine getting too hot and possibly damage the radiator.
Is it OK to put straight antifreeze in your car?
You need to use water when using straight antifreeze, meaning you should keep a balance between the two.
Conclusion
How much coolant does a ford 5.4 hold?
To recap, your Ford F150 needs 5.4 gallons, which means that you need to add 2.7 gallons of distilled water, and the other half should be 2.7 gallons of coolant.
Changing your coolant is super easy, and you don’t need to take the vehicle to a certified professional for this quick and simple job.
And as we noted before, you should never put off a coolant change since it can permanently damage your engine.
To keep your truck in great shape, check your coolant regularly and change it after 120,000 miles.