Which coolant to use

gatorman21218 · May 14, 2010

Welcome to the world of diesels. Most part store guys know nothing about a diesel and will give you bad advice all day. I went in for battery cables one day and they guy tried to sell me some 4 gauge stuff. Might work fine for a Civic but I need some 2/0 cable.

fx4wannabe · May 14, 2010

Yea I know what ya mean. I was trying to get my coolant changed before I made this 600 mile run to AL. I have no clue how old it is. At least 3 yrs because thats how long I have had the truck. Its got Rotella ELC in it so I think I am just going to drain the radiator and top off with fresh Rotella so at least its half new and then do a full flush and get it right when I get back. If I can find Rotella tomorrow, other wise I will have to try and find it at the truck stop.

plywood · May 14, 2010

fx4wannabe said:
Never dreamed Fleet Charge would be this hard to find. Tractor Supply had 1 gallon and OReilly's had 1 gallon, no one else in this town has heard of the stuff or has a clue that diesels need special coolant. Guess I will stop at the truck stop on my way to Alabama Sunday. Surely they will have it.

Boy, that sounds familiar, I ended up going to the closest Napa Warehouse to be able to get 4 gallons, and everybody told me " yeah we got coolant that is good for all vehicles".

fx4wannabe · May 14, 2010

What makes me mad is I called and asked for Fleet Charge specifically and not one napa here had ever heard of it and only one Tractor Supply had it. Then of all places O'reilly's had some. I guess no one in the diesel world changes their coolant or they all run ELC and go the 600,000 it says to. LOL

plywood · May 14, 2010

Most of 'em have newer trucks and can do just fine on the ELC also. ;Sweet

gatorman21218 · May 15, 2010

Thats why I probably have 10 spare gallons of it in the garage. Its such a pain to find so when i do I buy all they have

Jbevs · Oct 16, 2010

I stumbled across this coolant from Shell. It says it requires no SCA's. Does anyone have experience with this?

http://www.farmandfleet.com/product...bricants_chemicals/winter_weather/antifreeze/

Diesel Max · Oct 17, 2010

I use Fleetcharge as well....... Works great. Only place I have been able to find it is Napa, Tractor Supply and Checker/Oriely. I know Tractor Supply will order it for you if they don't have any in stock (of course that's assuming that you don't need it right then).

Rot Box · Oct 17, 2010

I've been running CAT ELC for a few months now and it has been great. I just hope I don't need to track down an extra gallon or two in the middle of nowhere one day

RLDSL · Oct 17, 2010

Since this thread is still kicking around, I might want to mention that Evans Coolant is currently in the process of saving it's third engine and family vacation for me :hail

For anyone wondering if it's worth the cash.
My high dollar MS tech fan clutch has decided to go belly up on me while out here dragging the 5er around the country grossing around 18k . Between my Rodney Red radiator and 16" electric pusher fan I've been able to hold temps under 250 even climbing over a 10,000+ ft pass so long as I keep my rpms below 2500 ( the e fan can't keep up with the water flow after that) it's holding around 220-230 the rest of the time. Were there any other coolant in the thing, i would have had to buy a new fan clutch out here and do a roadside swap.

idiabuse · Oct 17, 2010

Agnem said:
Good luck getting those drains out. I've never been able to get it out of any of the motors I've tried it on.

You never removed the plug and punched through all the sediment laying at the bottom :rotflmao

of your IDI block either...

Javier

idiabuse · Oct 17, 2010

RLDSL said:
Since this thread is still kicking around, I might want to mention that Evans Coolant is currently in the process of saving it's third engine and family vacation for me For anyone wondering if it's worth the cash.
My high dollar MS tech fan clutch has decided to go belly up on me while out here dragging the 5er around the country grossing around 18k . Between my Rodney Red radiator and 16" electric pusher fan I've been able to hold temps under 250 even climbing over a 10,000+ ft pass so long as I keep my rpms below 2500 ( the e fan can't keep up with the water flow after that) it's holding around 220-230 the rest of the time. Were there any other coolant in the thing, i would have had to buy a new fan clutch out here and do a roadside swap.

I agree I use EVANS, regular coolant is good if you like to constantly monitor and repair your cooling system during unscheduled Maintence days...

So many fail safes using EVANS

You did not read this! SO what was said above you never saw/read!
Now go back to using green coolant it is the best cause MR mechanic saids so!
:rotflmao

Javier

idiabuse · Oct 17, 2010

Jbevs said:
I stumbled across this coolant from Shell. It says it requires no SCA's. Does anyone have experience with this?

http://www.farmandfleet.com/product...bricants_chemicals/winter_weather/antifreeze/

I used it! right before I converted to Evans! The SHELL worked like it was supposed to. Just like the GREEN COOLANT, had to keep an eye out for loss of coolant<just disappear> 16plus PSI caused many heater hose blowouts.
Wiped out a waterpump or two, couldnt tow too fast <just toomuch heat>
SLOW DOWN NERVOUSLY WATCH TEMP GAUGE. GREEN COOLANT with WATER

EVANS COOLANT ;Sweet

Javier

franklin2 · Oct 17, 2010

RLDSL said:
Since this thread is still kicking around, I might want to mention that Evans Coolant is currently in the process of saving it's third engine and family vacation for me For anyone wondering if it's worth the cash.
My high dollar MS tech fan clutch has decided to go belly up on me while out here dragging the 5er around the country grossing around 18k . Between my Rodney Red radiator and 16" electric pusher fan I've been able to hold temps under 250 even climbing over a 10,000+ ft pass so long as I keep my rpms below 2500 ( the e fan can't keep up with the water flow after that) it's holding around 220-230 the rest of the time. Were there any other coolant in the thing, i would have had to buy a new fan clutch out here and do a roadside swap.

Take your clutch fan and lock it together. I highly recommend it. I am happy with mine since I did it. I like the simplicity of it also.

Compu Doc · Oct 17, 2010

franklin2 said:
I would go to tractor supply and buy the pre-mixed "fleetguard" if you do not have any aluminum in your system(aluminum radiator, heater core, etc.)

I put the mechanical temp gauge where the overtemp sensor is. So I lost the overtemp feature, but the factory temp guage still works. I did it this way, because the threads in the head matched the adapter I had with my mech gauge. It's located right on the front driver's side corner of the engine, behind the A/C compressor.

If you want to keep the overtemp feature, and lose your factory temp gauge, move on over toward the center of the engine, and before you get there you will run into the smaller temp gauge sending unit.

In just having my heater core replace the place that I took it to installed an aluminum one so I emailed the Fleetguard people and the responses follow:

John,

Thanks for your e-mail. FleetCharge is a precharged fully formulated
conventional coolant designed for use in heavy duty diesel applications.
FleetCharge contains a Nitrite/Borate corrosion inhibitor to protect wet
sleeve liners.

To maintain the proper additive protection level in Fleet Charge, you can
reinhibit with either a spin on filter that releases a dose of SCA (PenRay
spin on filters are preferred) or you can use a blank filter along with a
pint of Penray PenCool 3000.

Final Charge is an Extended Life Heavy Duty Coolant, which is a
phosphate-free, silicate-free, nitrite free formulated coolant which
provides superior wet sleeve liner cavitation and corrosion protection.
The Final Charge eliminates the need for SCA's, the only maintenance
required is the addition of the Final Charge extender @ 300,000 miles.

Ken Stigler
Senior Technical Service Representative
Old World Industries, Inc.
4065 Commercial Ave.
Northbrook, IL 60062-1851
847-559-2083
Fax; 847-664-7083

My follow up response to the first emailed received from them:

Thanks for your response but it did not answer the question of whether or not it is safe to use with aluminum. As stated in my first email my heater core was replaced and the new one is aluminum. So if I use your product is it safe for aluminum. If you do not know then please find xomeone that does know in your company.

They then responded with the following:

The antifreeze meets ASTM D 4340 which is the test method for corrosion of
cast aluminum alloys in engine coolants.

Ken Stigler
Senior Technical Service Representative
Old World Industries, Inc.
4065 Commercial Ave.
Northbrook, IL 60062-1851
847-559-2083
Fax; 847-664-7083

So it looks like Fleetdharge is compatible with aluminum. I'm not sure of the difference between Fleetcharge coolant and Fleetguard coolant.

Which coolant to use

gatorman21218

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fx4wannabe

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plywood

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fx4wannabe

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plywood

Recovered N/A

gatorman21218

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Jbevs

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Diesel Max

93 F-250 4X4 - 7.3

Rot Box

Northern Utah

RLDSL

Diesel fuel abuser

idiabuse

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idiabuse

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idiabuse

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franklin2

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Compu Doc

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