Coolant filter kit

This has been discussed and I’ve seen a Napa coolant filter kit mentioned p/n 4109 to contain filter base, filter, hose, and hardware. From the looks of it this now just contains the filter base?
Moose sells a kit for $300<. Anyone have recommendations for kits that are cheap-er-ish?

Need to replace water pump so also ordered t-stat and figured may as well put in the filter while doing everything else.
Am running Napa coolant with SCA pre charged so not looking to use a sca-filter

Thanks for any input.

This is all I can find for Napa p/n 4109 unless I’m missing something

Why? That’s a whole nother piece of equipment to leak. For the trouble and cost it would be much better to just replace the coolant when needed. You’re already running pre charged coolant so your a two above others. If your truck is taken care of properly you don’t need all the gimmicky junk. These trucks lasted 30,40….. years with out a coolant filter. Why stick one on now? Spend the money on…. Wife, homeless, shelter children, soup kitchen, better radiator, gauges, tires, added house payment, …… you get the point. I tow 10.5k legal limit to n 120deg weather all summer in dusty nasty conditions. Never needed a coolant filter. Never over heated coolant is clean as the day I put it in. I use the pre charged purple stuff rated at 100,000 miles. I charge it every 2 years.

CDD sells a coolant filter kit for $100. I have one on my truck and it’s pretty nice.
I think it’s a good idea to use one. I understand that they’re common on commercial diesels and I’ve read that there’s even a water pump for these IDI engines that has a built in provision for a coolant filter. It was used in some International commercial trucks.
Sure, our IDIs might last forever without one but there are far dumber things to spend truck money on. Fancy looking wheels, wheel well lights, etc.

Indadesert said:

Why? That’s a whole nother piece of equipment to leak. For the trouble and cost it would be much better to just replace the coolant when needed. You’re already running pre charged coolant so your a two above others. If your truck is taken care of properly you don’t need all the gimmicky junk. These trucks lasted 30,40….. years with out a coolant filter. Why stick one on now? Spend the money on…. Wife, homeless, shelter children, soup kitchen, better radiator, gauges, tires, added house payment, …… you get the point. I tow 10.5k legal limit to n 120deg weather all summer in dusty nasty conditions. Never needed a coolant filter. Never over heated coolant is clean as the day I put it in. I use the pre charged purple stuff rated at 100,000 miles. I charge it every 2 years.

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Shush peanut gallery of negativity.

I also run the CDD one and am pretty happy with it. It is definitely a kit with the serpentine belt setup in mind for installation, but fitting a bracket right off the fuel filter head is easy to do as well.

Right on, saw the cdd kit and wasn’t sure since it’s labeled as 92-94 years but makes sense it’s just the serp belt difference. Have seen some pics with flat bar used to mount off the fuel filter bracket

While I agree the coolant filters aren’t 100% mandatory despite many flushes there’s still Al crap floating around in the newer Al rad. Among other reasons seems like a net positive.

Some people have reported still getting casting sand out of their blocks even years after many flushes. Im running a low dose sca maintainer filter. As to why... It is for ease of mind. I've spent too much money on this truck to neglect it, and I refuse to afford to replace it with something newer.

Just cause the oem didn't do something, doesn't mean it isn't a good idea.

TheRadBaron said:

far dumber things to spend truck money on. Fancy looking wheels, wheel well lights, etc.

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Hey now! Let's not get all crazy! Those things are necessities

Indadesert said:

Why? That’s a whole nother piece of equipment to leak. For the trouble and cost it would be much better to just replace the coolant when needed. You’re already running pre charged coolant so your a two above others. If your truck is taken care of properly you don’t need all the gimmicky junk. These trucks lasted 30,40….. years with out a coolant filter. Why stick one on now? Spend the money on…. Wife, homeless, shelter children, soup kitchen, better radiator, gauges, tires, added house payment, …… you get the point. I tow 10.5k legal limit to n 120deg weather all summer in dusty nasty conditions. Never needed a coolant filter. Never over heated coolant is clean as the day I put it in. I use the pre charged purple stuff rated at 100,000 miles. I charge it every 2 years.

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I use a coolant filter, after about the 3rd change its basically useless. But it would blow your mind how much stuff is in your cooling system from the factory......its actually part of the reason they suck. Im pretty sure the amount of casting sand/particles in these engines add to the cavitation.......but oh yeah, you've got a battery under your bed with 2/0.....don't you drive a prius? I guess the 2/0 and battery creates electromagnatisim and causes the particles in your engine to not move.....fascinating......ummmm 2/0 and a battery.....lol, prius owners......

Jesus Freak said:

don't you drive a prius?

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No, darn it! It's already been proven that it's a Subaru! Just ask Black Dawg.

I recently purchased a 6.0 kit (to retrofit to my 7.3) from Rudy's Performance Diesel for around 60 bucks. They confirmed that it will take the standard WIX filter.

They also have a universal kit for $69.

I thought that I would update this thread since I've installed the Rudy's coolant filter kit.

For starters, I think that they have the best deal out there. The kit included filter base, filter, hoses, brass elbows and hose barbs, and even shutoff valves for each line so as to minimize coolant loss during filter changes. All that for 60 bucks.

Because I bought the 6.0 version of their kit, some fabrication was required. I opted to mount the filter base to the passenger fender, reusing two of the three mounting bolts for the factory tire jack. I built a mounting bracket out of 1.5" x 1.5" x 1/8" angle and I purchased a couple of tubular T fittings off of Amazon for interfacing with the existing heater hoses along with a couple of street elbows in stainless 3/8" pipe thread. After cutting the barb off of the 3/8" portion of the T, I brazed the elbows on so as to have a cleaner installation.

Here is a link to the T fittings that I sourced from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYMDWJ1H?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_3









The filter base is nice and sturdy. There is a second mounting bolt that you can't see in the photo below on the back side of the angle mount.




Started the truck up to verify no leaks and to make sure that coolant was flowing properly thru the filter (it is). Also added some Napa Kool to the radiator.




I'm glad that I modified the T fittings so that the lines to the coolant filter run parallel to the heater hoses. It really helped to clean up the installation and by mounting the filter to the fender it does not impede my access to the engine for maintenance, etc.

In case anybody is wondering, the brass valve with the red handle is a shutoff for the heater core. It helps to keep the cab cooler in the summer time. When shut off it allows the coolant to bypass through the valve and return back to the engine.

I know that some folks don't think that a coolant filter is necessary, but there is one installed on my Sterling and also one on my 400hp Kohler generator and my professional mechanic friends recommended that I add one to the F250 (along with many well respected members of this forum via the archives).

I just got this:
Baldwin Filter Base
Part #: CFB5000|Brand: BALDWIN|MPN #: CFB

Need to sort out how / were the best mount location is on the 86 F350, get some tees, ball valves, and a filter. But parts are stacking up. Thanks for the write up and the pictures. I'm in the middle of distilled water flush to go from green to pink pre charged coolant. Gonna do one more then change over and hopefully have everything I need for the filter. I thought it was reasonable protection and maintenance benifit (probably won't check for SCAs - just put a charged filter in every other filter change) for the price.

TheRadBaron said:

there are far dumber things to spend truck money on. Fancy looking wheels,

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Hey, I resemble that remark . Actually I also have the coolant filter and one of the SCA charged filters for later use I agree with the RadBaron that is seems like a good use of a $100 bucks.... even before fancy wheels

onetonjohn said:

to go from green to pink pre charged coolant.

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onetonjohn said:

(probably won't check for SCAs - just put a charged filter in every other filter change)

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You'd better be careful here. If you do this, you'll overcharge the SCAs. Especially considering that the first filter usually doesn't take very long to plug up. This is why it's important to check them. Look into overcharging your SCAs to see why you don't want to.