Cavitation article complete, Please Review

[F350camper]

Nice work Eric. I'm really glad to see those cavitation pictures in there. Like I said before, you have the best ones I've ever seen. That really drives the point home in my mind, and should scare anyone enough to follow through with SCAs.

 

[Agnem]

I took a look at it. Looks like one heck of a great job to me. I'll have to read it word for word at some point, but I'm very impressed right now.

 

[The Warden]

It took a couple of tries for me to get the page loaded, but without going through and reading it all yet, I have to say that I'm very impressed!!

 

[yARIC008]

Thanks guys. Yeah Warden, my hosting service is probably under DDOS attack. Their site was going pretty slow for a bit, it seems to be better now, but who knows. I guess once it's good to go it'll be hosted off oilburners.net

 

[ericboutin]

Just read it word for word...and I've only got one word -- Awesome!! Excellent article!!

 

[terry walker]

Great article! I actually know something about this now. Man you sure put some work into this and I thank you for it.

Terry

 

[Diezel_Cowboy]

Looks like an excellent article!

I gota question though..........why is NAPA's SCA not compatible with ford's? I have used it before and by the bottle there is no noticble difference. What gives?

 

[yARIC008]

Thanks guys,

Diezel Cowboy,
Ya see, NAPA SCAs only use Nitrites, Fords and Fleetguards use Molbdate and Nitrites together. They actually work with a synergyzing effect. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole. When they are used together they work better. If you get a fleetguard test strip you can kinda see how this is. Like the molbdate column reads left to right and the nitrites column reads up and down then you have to match to the levels and see where they cross to see if your levels are good, too little of one or the other and you're not protect. Similarly if you have too much of one or the other you aren't in the green. So if you use DCA or VC-8 to get your levels where they are supposed to be, then say in like.. 30,000 miles you need to add SCA to get your levels back up and only use NAPA, you'll have low levels of molbdate and high levels of niitrite which isn't giving you protection according to the test strips.

But, that's all I really know about it. Why NAPA only uses Nitrites, i'm not really sure and does it protect just as well as the other kinds by itself, i don't know. I just have heard you shouldn't mix them.

So, does anyone have a clue where to find the answer for,
Q: If my engine fails, how will I know it's cavitated and not just a leaking head gasket or leaking oil cooler, etc.?

 

[pafixitman]

Eric,
These are some notes I had cut and pasted to save over the years. I did not write these, but I'm sure they came off of TDS about 2 years ago when I was looking.


Most likely the easiest test is a a combination of two. The first being a coolant system pressure test. This is very simple as instead of applying pressure to each cylinder, it is applied to the entire cooling system. This test is usually done to about 25-30 psi and will show a leakdown of any coolant joint, or a through hole in a cylinder. Test kits are available from any auto parts store. One thing to keep in mind though, a leakdown will not necessarily mean a back block, it may be a bad pump, hose joint, etc. The second test is to measure the pH of the coolant. As exhaust gases are passed into the coolant, it will become acidic. This will also indicate early head gasket failure (although in diesels, there is a permissible blowby which is acceptable due to the high compression ratio).


Another check is at initial start up. Usually this is done in conjunction with test #1 (pressurize the cooling system). As on cold start up, with a pressurized cooling system, cylinder leakage should show up as vapor or excessive water from the tailpipe, this is due to no catalyst function on a cold start. Also check the oil for signs of any water/coolant present. As on shutdown, a cylinder hole will continue to flow into the cylinder, past the rings, and into the crankcase.
To accurately pinpoint the cylinder leaking the full steps are as follows:
1. Warm up the engine
2. Remove all glow plugs
3. Remove valve covers, rocker arms, and pushrods
4. Using an adapter that threads into the glow plug hole, attach compressed air (100-175psi)
5. Wait 3 mins for each cyl being tested.
6. A failed cylinder will make the Coolant level slowly rise and then overflow from top of radiator. It won't blow out of the radiator, but it will be obvious.
NOTES:
o Valve train should be removed to allow the piston, in the cylinder to be tested, to drop to BDC when shop air pressure is applied. This insures the valves will be closed and the entire cylinder surface can be tested under pressure.
o You can purchase an air pressure adapter at most tool shops (they normally are sold to adapt a compression tester to the glow plug hole)
o The cylinders that are most prone to cavitation are listed in order. #8, #7, and #4. Be sure to test all cylinders as I have seen some of the other cylinders occasionally deviate from this norm.
o Most coolant leaks into the cylinder will show as the glow plug tip will be wet on the bad cylinder.

 

[obinella]

Q: If my engine fails, how will I know it's cavitated and not just a leaking head gasket or leaking oil cooler, etc.?
fill cooling sys. full of liquid to point of overflow,leave cap off. piston down-valves closed, pressurize cyl. observe coolant at rad. neck for a period of time.(patience) if it gradually overflows,bleed press. and move piston to tdc. valves closed, restrain the crank to prevent rotation,re-pressurize. does the coolant still gradually overflow? results, 1. overflow piston down =cavation or head cracked or head gasket leak 2.overflow piston up= head crack or bad head gasket 3.no over flow but coolant in crankcase=cooler problem

 

[RLDSL]

Nicely done article.
In case you were wondering if evans coolant has any other benefits, the biggest is having a 375 deg non pressurized boiling point. It's darn near impossible to damage an engine from overheat or blowing a hose/heater core/radiator etc. unless you never bother to look at the temp gauge becaue it's going to be pegged to the right for a long , long time before damage can occour.
I put that stuff in all my cars after blowing a head gasket from a quick overheat from a stuck thermostat on one of my Volvo diesels.
6 months later i had a serious temp rise from a stuck air box flap thermostat on one of my gas burner cars while pulling a heavy trailer in west Texas, Pegged the gauge, didn't loose a drop of coolant( non pressurized, big hole in the cap and no damage to the engine..aside from a bunch of melted sensors and wire clips from the high underhood temp. Try that with the green stuff.
Definitely worh the extra money, cheap insurance. My truck will be getting it when I get a new radiator in for it.

--------Robert

 

[obinella]

The IH (Ford) 7.3 litre engines are infamous for this. Being a bored out 6.9 the comparisons are easily at hand, more 7.3's eventually give up due to cavitation than do 6.9's. The thinner cylinder wall is more able to bulge and spring back as the pressure inside crests and subsides. The coolant in the relatively low pressure environment is acted on in a microscopic fashion in close proximity to the cylinder wall, due to the very high speed with which the cylinder wall bulges and retracts the the pressure in this region drops very dramaticly allowing water/coolant to boil and as the event is so brief the bubbles collapse violently and drill into the (unprotected) cylinder wall.In the case of cylinder liners the bubbles can be "catalysed" by the existance of an existing pit or other roughness and so cavitaion pits can tend to litterally drill a hole through a very thick surface since they will tend to form in exactly the same place each time and so create pits inside of pits. Even though the individual pits may only be a nanometer in depth...they add up over time.
Cavitation Damage
by Dana Linscott










Impact and Metal Extrusion

 

[yARIC008]

Cool, I'll add the info about evans. When i get home tonight i'll give it one last review and add all i can think off, then there we go.

 

[soulpatchfr]

...Ya see, NAPA SCAs only use Nitrites, Fords and Fleetguards use Molbdate and Nitrites together. They actually work with a synergyzing effect...

OK, gentlemen - i hope you'll consider this 'taking one for the team'...

i spent a little too much time in the archives over at TDS this evening, & i may have learned a few tricks :Sly
at least i found this thread (after another hour). i KNEW it existed somewhere.
i've been using the NapaKool with no ill effects since then, but i understand that mixing the 2 types is a real NoNo
Birken was a lot of help on that. it'd sure be nice to see him over here (hint, hint).

i do remember that i bugged the snot out of a certain goat about the same time & there were a few lengthy & very informative threads re: SCA's. coolant filters, etc. - i'll try to dig them up (maybe tonight if the insomnia keeps up like it has been lately).

 

[towcat]

eric-
that is one helluva writeup Just one thing to add. Napakool=Wixkool. If you use a precharged Wix/Napa coolant filter, that is the stuff already in it.
thanks for all that work there.