coolant

[waterdonkey]

What kind of coolant do you like to use in our trucks?

 

[NAIL BENDER]

Fleetguard pre-mix is going in soon.

 

[Big K]

12 g sittin' on the counter. Mebbe this wknd?

 

[wikked]

Caterpillar ELC pre-mix

 

[HEAD HUNTER]

I used the Fleetguard pre-mix on my last change. I just like it cause its Cummins blue. Is the Cat mix Yellow?

 

[wikked]

Originally posted by HEAD HUNTER
Is the Cat mix Yellow?

It's reddish-orange, more red when new, more orangish when it gets older.

 

[BigSix]

The CPL (Cummins parts list) in our Dodge specific Cummins engines includes seals and gaskets to accept easily aquired ethyline glycol antifreeze. I think I spelled that right... I used Prestone in my '95, '98 and '01.5. My '03 is different and I haven't investigated what it is yet. But for the 2nd gens you can keep it simple or go for the good stuff.

 

[Whit]

I plan to go with the Fleetgaurd pre-mix too, reason being is cuz the water is already in there, I will flush with distelled water before the new goes in, Take a look at my swamp cooler on my house and see the white **** on there and this tells me I aint puttin none of that tap water crap in my truck but I do drink it cuz it makes me horney.

Cheers, Kevin

 

[BigSix]

I hear you on the tap water. I can't say it arouses me any but I do get white spots all over everything. Maybe it does...
I buy filtered water for the radiator but your method does seem simpler. If the antifreeze in my '03 is available pre mixed, I may go that route... I'll have to look again but I think it's good for 100k or until it looks crappy and I want to change it.

 

[waterdonkey]

I forgot I posted this thread! The pre-mix sounds good. How much has it been running? cost $ per gallon?

I once used distilled for make up water but no longer do. Distilled is very aggressive when it comes to corrosion of metals, same with soft water. A good bottled drinking water would be better with a hardness level below 100 mg/L.

My tap water runs approx. 300 mg/L (very hard) and that could potentially cause scaling. This is a "double edged blade" to say. The white scale that Whitmore mentioned is good when it comes to protecting the metals of the motor and cooling system from corrosion but the efficiency of heat transfer is reduced. If you use aggressive water (distilled) the coolant will help neutralize the corrosive effect of the water.

I believe that coolant should be changed out every 2 years to prevent problems. My 0.02 $

 

[lschultz]

I buy the Fleetguard and get me some bottles of distilled(Whitmore learn how to spell you )water and mix it my self.