Which coolant to use

[fx4wannabe]

I'll just do it the way I usually do. I drain it fill it with distilled water run it a second drain it and repeat until the water is clear. Then put in my 4 gallons of coolant top off with water and I am good to go.

 

[plywood]

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.

Mine came out with no problem, but we don't have salt on our roads here or anything.

Mostly I used the leaf blower to make sure all the little sediments and hose water was out, you could say I'm a little obsessive sometimes, but it was already apart and took two minutes, so what the hay.

 

[plywood]

I'll just do it the way I usually do. I drain it fill it with distilled water run it a second drain it and repeat until the water is clear. Then put in my 4 gallons of coolant top off with water and I am good to go.

You'll end up on the rich side that way.

It's 29 quarts IIRC, which half of is 14.5 quarts, which is just over 3 1/2 gallons of coolant.

You need to buy four gallons of coolant because three isn't enough.

 

[fx4wannabe]

Ok I'll double check but I thought that my manual said 8 gallons for the coolant capacity.

 

[gatorman21218]

I would premix it in a five gallon bucket and then pour it in. that way you know its 50/50

 

[plywood]

I would premix it in a five gallon bucket and then pour it in. that way you know its 50/50

That'll work if he drains the block, but if he dosen't and he has say a gallon of plain water left in there then it will end up diluted.

I don't know how much might remain in there though.

I did say I'm a little obsessive sometimes right.

 

[fx4wannabe]

The heater core will be full too.

 

[gatorman21218]

Good point well if you want to do it right fill it up 90% full and then test it to find the ratio and add water/coolant accordingly

 

[bigramdiesel]

You might not have to remove the drain plug. Remove the lower radiator hoses on the motor and the one leaving the heater core. Then use low air pressure to blow out the water. I use Evans and I like the fact that it creates very little pressure. Better for hoses and seals.

Absolute best coolant... that would be Evans waterless coolant it'll cost you around $300 to put it in, but with a 375 deg f non pressurized boiling point, it's cheap insurance No SCAs needed with it. Insanely long change intervals. In the long run it probably comes out cheaper than changing out regular coolant every year

 

[RLDSL]

and really coolants like Evans and others that you supposedly never have to service... your water pump, radiator, or oil cooler will force you to service it eventually anyway.

Not really, for one thing, it's really doubtful that my rad is ever going to give me any trouble, and as far as water pumps etc, I just drain the Evans into a clean container , then when I'm done, I pour it back in , filtering it through some cheese cloth or a t shirt on the way back into the engine, so it doesn't force me to change it. Now if the oil cooler cut loose to where it was crossing into the coolant, then I would have to change it, but still it's worth it for the extra protection. That stuff has already saved two of my engines so it has WAY more than paid for itself.

 

[1994IDI]

I'll agree on the fleetcharge. I just picked up 5 gallons at tractor supply for 10.99 a gallon. I will be putting it this weekend hopefully, so this is a helpful post. I was kind of thinking along the lines of the O.P.. Drain, Fill, Drain, Fill... until it runs clear, if the block plug won't come out. Is this a sufficient method?

 

[jim_22]

Well, each drain only gets out about 1/2 so you want to do a lot of them 10 perhaps. Note 2^10 = 1024 so 10 drains gets you to the 0.1% level. Therefore what I did is the first several drains with quality tap water. My tap water is really good so I am not worried about having a little in there. Then a 2-3 drains with distilled water. Then one drain refilled with 100% antifreeze. This is going to leave you a little bit diluted so you need to drain some more of your not quite 50/50 mix to add some more straight antifreeze. Save this, you can add a bit of straight to it to make it 50/50 and have in reserve. You only need to do this once. Then what I do is every year or so, drain half and put in fresh 50/50.

 

[Agnem]

I'll just do it the way I usually do. I drain it fill it with distilled water run it a second drain it and repeat until the water is clear. Then put in my 4 gallons of coolant top off with water and I am good to go.

This is the way I always do it. I just flush the block until it is clear, and then add coolant until I've got 4 gallons in it. If I can only get 3 in the rad, then I'll fill the coolant overflow resevoir with the rest. If it's 60/40 it's not going to hurt anything, and your only likely to add water in the future if needed anyway.

 

[fx4wannabe]

This is the way I always do it. I just flush the block until it is clear, and then add coolant until I've got 4 gallons in it. If I can only get 3 in the rad, then I'll fill the coolant overflow resevoir with the rest. If it's 60/40 it's not going to hurt anything, and your only likely to add water in the future if needed anyway.

So I am guessing that you test it after you fill it and then tweak it if needed? Been 2 places today trying to find fleetcharge and struck out. Gonna go to another town and try again tomorrow.

 

[fx4wannabe]

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.