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Antifreeze
I'm wondering what type of antifreeze most others are using? I changed to the Extended Life in my last bus, but haven't decided if I will in this one. If I remember correctly, the advantage to the Extended was that you don't have to check with the strips, use blank filters and only add the extender after 3 years.
Gil, have you had to do anything extra. It should be about time for you to add the mid-term extender to yours.
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Dale, I deal with Stewart & Stevenson in Houston. They are potentially the largest Detroit / Allison dealer /distributor in the US. They have an antifreeze for Detroit Diesels they recommend called Power Cool regular 50/50 pre mix. It is red and I am very pleased with it. It also has an extended life version. I recommend you contact them. They are the pros at this stuff.
Pres
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Thanks Regan, I think I used some of that in my last bus before I changed to the Extended Life.
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Dale, if you go the ELC route I recommend the coolant sold by Detroit, I would also not recommend the product sold by CAT. I forgot the formula, but know the one sold by CAT may not be good for some non-engine components that have coolant running through them.
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This coolant issue is a half full glass or half empty glass situation. Several years ago on POG this issue came up with much discussion. Several were going to extended life coolant and gave the process of filling and draining the system many times to flush the old coolant out. At that time I went to W. W. Wiliams, a large Detroit Diesel dealer and asked their thoughts on which coolant to use. With the several people I spoke with the unanimous choice was regular Detroit Diesel Power Cool not the extended life coolant. Power Cool contains the necessary additives to prevent cavitation although the SCA needs to be checked after a period of time. Their conclusion was if it came with regular coolant continue to use it if it came with extended life continue to use it. As for me, I'm staying with the regular coolant which is what was in it originally.
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I agree with Denny. I have the Power Cool in our Bus.
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When I changed before, I called the engineers at the World Office for Detroit Diesel, and they told me if an Antifreeze met the DD specifications it shouldn't make a difference which one we use. Changing to an Extended Life is definitely a process in itself. I flushed mine 6 times before I got all the old antifreeze out and added the EC-1. I think I will probably just stick with the original this time. Is DD the only place you can get Power Cool?
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Dale. I believe Power Cool is a Detroil Diesel product.
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I wonder if the process to go back to standard coolant from ELC is the same as going from standard to ELC?
Just curious,
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Gil, Since the main concern was mixing of the two different fluids, I assume you would have to go through the same process to return to regular antifreeze. From what I understand, dealers don't flush 5 or 6 times like I did when I changed to ELC. I did it because I could still see the old antifreeze in it until I got to about the # 4 flush. Number 5 looked clear, but I did 6 just to be sure. It took me several hours to make the change because I was filling, driving, draining for 6 cycles including the Webasto. When I finished, I was confident that I had a clean system.
When I changed to ECL, the main DD office told me that they were not aware of any DD dealers that were telling their customers that they shouldn't be using EC-1 (ECL) in there engines and they were not aware of any damage attributed to the use of the ECL. I am pretty sure if I had ECL in my engine, I wouldn't be going back to regular. To me the main advantages of the ECL is that you don't have to change it as often and you don't have to constantly check the balance with the strips. I would "think" there are more engines that are running with their Power Cool out of balance than there are those being damaged by running a quality ELC. DD told me if it meets the 7SE298 standard, it should be safe for the DD Series 60 engine.