Page 5 - Travelore Summer 2015

2004 2015
DRVC Travelore - Page 5
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A Few Words about Coolants for Your Diesel
common type is known as long life/extended life coolants (LLC/ELC). If you are unsure what you have or you don’t find it in your owner’s manual, contact your chassis manu- facturer for more information.
Who Is Using What
When a chassis manufacturer purchases a diesel engine from the com- pany, the engines are delivered without coolant
so the chassis manufacturer chooses and installs the cool- ant. Each engine manufacturer publishes its own specifica- tions, such as Cat’s EC-1, Navistar B1 or Cummins 14603. The owner’s manual for your engine will provide more details on the exact specifications required for the diesel engine installed.
At last check Freightliner was delivering its chassis to motorhome manufacturers with a product known as Fleet Charge (also sold under the Alliance brand name), which is a fully formulated coolant that requires testing every six months. Spartan, on the other hand, uses Final Charge,
an ELC coolant that does not require testing. Spartan has used this product for several years because of the reduced mainte- nance require-
ment. In the past, Roadmaster (some Monaco and Holiday Rambler) used ELC coolants on its Navistar MaxxForce line of diesel engines.
The main advantage of these LLC/ELC coolants is that they have a service life of many years and they don’t require testing. Examples of LLC/ELC coolants are Peak’s Final Charge, Cat ELC, Fleetguard ES Compleat OAT, Zerex Extreme Extended Life and Shell Rotella Ultra ELC. If your coach uses one of these coolants, the main requirement is to ensure that the system is properly filled and checked at
three-year intervals to determine if an extender should be added to restore the additive to full effectiveness.
If you ever need to add makeup coolant, it is important to not only add the right type but also to add it at the proper dilution. Some products are sold pre-diluted while others need to be mixed 50/50 with distilled water in order to ensure the proper antifreeze properties are maintained.
If your motorhome uses a conventional coolant (also known as a heavy-duty or fully formulated coolant) test- ing is required in order to determe the correct amount of supplement to add to bring the protection level up to spec. Freightliner suggests testing every six months. The mix- ture needs to be tested because it is sacrificial in nature and is being used up during the operation of the engine.
Testing is one of those tasks that’s easy to overlook and often difficult to accurately conduct. Typically it involves a trip to a service center, but an owner can also buy test
strips, and assuming they are used properly and not allowed to expire (yes, they have a shelf life), an individual can check the coolant’s condition.
There are two types of test strips and additives, so use the correct test strip
depending on which additive the coach is using. Alliance/ Fleet Charge and Detroit Diesel Powercool use nitrates. A two-way test strip should be used when testing these cool- ants. There are three-way test strips that measure freeze point, molybdates and nitrates. If the wrong test strip
is used it could result in incorrect results and improper dosing.
If the coach’s additive levels are found to be out of spec, it will need to be restored with the addition of
a product such as Fleetguard DCA2 (DCA4 includes molybdates), Penray Pencool or others. Keep in mind that it is important to determine what products meet the engine and cool- ant manufacturer’s specifications.
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