Cooling System Additive
03-01-2005, 01:45 PM
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Cooling System Additive
Is anyone using Fleetguard DCA cooling additive in their truck. I'm considering giving it a shot if it dosent hurt anything. Pros/Cons, I'm all ears.
Thanks
John
Thanks
John
03-01-2005, 06:27 PM
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John, like I replied over on TDR, Cummins says we don't need it in our 5.9s.
We did need it in our PSDs (although, in many years of reading the Ford forums, I have yet to read about even ONE instance of cavitation in a PSD. The 7.3 IDI is a different story).
However, the SCA is hard on the water pump in higher concentrations. We have a nice HOAT coolant in our trucks, that is much LESS maintainence intensive than the green stuff in our PSDs. Plus, I don't think it is compatible with our pink HOAT coolant. Now, if you were going to flush and refill, with say, green, and add the SCA, I guess it wouldn't hurt, except maybe the water pump? What about seals, gaskets, and the like?
Simply put, why bother? It seems to raise more questions than answers, and it's expensive too.
My $0.02.
Scott
We did need it in our PSDs (although, in many years of reading the Ford forums, I have yet to read about even ONE instance of cavitation in a PSD. The 7.3 IDI is a different story).
However, the SCA is hard on the water pump in higher concentrations. We have a nice HOAT coolant in our trucks, that is much LESS maintainence intensive than the green stuff in our PSDs. Plus, I don't think it is compatible with our pink HOAT coolant. Now, if you were going to flush and refill, with say, green, and add the SCA, I guess it wouldn't hurt, except maybe the water pump? What about seals, gaskets, and the like?
Simply put, why bother? It seems to raise more questions than answers, and it's expensive too.
My $0.02.
Scott
03-01-2005, 07:36 PM
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I just use the fleetguard premix stuff, I changed to it when the truck was new, when next fall rolls around I'll replace it with new. It's like 60 bux every two years and part of a good preventative maint. program.
03-06-2005, 06:26 PM
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I sent Fleetguard an email regarding this and here was their response.
Just in case anyone is interested.
Thank you for contacting Fleetguard.
Light and Medium duty vehicles does not require using DCA along with the antifreeze, but it certainly does not hurt anything. Usually the pink coolant already contains some DCA in it anyway. I would suggest testing for existence or depletion of nitrite and molybdate before adding anything else to it. I have added the next two paragraphs as further explanation to your inquiry. It was from our coolant guru concerning the same type of issue.
Mixing of our heavy duty product ES Compleat with typical automotive coolants does not present a problem. The only remote application that may present a problem is Dexcool that has been in use for 2 or 3 years and the pH of the coolant has dropped into the mid 7 range (7.5 pH). There mixing of a high silicate automotive antifreeze like Zerex or Prestone and similar LD high silicate coolants may cause some silicate in solution in the new coolant to precipitate out and form a gel. ES Compleat is a very low silicate coolant. Mixing it with lower pH Dexcool and HD OAT coolants has never caused any drop out of silicate gel.
Using one coolant for a mixed fleet avoids the confusion of multiple coolant products to meet multiple application needs. Granted, ES Compleat will be overkill for a LD application but not entirely so. ES Compleat has nitrite which is very good at keeping ferrous metals (iron, steel) from rust formation. The molybdate in ES Compleat gives the best aluminum metals corrosion protection coupled with the phosphate buffer (better than silicate alone can ever do). Other additives in ES Compleat provide other metals corrosion protection not found in average automotive LD coolants. The additives in LD application of ES Compleat will not deplete. In the HD applications of diesel engines that need liner pitting protection, the additives nitrite and molybdate will deplete over time. Use CC2602 test strips (CC2602, CC2602A-four pack, CC2602C-single pack) to test for the depletion of nitrite and molybdate. HD OEMs recommend adding a liqui
If we can be of further assistance to you, please feel free to
contact your Fleetguard Customer Assistance Center or send a
message to FleetMaster.
Please visit our homepage often at http://www.fleetguard.com
Sincerely,
Fleetguard FleetMaster
Just in case anyone is interested.
Thank you for contacting Fleetguard.
Light and Medium duty vehicles does not require using DCA along with the antifreeze, but it certainly does not hurt anything. Usually the pink coolant already contains some DCA in it anyway. I would suggest testing for existence or depletion of nitrite and molybdate before adding anything else to it. I have added the next two paragraphs as further explanation to your inquiry. It was from our coolant guru concerning the same type of issue.
Mixing of our heavy duty product ES Compleat with typical automotive coolants does not present a problem. The only remote application that may present a problem is Dexcool that has been in use for 2 or 3 years and the pH of the coolant has dropped into the mid 7 range (7.5 pH). There mixing of a high silicate automotive antifreeze like Zerex or Prestone and similar LD high silicate coolants may cause some silicate in solution in the new coolant to precipitate out and form a gel. ES Compleat is a very low silicate coolant. Mixing it with lower pH Dexcool and HD OAT coolants has never caused any drop out of silicate gel.
Using one coolant for a mixed fleet avoids the confusion of multiple coolant products to meet multiple application needs. Granted, ES Compleat will be overkill for a LD application but not entirely so. ES Compleat has nitrite which is very good at keeping ferrous metals (iron, steel) from rust formation. The molybdate in ES Compleat gives the best aluminum metals corrosion protection coupled with the phosphate buffer (better than silicate alone can ever do). Other additives in ES Compleat provide other metals corrosion protection not found in average automotive LD coolants. The additives in LD application of ES Compleat will not deplete. In the HD applications of diesel engines that need liner pitting protection, the additives nitrite and molybdate will deplete over time. Use CC2602 test strips (CC2602, CC2602A-four pack, CC2602C-single pack) to test for the depletion of nitrite and molybdate. HD OEMs recommend adding a liqui
If we can be of further assistance to you, please feel free to
contact your Fleetguard Customer Assistance Center or send a
message to FleetMaster.
Please visit our homepage often at http://www.fleetguard.com
Sincerely,
Fleetguard FleetMaster
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