Diesel Coolant Additive

[MeanListerGreen]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to share some info.  I have a Cummins in my truck and I use Diesel Coolant Additive (DCA) to prevent cavitation and rust.  I think I am going to add this to my stationary engines.  It seems like it would be benificial at the very least as a rust preventative.

[rcavictim]

I just use regular automobile type green ethylene glycol anti-freeze mixed with water in my engines.

[Doug]

I've seen the stuff, " something Nitrate ", we use it in all our engines at work not idea what it offers us in small engines

[mactoollover2005]

Hi Guys,  For the most part the every day green stuff works fine and is cheaper by a heck of a lot. Right now im up in ALERT only 300 miles away from the north pole and we use many different types of coolant from the green stuff to fords to gm,s dexacool anti freeze and the only real difference is in how much and what type of aluminum you have in your eng and cooling system, the higher percentage you have, the more you will need these special coolants. Last time i bought dexacool it was around $20 or $25 per 4.5 liter jug and it still had to be mixed with water, the same for the rest of the anti freezes. The green stuff i believe is around $10 per 4.5 liters.

Its a preference thing if you have the extra money and if it makes you feel better then go for your preferred coolant. But if you have a head gasket leaking ( eng compression) into your coolant even for a short time before you notice it, you will still have to replace the DCA/ ford/ gm/ green stuff because of the acidity that was dumped into it. Anti freeze is a wonderfull thing but why does everyone try to save every drop of it when rebuilding their engines, i can see if a crank bearing went or something to that nature but i know of people still doing it when they change head gaskets on their cars and trucks.

Here,s a example of some one who saves his anti freeze... he had a chev, 98 or 97 with a 5.3 liter eng. His right head gasket started seaping into the coolant and it took him awhile to notice this and when he did and got the mew gaskets and head bolts it was about 3-4 weeks after i think it started seaping. The gaskets and bolts were replaced but not the coolant,we just strained it so there was no dirt in it even tho i told him to get new coolant,he argued that it was still good so i figured his truck his $$$$$. within a yr and maybe 20,000 klm he had to replace the waterpump once, the thermostat and gasket twice,block heater once, and of course his rad. he couldnt or wouldnt figure it out that the problem was the reused coolant which had a really high amount of acidity in it. His solution to that problem was to sell the truck and get another one,lol, dumb ass,lol.

My 8 cents worth
Derek

[MeanListerGreen]

The stuff I am talking about is made by Fleetguard and its in a small bottle, 8 oz or something like that.  It's about $8 and you wouldn't use the whole bottle.  It's good stuff. 

[mactoollover2005]

 im not sure what your talking about as for additives to the coolant,never did it before. Can you get more info on what this stuff is supposed to do for the coolant?
thanks
Derek

[MikeyT]

The Fleetguard DCA or Penray products do not do anything for the coolant, they protect against pitting and erosion caused by cavitation. This is generally necessary only on diesels with wet liners, and in particular those that are turbo charged (due to increased cylinder pressures in the turbo charged engines, and subsequent increase in expansion/contraction of the liner under load). Many of the more modern antifreeze chemistries do not require additional cavitation protection (Zerex G05 for example). As the "original" Lister was not a wet liner, not a problem, probably would not be a problem in the lifetime of an 'oid, but if you really want to get anal about preventitive maint, add some to the old green antifreeze, or use Zerex G05 or something similar. It is a bad thing to mix antifreeze of different chemistries (like VW's pink stuff with the old green stuff and a dash of Dexcool), but the worst offense is to use tap water... use a single "type" and distilled water and they will all last a long time, probably much longer than your interest.

[mactoollover2005]

Mikey,,,   Being in the military and working with what we have and knowing what we should be doing is 2 different things, we know that we should use distilled water but the penny pinchers  say to use tap cause its free, sooooooo, we use tap water and in the end it costs them a lot more, eroded parts and even a engine in some cases versus the little bit of $ to get distilled water,lol,stupidity at its best. We are being penny pinched by people that have no idea what they are doing  and dont listen to us mechs because they know better than us, and then they bitch at us for having to replace parts that was just done a year or 2 before,lol, all because of themselves.
 my 8 cents worth ( ok,who has the tylenol?)
Derek

[dkwflight]

Hi
Consider getting some zinc anodes in your cooling system too.
Dennis