SCAs, or supplemental coolant additives, are found in diesel antifreeze. By forming a protective barrier between the cylinder wall and the vapor bubbles, they prevent cavitation. Instead of the cylinder wall, erosion affects the SCA covering.
Do you need special coolant for a diesel engine?
It’s never a good idea to use light-duty coolant in a heavy-duty engine; it’ll ruin it! The only way to prevent pitting cavitation in a heavy-duty engine is to utilize and maintain coolant with heavy-duty additives like molybdate and nitrite.
What kind of coolant do you put in a diesel?
Dry liners are found in Powerstroke engines as well as other mid-size diesel pickup vehicles. On a gasoline engine, these liners are part of the cylinder block. However, this does not rule out the possibility of issues. Cavitation can happen anyplace in a diesel engine as a result of the strong combustion explosion. It’s a good idea to check the nitrite level and the antifreeze condition on a regular basis. The best course of action is to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for service.
Coolant service is normally recommended every two years or 30,000 miles for diesel trucks utilizing green antifreeze. Service intervals for diesel engines using extended-life coolant are around five years or 100,000 kilometers. Periodically check the antifreeze every six months to be on the safe side.
The radiator cap is an important but frequently ignored component of the cooling system. Make sure the radiator cap is in good working order when doing a routine inspection. Test the cap to ensure that the coolant system is operating at the proper pressure. The coolant system’s pressure is maintained by the cap, which prevents boil over.
Can you use regular coolant on a diesel truck?
Is It Safe To Use Ordinary Coolant In A Diesel Engine? Light-duty coolant should not be used in heavy-duty engines since it can cause damage. Heavy-duty diesel engines can be protected from corrosion and discolouration by using replaceable liners around each cylinder.
Can you use Prestone antifreeze in a diesel engine?
Prestone HD 50/50 Prediluted NITRITE FREE Extended Life (ELC) Antifreeze/Coolant is designed to work with any nitrite-free HD Organic Acid Technology (OAT) coolant in any diesel-powered commercial vehicle or stationary engine with aluminum or other metals. Its nitrite-free OAT formulation is based on a concentrated blend of premium long-lasting inhibitors that protect against temperature extremes, rust, cavitation corrosion, scale, and premature water pump failure. Prestone HD 50/50 Prediluted NITRITE FREE Extended Life (ELC) is an antifreeze/coolant concentrate and demineralized water blend that provides protection for up to 600,000 miles/12,000 hours**. Prestone HD 50/50 Prediluted NITRITE FREE ELC can be added to the antifreeze/coolant of any HD commercial or stationary engine when used as specified.
Can you use Peak antifreeze in a diesel engine?
Peak has over 65 years of experience in preserving your vehicle’s cooling system from extreme hot and cold temperatures, as well as destructive rust and corrosion. Ready to use at its best This 50/50 prediluted antifreeze + coolant combination is suitable for older automobiles and diesel engines.
What is green antifreeze?
If your antifreeze appears green, it was most likely created with an older formula that used Inorganic Additive Technology. Green antifreeze is prepared with unique modifications to the recipe to assist avoid metal corrosion in the cooling system of a car. That earlier formula was designed for vehicles constructed prior to the year 2000, which had more steel and copper components than newer vehicles. IAT antifreeze should be changed every 36,000 miles or three years, according to most manufacturers. Here’s how to get antifreeze out of your cooling system.
What color is diesel engine coolant?
When it comes to engine maintenance, coolant is just as crucial as oil. Even if today’s coolant formulas are more advanced than ever, cooling system performance is still responsible for 50% of all early engine failures. Cooling systems are frequently overlooked, yet unresolved issues with the coolant can quickly escalate into far more serious difficulties with engines, transmissions, and hydraulics.
Depending on the type of formulation and brand, coolants come in a spectrum of hues.
There is currently no industry standard that manufacturers must adhere to while selling their goods. As a result, coolant system upkeep can be more difficult.
Coolant Colors
Selecting the proper engine coolant helps extend the life of your heavy-duty engine. The manufacturer adds coolant to a new vehicle based on the engine’s specs. Identifying the coolant that is currently in your cooling systems, on the other hand, might be a lot more complicated.
Water and coolant are both transparent liquids. For light-duty and heavy-duty engine cooling systems, coolant/antifreeze color was typically painted green until recently. Manufacturers began to use distinct dye colors to identify coolant kinds when long life (LLC) and extended life coolants (ELC) were introduced. Color also aids in the detection of coolant system leakage.
- Conventional low-silicate coolants used in vehicles and light-duty trucks are known as inorganic acid technology (IAT). Supplemental coolant additives (SCAs) for heavy-duty engines are included in IATs to protect the engine against pitting and corrosion. The color is primarily brilliant green.
- Organic Acid Technology (OAT) is a coolant that uses organic acids and has a long service life. OAT coolants are suitable for use in diesel engines, both heavy and light-duty, as well as natural gas and gasoline engines. Color: orange or red, although depending on the manufacturer, it can also be yellow, blue, crimson, or dark green.
- NOAT stands for Nitrited Organic Acid Technology. For engine liner pitting protection, NOAT coolants contain nitrite and, in rare cases, molybdate. The color is usually red.
- HOAT (Hybrid Organic Acid Technology): These coolants combine the benefits of both IAT and OAT solutions, providing corrosion protection for aluminum parts and rustproofing for iron components. Yellow or orange is the most common color, but it can also be pink, purple, or blue.
As you can see, the type of coolant in a cooling system is not necessarily determined by its color.
Problems with Mixing Colors
Chemical reactions in the coolant reservoir can occur when coolants are mixed. When a green (IAT) and an orange (OAT) are mixed, a brown gel-like sludge forms, which might eventually clog the cooling system.
Also consider red coolants (OAT, HOATs, and NOATs), which can be nitrite or nitrite-free blends. When two red coolants with different blends are mixed, there aren’t enough of the proper additives remaining in the mixed formulation to guard against corrosion, which can drastically diminish engine protection.
Identifying Coolant in Your System
Because a consistent manufacturer-recommended coolant is utilized in single OEM fleets, it may be easier to detect coolant. However, you can see a range of coolants being utilized in mixed fleets and older fleets. Coolant top-offs are virtually always performed outside of standard maintenance schedules, whether the vehicle is new, old, mixed, or single OEM. These flaws make it difficult to tell what is being used, especially because color isn’t always a reliable indication. Do you see a purple liquid in the reservoir? It’s possible that this is a mixture of two separate coolant types.
The engine manufacturer is a good place to start. Confirm your engine’s and situation’s recommended coolant type. Incorporate
Is all pink antifreeze the same?
The antifreeze’s hue does not imply any differences in the coolant’s qualities. Distinct companies employ different colors, so customers can tell which product they’re using just by looking at it.
However, certain formulae are formulated differently, and mixing two distinct types would significantly impair the efficacy of one or the other.
What kind of coolant does a Cummins diesel use?
For the past 15 years, PGPlus has supplied outstanding heavy duty cooling system protection in every type of engine application and sector.
For many big fleet owners, PGPlus is the coolant of choice. It has helped countless engines last longer in a range of sectors.
The antifreeze/anti-boil base in PGPlus is propylene glycol. Propylene glycol is considered to be a safe substance to handle, reducing the risk to your health.
The additive package combines organic and inorganic chemicals to provide rock-solid cooling system protection for any engine.
PG Plus has a service life of up to 750,000 kilometers or 12,000 hours when combined with simple maintenance requirements. PG Plus, if properly maintained and monitored, has the potential to last the life of an engine.
Unlike lighter formula automotive-type coolants, PG Plus is ideal for any heavy-duty application and meets ASTM D6210 and Cummins CES 14603 performance standards. Only coolants that match these requirements can give your engine with the best protection against corrosion and liner pitting while maintaining the cooling system’s integrity.
To ensure that your PGPlus coolant is providing maximum protection, it should be tested on a regular basis with our three-way test strips, which will reveal the additive’s condition.
Use our easy-to-use calculator to keep track of the coolant additive levels.
