Coolant additive

rexabbot wrote:
X2

YUP! Petcock!

Actually, the recovery tank is reasonably accurate.

If you look at the level in the tank with the engine/coolant cold and then warm, you will find that the level warm is over 30% higher than cold. Said another way, you are "changing" coolant in the reservoir every three times you drive the coach.

Is checking in the reservoir as accurate-- no. Is it accurate enough-- yes.

Another BIG caution. The test strips are quite time sensitive. Using an expired strip will likely give erroneous results.

And, if you are tired of checking and adding SCA's, switch to one of the new generation OAT-based coolants. If you have a Caterpillar, I suggest Caterpillar ELC. If Cummins, the equivalent product from Fleetguard (Cummins brand). 6 year life with no checking and no adding unless you drive over 300,000 miles and then just add a "booster" after 300,000 miles.

Petcock at the bottom of the radiator on my Spartan chassis.

X2

03 RoadKing wrote:
Ok doing my yearly maintenance. Everything I hear about checking the additive is to put the test strip into the coolant in the radiator and not the recovery tank. Problem with that is with a side radiator there isn't a cap to open on the radiator. What do you folks do to get a good reading.

never heard that one? If one knows that no new antifreeze or water has been added and the vehicle has been run sufficiently as to know the coolant has circulated properly then test strip in the overflow /recovery tank is good to go

I take my sample at the petcock on the lower coolant pipe accessible from the bottom of the coach, then send it off in a coolant test kit to Monitor C labs (Cummins).