Coolant Change
I am in the process trying to decide what type of coolant to put in my Cummins ISC. I currant have the ES compleat Glycol Extended Service I know how to flush if going back to the same type of coolan...
Forum Discussion
You can buy Alliance anti-freeze (DCA2?) at Freightliner for about $11/gallon for the full strength stuff, that must be mixed. From the size of the stack of cases on display I would imagine this item is Freightliner's biggest seller.
I once studied the coolant issue, at some depth, for my 1995 8.3 Cummins powered Monaco. I assembled a large amount of documentation for my evolving point of view but my old computer blew up and I lost all that data.
The big picture is that coolant has evolved primarily because engine manufacturers tried to keep this category from being a non-patent protected, low priced, commodity business that they couldn't make big margins on.
I specifically remember reading a Cummins tech bulletin that stated, in the small print, that DCA2 was unsurpassed in terms of cavitation (pitting) protection. Everything else (Molybdenum - OAT)has been added as an inducement for you to pay multiples of what a gallon of DCA2 retails for.
If you got to Freightliner and see what they sell the most of, you come to realize that the over the road truckers use mostly DCA2. The reason is simple: the protection is the nitrite and the nitrite is measurable and adjustable.
When you move up to the DCA4 or OAT stuff you end up with a lot of stuff that is not adjustable (cannot be measured and added as needed).
I am not any kind of expert but the engine manufacturers' desire to steer people away from simple, cheap, commodity anti-freeze is certainly understandable. Couple that with what the truckers really use (DCA2) and you have the basis for a more informed point of view.
I once studied the coolant issue, at some depth, for my 1995 8.3 Cummins powered Monaco. I assembled a large amount of documentation for my evolving point of view but my old computer blew up and I lost all that data.
The big picture is that coolant has evolved primarily because engine manufacturers tried to keep this category from being a non-patent protected, low priced, commodity business that they couldn't make big margins on.
I specifically remember reading a Cummins tech bulletin that stated, in the small print, that DCA2 was unsurpassed in terms of cavitation (pitting) protection. Everything else (Molybdenum - OAT)has been added as an inducement for you to pay multiples of what a gallon of DCA2 retails for.
If you got to Freightliner and see what they sell the most of, you come to realize that the over the road truckers use mostly DCA2. The reason is simple: the protection is the nitrite and the nitrite is measurable and adjustable.
When you move up to the DCA4 or OAT stuff you end up with a lot of stuff that is not adjustable (cannot be measured and added as needed).
I am not any kind of expert but the engine manufacturers' desire to steer people away from simple, cheap, commodity anti-freeze is certainly understandable. Couple that with what the truckers really use (DCA2) and you have the basis for a more informed point of view.
