Pros, talk to me about coolant testing. Nervous about wet sleeves

[fastline]

I have several older machines. I also bought my tractor with a fresh engine because the coolant ate up the wet sleeves and killed it. That tractor got an additive filter unit to leach stabilizers in the coolant.

For these reasons, it has really been on mind to test and check my coolants to ensure I am not hurting the equipment. But I don't think you can just stumble into Auto Zone and get much more than concentration strips. I do maintain proper concentrations but I know certain things like silicates must be present or you can end up with damage.

Do I need to send my coolant out for lab testing? Or are there strips I can get that will help guide me? And should I just use an additive after the fact?

 

[John C.]

Last time I bought coolant test strips they had indicators for the package. Got them at NAPA. It has been a long time though as most of what I see now is Cat ELC and I haven't seen problems with coolant like I used to.

 

[Ct Farmer]

Well, after just spending $8500 on a wrecked Cat dozer engine due to coolant erosion of the sleeves I've learned a lot about coolant and testing.

For years we went by the "it's full and looks green" testing method. I am embarrassed to tell you how old the coolant in the Cat was. Ate a sleeve and got water in the oil. Wrecked a lot by the time we shut her down.

What I learned is good old green coolant is good for 2 years if you have a replenishing filter. After 2 years change it. The stuff gets acidy. Couple that with the cavitation that happens on the outside of the sleeve and goodbye sleeve and more. ELC costs more but has better additives, lasts longer and you manually add extender once at 3 years. At 6 years you change. Test every year.

We are converting everything to Cat ELC except a few really old engines. Actually as cheap or cheaper than autostore stuff.

We never tested anything. We are just starting testing oil and coolant. Our local Cat dealer gets $18 per sample with a prepaid mailer. Results in 24 hours online. Forget the strips and other diy testers. Spend the $ and send it in. Then you know for sure.

 

[fastline]

CT, thanks for that! I agree, I think this problem gets side stepped as "overly anal" until you lose an engine over it. I know all of my coolants have been in for many years, but probably not that many hours. I see where the time intervals are in place, but not sure if time alone is a factor, or hours as well?

I would certainly spend $18 for some piece of mind! But seeing the price of coolant anymore, it is shocking! Why did it go up so much in the last decade??? Used to get a gallon of concentrate for 3 bucks. Now you can hardly even find concentrate.

Just curious, can anyone other than CAT do this stuff? I would think any tractor company would have testing services and coolants? I certainly would like a program to use all the same stuff.

 

[Junkyard]

Test strips are a good start and a cheap way to keep tabs. Test samples are good too. There are additives beyond a filter you can use to keep things at the correct pH. I have pallets of that stuff from a generator job I did, 34 units with 78 liter cummins motors!

ELC is a great step but it's not a fill and forget either. I know there are charts that tell you based on pH, system capacity etc how much additive to introduce to the system. Each size of bottle I have is a set number of additive units per system volume. It doesn't take much of the stuff to keep things in line.

Kudos to you guys for keeping tabs on it. I can't get most guys to acknowledge that issue even exists!

If anybody wants this stuff you can have some, I've got 2 qt bottles and 5 gallon jugs. Not sure if it's safe to ship or not lol.

Junkyard

 

[fastline]

Junkyard, I might take you up on that! Have to see what is available first and what we need to do. I just talked to CAT and they want each system flushed 3x and it certainly sounds like ELC will NOT blend with Glycol very well. From the sound of it, I wonder if it is propylene glycol rather than Ethylene.

I might be more inclined to keep the green stuff and work on a program for testing and tuning the blend.

I think I looked before trying to a find a proper field test kit similar to a pool test kit, where I could get more precise results.

 

[Cmark]

The old test strips and SCA additive coolant filters are yesterday's technology. Like others have mentioned, my voth also goes to Cat ELC. Drain and flush and fill with premixed ELC. Send a sample to Cat for analysis every 1000hrs, don't let the operators top up with plain water and in 99% of cases you're good.

If it can be done without disrupting the cooing system, remove any coolant filter heads and associated piping and throw them away.

 

[fastline]

I am just super curious now what other coolants are the same as ELC? No knock to CAT at all. Love their equipment and fluids, but sometimes you have to be sitting down when you get the price!

 

[Junkyard]

We run global charge heavy duty in everything but Cat iron. Supposed to be compatible/comparable. Owner is funny, Cat gets cat, Dodge gets mopar, GM gets AC Delco etc. IMT drills get good grade as they're on barges from time to time. I'd compare specs and see how the others stack up to Cat. Given the thread topic it might not hurt to go Cat to be doubly sure.

 

[Ct Farmer]

Like I said we decided to change out everything to an ELC because we like the idea of longer life and we wanted one premixed coolant on the shelf. Less things to stock and no mistakes in topping off. Just need to be sure to flush and clean well before refilling.

We compared specs on ELC's, narrowed it down to a few and found that premix Cat was virtually the same as buying another brand concentrate and distilled water. Plus time and labor to mix. Easier to buy Cat and the claim it won't harm copper like some coolants. Cat gave us a discount on a 55 gal. drum.

The only things staying with the green stuff are some L-head Chrysler irrigation pumps as I don't want to disturb the system too much.

 

[DPete]

I switched everything over to Cat ELC a while back, Cummins, Cat, Case all the same now, for a time I had 3 different coolants, that was a pain. Just drain and run water up to temp, flush then fill with ELC. It also comes in 5 gal pails cheaper than gallons

 

[check]

I rebuilt quite a few diesel engines back in the early eighties and one thing I remember is that more than half of them had to be torn down because of leaky liners (wet sleeves). I suspect all of those were on equipment that seldom or never got their cooling systems serviced.

I have a question for guys who use premix. I know there are times when you change coolant without flushing, but when you do flush, How do you get it back to 50% when there has been water in it? I've always used concentrate.

 

[Birken Vogt]

I have a question for guys who use premix. I know there are times when you change coolant without flushing, but when you do flush, How do you get it back to 50% when there has been water in it? I've always used concentrate.

Not only that but figure the price you are paying for the water in the mix when you compare to concentrate and divide price in half and figure the difference. Distilled water is about 89¢-99¢ a gallon

 

[Queenslander]

sometimes you have to be sitting down when you get the price!

It's easy to price Cat fluids online these days.
A quick check on a 20 litre bucket of ELC shows it cheaper than some of the premixed offerings from our local super cheap auto store.

 

[Brodiesel]

The votes are in, CAT ELC!!!! And the premix, not concentrate...

 

[StanRUS]

Ct Farmer, you got the service life wrong for Cat ELC
https://parts.cat.com/wcs-static/pdfs/PEHJ0067-02.pdf

 

[Ct Farmer]

Ct Farmer, you got the service life wrong for Cat ELC
https://parts.cat.com/wcs-static/pdfs/PEHJ0067-02.pdf

Where? Your link shows 12,000 hours or 6 years whichever is first with extender half way through. The DEAC is less but I see ELC at 6 years and that is what CAT told me.

 

[StanRUS]

Where? Your link shows 12,000 hours or 6 years whichever is first with extender half way through. The DEAC is less but I see ELC at 6 years and that is what CAT told me.

You are CORRECT 3yr or 6,000hrs