Oil & Fuel Change coolant every 2 years

[Industrial Toys]

I really don't believe in justifying anything. Just out for Truth in pretty much everything.

But I am suspicious, and all too often when someone "suggests" something, they coincidentally gain from it. If the average person followed every maintenance proceedure for everything they owned, they would be overwhelmed.

 

[chriswheeler]

Sounds like everyone is having a different experience in this area or at least a different opinion. Emergency diesel pumps and gen sets are maintained in a manner almost like a fire truck should be. They need to start and run first try every time after standing for years without extended running times. Our worse case we would find anti freeze in the oil sump with oil testing indicating that the seal on a wet liner had failed or that a head gasket had failed. Spending a few bucks on a coolant change or maintenance was small stuff considering the cost of re-building a neighborhood or a half a million dollar engine. When you have a V16 Cat with a 10" bore, that ends up being a really big deal. Might be easier or better way to do that job,
Chris

 

[CADplans]

Two things,,
1) has anyone mentioned that "regular" car coolant can not be used in a diesel? "car" coolant can destroy the cylinders,,
2) research Rotella ELC coolant for your diesel, or other engine,, ELC stands for extended life coolant,,

I think the Rotella pretty much is a permanent coolant,,,
Rotella ELC is as cheap as anything at Tractor Supply.

 

[sixdogs]

Two things,,
1) has anyone mentioned that "regular" car coolant can not be used in a diesel? "car" coolant can destroy the cylinders,,
2) research Rotella ELC coolant for your diesel, or other engine,, ELC stands for extended life coolant,,

I think the Rotella pretty much is a permanent coolant,,,
Rotella ELC is as cheap as anything at Tractor Supply.

Good point. As well, some of the newer extended life coolants can cause problems in older vehicles. I forget why but I had to use regular old fashioned 2 year anti freeze in my 1967 Ford F600 truck. The modern stuff may have attacked solder in radiator joints or maybe it was the head gasket. Not sure but I resolved no modern A/F was going in that engine.

 

[wheelbuilder]

Two things,,
1) has anyone mentioned that "regular" car coolant can not be used in a diesel? "car" coolant can destroy the cylinders,,
2) research Rotella ELC coolant for your diesel, or other engine,, ELC stands for extended life coolant,,

I think the Rotella pretty much is a permanent coolant,,,
Rotella ELC is as cheap as anything at Tractor Supply.

If your tractor has a copper/brass radiator, (like in older tractors and cars) you might want to use caution with any extended life coolant. The pH on those is lower than traditional coolant, and can cause corrosion. If your tractor is newer, and has an aluminum radiator, it shouldn't cause any issues.
That was why I went with fleetcharge which is a traditional heavy duty coolant with SCA, rather than finalcharge, which is an extended life heavy duty coolant. There are plenty of good choices, I kind of went down a rabbit hole when I was looking.

 

[Ford850]

A couple years ago I switched to Fleet Charge in my old Ford 850 gas and Final Charge in my modern diesels.

My 850 had cooling issues since I bought it 15 years ago. I thought I flushed it well enough and replaced the green coolant after buying it but still had issues. Once I found the block drain petcock I realized how bad things were. It drained what looked like butterscotch pudding, and lots of it. Apparently it settled and plugging block passages. That was surprising since I had already flushed and replaced coolant a couple times and the most recent time it looked like new. I ran it for another season with regular antifreeze, and then replaced the radiator and filled with Fleet Charge. It runs perfect now, with steady temps. Lack of maintenance in the past made it difficult to resolve, but it’s back on track now.

 

[WinterDeere]

Lack of maintenance in the past made it difficult to resolve, but it’s back on track now.

That says it all!

 

[jimmychew]

A couple years ago I switched to Fleet Charge in my old Ford 850 gas and Final Charge in my modern diesels.

My 850 had cooling issues since I bought it 15 years ago. I thought I flushed it well enough and replaced the green coolant after buying it but still had issues. Once I found the block drain petcock I realized how bad things were. It drained what looked like butterscotch pudding, and lots of it. Apparently it settled and plugging block passages. That was surprising since I had already flushed and replaced coolant a couple times and the most recent time it looked like new. I ran it for another season with regular antifreeze, and then replaced the radiator and filled with Fleet Charge. It runs perfect now, with steady temps. Lack of maintenance in the past made it difficult to resolve, but it’s back on track now.

How bout a couple of pics of that 850?

 

[Industrial Toys]

Mixing antifreeze and water is a giant pain, yet I don't feel like spending money on water, as in the premixed stuff. Unless you know how much you are going to need, you always have mixed stuff left over and that means an extra jug on the shelf.

 

[Texasmark]

On what to do with old antifreeze, I use a blue plastic 55 gallon drum for mine. When the drums get full I'll find a recycling center to take it. I do that with old engine oil and filters. Have them in 55 gallon drums and a recycler comes by and picks up (sucks out) the oil and gives me an empty drum for the filters, taking the full one. Only requirement is to keep the water out as best I can (hazmat deposition problem for him) and have enough on hand to make a no-charge pickup profitable.

 

[sixdogs]

Around here, most of the auto parts places will accept anti freeze for no fee. They recycle it. Same with motor oil although lots of guys with waste oil furnaces will pay 50 cents a gallon for it. In addition, most counties have some sort of an annual recycling drive where you can bring oil, anti freeze, household chemical and batteries, etc for free. Tires. as well but there's a small fee. I would imagine most places around the country have something similar if you look for it.

 

[goeduck]

Around here, most of the auto parts places will accept anti freeze for no fee. They recycle it. Same with motor oil although lots of guys with waste oil furnaces will pay 50 cents a gallon for it. In addition, most counties have some sort of an annual recycling drive where you can bring oil, anti freeze, household chemical and batteries, etc for free. Tires. as well but there's a small fee. I would imagine most places around the country have something similar if you look for it.

Same here, fairly easy to get rid of at recycling centers.

 

[WinterDeere]

Around here, most of the auto parts places will accept anti freeze for no fee. They recycle it. Same with motor oil although lots of guys with waste oil furnaces will pay 50 cents a gallon for it. In addition, most counties have some sort of an annual recycling drive where you can bring oil, anti freeze, household chemical and batteries, etc for free. Tires. as well but there's a small fee. I would imagine most places around the country have something similar if you look for it.

I’ve not had the same experience, the local auto parts places seem to turn you away if you bring in a bottle of anything old from Deere, which they can easily ID as not one of their brands. They try to tell you that they will only take back fluids from their customers, not stuff bought elsewhere.

... and I don’t think the local Deere dealer will take it, although I have to admit I’ve never asked.

 

[Clint S]

Here in NY any place that sells more than 1k gallons of oil a year has to accept used fluids . They legally cannot turn you away.

 

[WinterDeere]

Here in NY any place that sells more than 1k gallons of oil a year has to accept used fluids . They legally cannot turn you away.

We have a similar law for oil, here. But if that also applies to used coolant, they’ve done a real bad job of making that known. Also, even those places that should take oil will sometimes try to turn you away. I’ve had it happen more than once.

 

[sixdogs]

Most of the farm stores and tractor parts places accept oil and often A/F as well. TSC used to take oil but it's been a few years since I used them. Advance Auto used to as did CARQUEST and other names like that but can't recall.

 

[RustyA]

Most head gasket failures in on road diesels can be traced back to lack of coolant maintenance. Cavitation is real especially with green coolant that is not changed or recharged with additive every two years. Pistons movement creates an electric field and coolant becomes a battery to store voltage. Causes heater core and radiator failure. Newer diesel trucks have timers to remind you to test coolant for pH and whether additive is needed. Change your antifreeze or change your engine. Easy math.

 

[fried1765]

Most head gasket failures in on road diesels can be traced back to lack of coolant maintenance. Cavitation is real especially with green coolant that is not changed or recharged with additive every two years. Pistons movement creates an electric field and coolant becomes a battery to store voltage. Causes heater core and radiator failure. Newer diesel trucks have timers to remind you to test coolant for pH and whether additive is needed. Change your antifreeze or change your engine. Easy math.

Is this only true for "on road diesels" ...?

I have driven motor vehicles for over 60 years (some quite old), and have rarely changed coolant on anything.
"Change your antifreeze or change your engine"?

I have NEVER needed to change an engine!

 

[DK35vince]

Is this only true for "on road diesels" ...?

I have driven motor vehicles for over 60 years (some quite old), and have rarely changed coolant on anything.
"Change your antifreeze or change your engine"?

I have NEVER needed to change an engine!

I have seen wet sleeve engines ruined by cavitation requiring a full rebuild. (cylinder liners with pin holes through them)

 

[bmg88201]

I change out my coolant at 50.000 miles and on my other equipment every 1000 hours. Some of my cars use the orange and another uses the old green coolant. I do know one thing for sure you cannot mix the two, if you want to change from one to the other you need to completely flush out the cooling system with water. GM has had issues with intake manifold gaskets leaking after about 120,00 miles in 2000 - 2005 models. That is due to not changing out the orange coolant at a reasonable amount of time, GM has since used a different material for the gasket. The orange coolant does not last as long as the old green stuff either.