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sca precharged coolant

BenRoberts

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im going to be changing the coolant on this nhc250 and came across this sca precharged diesel coolant made by peak sold at tractor supply co. has anyone used this and is it worth a darn. its about the same price as mixing it myself but ive become paranoid about liner failures so to make me feel better im going to change it and not worry about an over mix which I read is also not good for it.
 

snowtrac nome

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I buy the premix stuff out here quite a bit, if you are a 100 miles away from town finding good water to mix with might be hard, also the pre mixed stuff is made with distilled water much better for your cooling system to prevent mineral scale build up. that said you are getting half as much glycol for the same price.
 

doghead

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Flush your system before adding new coolant.
 

therooster2001

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Even a thorough drain from beneath the oil cooler will still leave 3 gallons in the block. Fill with water and drain, then repeat. I used distilled water for that reason.
 

therooster2001

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And to clarify my previous comment. I used Prestone coolant flush on the first fill. Drain. Fill with flush and distilled, drive, up to temp, then cool a bit, drain, then repeat one more fill with distilled, drive, drain, and then fill with the coolant. I think it might be a bit obsessive, but that way you'll know. Even the Prestone guy said it was extra careful. And I measured exactly what came out and what I put in to be sure I knew the dilution factor to any thing left in the block. I was also trying to remove a coolant as much as possible. If it's as ugly as most of what other experienced (luckily not me), you'll want as much of that crap out of there as possible.
 

doghead

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One of the reasons to flush the system is to neutralize rust or any other PH altering conditions.

PH testing is important for long term maintenance.

Maintaining a coolant system is more than monitoring specific gravity.
 

therooster2001

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I agree with the basic math, but make sure you factor in the SCA's as well. I decided to go 100% BASIC green, distilled water and SCA's.
 

BenRoberts

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I filled with water and drained and broke the drain as well. The wing part stripped off. I got it closed but need a new one. My concern is getting that piece out of the radiator. Looks like someone has tried before and half rounded it. I'd hate for it to mess up the radiator
 

doghead

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Even if you had "city" water, there is chlorine in it. Over time this does create issues.

If you want the very best option, premix with additives is the correct choice.
 

Jbulach

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You can get distilled water at the grocery store for a buck a gallon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

WillWagner

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Just a word of advice, stay away from red, orange ELC. Those types, dex cool, the stuff in the video, Cat ELC and a host of others will ruin the o-rings in the older systems. O-rings like in the oil cooler, the water rail jumpers and seals, etc. The rubber used in these old parts weren't designed for the ELC in use today.

When you change coolant, just make sure you get a low silicate type with or without SCAs. If you get w/o sca, you can buy additive bottles. Just make sure to use test strips so you don't over concentrate things.

I use this in everything, expensive, but it is good stuff,
https://www.cumminsfiltration.com/hybrid

I know, I sound like a Cummins salesman, but I see things daily and I see what this stuff DOESN'T do to systems. It mixes with anything, ethyl or propyl coolants, doesn't gel.

Even in engines that are made and designed to run red/orange ELC, like my Duramax, are compromised by these coolants. I had to do stats at 100k on my truck. When I took them out, the seal rubber was like snot from the red coolant. I refilled with the blue ES stuff.. At 130k when a W/P started leaking I checked the stats while the coolant was out. No goo on the rubber.
 
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