Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Additive to radiator coolant????

[swampinboy]

Just curious, my father in law just came back from the F**** Dealer with his stroker and informed me that the new radiators need an additive, 8oz. bottle for $8. 00, to prevent electrolysis. Anyone ever heard of this and is it reqd. for our trucks as well? Needed every two years I guess, whats up?

 

[B.G. Smith]

Just for the strokers. Something to do with turbulence eating away the cylinder walls in some of the rear cyls. bg

 

[woodsrat]

additive

we use the additive in all of our big trucks and pickups but its not as simple as just dumping it in there is a test that has to be run to see how much you need to add or if you need any at all.

 

[JBHale]

Fords and Semi's use the additive ( DCA ) , to prevent cavitation ,which is while the truck is running air pockets develop in the water cavity surrounding the liners , which over time will create pin holes in the liners . Fleetguard has test strips that tell you the % of DCA in the system , which has to be keep within the range acceptable or you will end up doing a liner change or possibly more when water ends up getting in the oil.

 

[TomGolden]

JBHale is correct. Because the Ford diesel engine has cylinder sleeves, these microscopic air bubbles get in between the sleeves and the actual block and act like tiny sand paper and eat holes in the sleeves, right into the cylinders. I know this happens for a fact, because before I got my Ram, I owned a 1987 Ford with the 6. 9L International diesel, and during the 5 years I had it, the engine suffered this cavitation problem twice.



When I bought it, it had 150K on the engine. very soon after I got it, it started loosing massive amounts of coolant, I tool it into a local diesel shop, the figured my head gasket(s) were hosed. They removed both heads and then called me with the bad news - my entire block was toast and needed to be replaced due to cavitation. I went in and they showed me the places on 3 cylinder walls where holes were clean through the walls. That was an expen$ive repair job, believe me...



So, after a new engine, and the knowledge of cavitation, I began testing and using DCA religiously. 4 1/2 years and 50K miles later, it started loosing coolant again... :{ I took it back to the shop, one head gasket was fried, and one cylinder was starting to show signs of developing cavitation again. So, I sold that beast and got Godzilla



Our Cummins engines are sleeveless, so we will not have this same exact issue as the sleeved engines do.



Tom

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Originally posted by TomGolden



Our Cummins engines are sleeveless, so we will not have this same exact issue as the sleeved engines do.



Tom

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