changing coolant at 30k necessary?

[speedracer]

How many of you flush/filled your cooling system at 30k as called for in the owners manual? Is it worth doing? Does the coolant really degrade that fast? Opinions welcome.

 

[HC]

No facts here, but you did say opinions welcome. I missed the 30k change, partly because the truck was less than one year old at the time. I corrected this oversight at about 40k or 50k, and plan to do better in the future. It may be overkill, but for now, I'm probably going to try to stay close to what the owner's manual recommends.

 

[jimnance]

coolant changes

I understand that the corosion inhibitors present in antifreeze degrade in time and that is why you need to change the antifreeze once a year. Otherwise undetected corosion of the water jackets around the cylinder wall can end up perferating the cylinder leading to water/oil mix. Not good.



Such corosion can take a long time to manifest itself (100,000 + miles) but is very expensive to fix. Changing coolant is cheap insurance against major engine damage.

 

[Boldt's Wagon]

In the past 40 years I have been lax in changing the antifreeze/additives and using good water. I have replaced the radiator in every rig I owned in the last 30 + years. I have always seen deposits in the radiators (hard water?) and reduced cooling capacity.



With the Cummins I have drained and put in 4 gallons of 50% antifreeze/distilled water every year as a cheap maintainance. So far It looks good.



It also looks like I am going to replace the radiator in the wife's 1990 Probe in the next month or so.

 

[mbrolin]

As per Cummins "Change coolant every 60,000 miles or every 2 years whichever comes first" Per Bulletin # 3606341

 

[jimnance]

coolant

I'm not sure, but I think you may find that to use the sixty thousand mile interval it may be necessary, or Dodge already installs extended life coolant which contains more corosion inhibitors than standard antifreeze

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I think 40-50k is the longest you want to go on a coolant change, for reasons jimnance was talking about. I did mine at 50K and it seemed to have degraded noticeably. 40k is the limit for my next change.



Vaughn

 

[Hammer]

As someone has already stated earlier,the reason for changing is the corrosion inhibitors getting weaker as time goes on,,In our larger versions at work they do not change them,BUT,change the coolant filter(which is loaded with DCA agent)at regular service intervals,,At our recent meet at a Cummins shop,M-D TDR members were informed by the Cummins rep that checking our coolants was very important to the 5. 9's longevity,,They have at all Cummins parts shops a litmus test that you may buy to check yours and the additive to return you coolant to proper levels,,When he(the rep)was talking to us about it,one thing he stressed was,due to the 5. 9 being a sleeveless motor,this needed to be done yearly,,Corrosion along cylinder walls they had seeen in some cases of neglect to be substantial,,I've got my machinest now working on a remote mount for a coolant filter to add to mine,so I can change it at service time,couple of dollars for protection now,in the long run will save my warranty work(since I'm in charge of my own warranty),,Just a thought.....

 

[TomGolden]

Well, I changed mine out at around 25,000 miles, and will likely stay with a 30,000/one year interval myself. I used the Fleetguard Complete 50/50 pre-mixed stuff.



Why am I so paranoid? Well, I owned a 1987 Ford 6. 9L diesel for 5 years prior to buying Godzilla, and I suffered cavitation not once, but twice in those 5 years. The first time, it cost me an entirely new block, the second time, only new head gaskets. But those two repairs cost more than I paid for the truck! Now I know that our Cummins engine isn't supposed to suffer (as badly) from cavitation since it is a sleeveless block, but as has already been said, coolant is cheap, engines ain't!!!!



Just my personal experience and opinion.



Tom

 

[Evan A. Beck]

Coolant's cheap... Do it every 30K, or once a year--whichever comes first.

 

[Pit Bull]

I had mine changed by the dealer, he has a machine that does a power flush. Then added the new coolant. My dealer uses all Mopar stuff, but I never asked if they used the Fleetgard 50/50 coolant. What do most dealers use? I know that most of you do this yourself, but if anyone knows please post.

Thanks

Signed

Lazy guy in Missouri

 

[JJW_ND]

What wears out Coolant....Heat or Time??

Because of 40K+ miles per year I went the two year route rather then the every 24K miles like the book said. I can count the times a year my coolant has seen 190 or higher. 90% or more the coolant runs 175 - 180.



Cummins folks at CMEP said normal antifreeze and normal maintenance is more then fine. No cavitation issues with B series. Generally sees very mild to low coolant temps in the Dodge application. It was my inpression that continious high operating temperaturs is what kills coolant and engines.



I used the CAT ELC the first time for the second two years. Now have FLeetguard Complete. Both times I used premix and or distilled water.



jjw

ND



Just asking.

 

[Walker]

Green or Orange?

I just got back from Pep Boys to buy oil and coolant. I saw the Rotella Extended Life for diesel engines coolant (orange), and asked about it. They said you can't put in orange if your truck came with the green. Is this true?



So, I ended up going with Peak 50/50 since the Prestone and others didn't have a 50/50 available. Is there a "best" coolant, or are they all pretty equal as long as you change them regularly?

 

[Dane]

Why not just get the pack of coolant testing strips from Cummins?

No more guessing

 

[inarush76]

coolant

Keeping the coolant changed is indeed a good idea. One thing is to remember to use a low-silicate one. I suspect that the dealer is going to mix it with tap water if it is not a pre-mix. I saw on another thread that NAPA has a HD coolant that is low silicate, and since was told by a NAPA store that it is made by Valvoline.



James "behind on my coolant change" Northum

DTT dealer/installer/Bill K. approved builder

 

[Ramafid]

I'm using Rotella ELC coolant and so far no problems. If I remember correctly you can mix green and red but the extended life properties are reduced. I'm going to use just regular coolant next time because I won't go 600K miles in two years. No use spending more money than you have to. I'm going to change the hoses at the next change also.

 

[RustyJC]

I went to Cummins Southern Plains to pick up coolant for my truck. They specifically said that the Dodge Ram version of the ISB was built to run on low-silicate ethylene glycol - no DCA's! The coolant they supplied was Pyroil low silicate (Pyroil is a division of Valvoline).



Rusty

 

[fmj]

I am just getting ready to change the anti freeze for the first time. I looked at all the name brands and they all had other things in there besides ethel gychol (not sure thats spelled right). I looked at Peak, Prestone, Shell, etc. Not sure that these are ok, thats the first question. What have you guys used for a long time? Also did you flush your system before you replaced the anti freeze? If so with what? In other vehicles I have flushed with distilled water to Prestone flushing fluid, depending on how the fluid looked when it was drained (rust or no rust). Did you remove the thermostat while flushing?

 

[Pit Bull]

FMJ

I know this is the easy way out but I just took mine to my dealer (great dealer quality work, very reasonable) they use a machine and flush it first. Then add Mopar pre mix. Took about 30 minutes and I did not have to deal with disposal of the old antifreeze. Cost $79. 00. I know it is done right. But like I said I have a great dealer Aurora Dodge in Aurora Missouri.

 

[1 ALC]

I just changed mine out.



I used Mopar Antifreeze from the dealer. Mine has 49000 on it and is a '00 model. I mixed it 50/50 with distilled water.



I didn't flush mine out, I will next change.



I poured one gallon antifreeze in the Radiator, then 1/2 gallon water in the empty Antifreeze jug, then filled it with more antifreeze, and mixed all the rest - and filled it up.