Coolant capacity and refill on 06

[mwilson]

I don't agree, the basic engine itself is identical between our pick-ups and industrial / marine versions.



There are horsepower and injection pump / engine control variances, but we have customers that have pooched an industrial 6BT, purchased replacement engines donated from

Dodge pick-ups, changed the injection pumps and installed them in industrial equipment. Successfully.

Now the external cooling systems used for a specific application vary all over the charts, but the 6BT itself remains the same basic engine.



That is one of the reasons that these trucks we own are so great, they have an industrial engine for propulsion. I can break down a 6BT from your pick-up, pick another 6BT from a genset for example and run down thru them part number for part number. 98% of the parts used in either engine will be the same.



Bottom line is that there are no liners / sleeves that can be affected by a poor coolant choice.

If you have a sleeved engine then it warrants your full attention but in a parent block such as these just pick a good quality coolant, be it HOAT, OAT or whatever.



JMHO.



Mike.

 

[navyjoe]

I don't agree, the basic engine itself is identical between our pick-ups and industrial / marine versions.



There are horsepower and injection pump / engine control variances, but we have customers that have pooched an industrial 6BT, purchased replacement engines donated from

Dodge pick-ups, changed the injection pumps and installed them in industrial equipment. Successfully.

Now the external cooling systems used for a specific application vary all over the charts, but the 6BT itself remains the same basic engine.



That is one of the reasons that these trucks we own are so great, they have an industrial engine for propulsion. I can break down a 6BT from your pick-up, pick another 6BT from a genset for example and run down thru them part number for part number. 98% of the parts used in either engine will be the same.



Bottom line is that there are no liners / sleeves that can be affected by a poor coolant choice.

If you have a sleeved engine then it warrants your full attention but in a parent block such as these just pick a good quality coolant, be it HOAT, OAT or whatever.



JMHO.



Mike.

I agree, the blocks are the same but the cooling systems (and that is what this thread is revolving around) are vastly different. Lets face it how many Marine engines have power steering, a Dodge automatic transmission, or an air cooled aluminum radiator!! I doubt if a marine engine even has a aluminum water pump. The ones I've seen have a seperate cast iron unit. All of the cooling units are unique to our passenger vehicle. different metallurgys consequently different protection requirements.



While I agree with you that probably most of these after market antifreezes will work fine if used as directed, I am not going to try and outguess the Chrysler, Ford, Cummins, and Mercedes engineering groups with respect to our engines. Although to be blunt I think they are all scrambling to find the best solution to corrision in the new power plants and they are using us a the "test vehicles"



I must add that in Mercedes case I think they (and most european auto mfrs) have been using HOAT for about 20 years which might be a good indicator. I will also add, having owned two Mercedes that longterm relability is not necessarly thir stong point!!! Ha HA! I finally decided I wasn't rich enough to keep my 300SE. On the other hand my old 240D will probably still be running 40 years from now.

 

[mwilson]

One thing to ponder. Those industrial diesels, Cat for sure, are far more rugged and built to last than our cummins which is basically a consumer diesel package.

This above is what I disagree with, I have several M2 Class 6 trucks on the lot right now with the same 6. 7 guts that someone's brand new Longhorn Dodge has. The only difference being the gear case is on the rear rather than in front. The BLOCK and it's metallurgy are the SAME... ... . our engine is not simply a consumer diesel package. Those come with a factory fill of purple Fleetguard last time that I checked which is not HOAT.



I don't want TDR folk thinking that they are committing a sin if they want to change over to plain old green car antifreeze for example.



People are welcome to be as fussy with these trucks as they want, but with proper maintenance any decent coolant can be used without fear.



That is all I am getting at.



Mike.

 

[dieselpowered]

I agree with Mike. These are true medium duty engines,I read on Cummins site, these were rated up to 50k GCVW.



Henry.

 

[navyjoe]

As I said in post #22 the blocks are the same, the cooling systems are different on on the varing packages. Our trucks cooling systems are unique unto themselves. Chrysler has different components bolted to this castiron block than other similar systems that you might find in a small tourbus or marine engine that use the same block. If it was all cast iron like the block you could almost run just water like the old diesel locomotives used to which is why they never turned them off. They felt diesel fuel was cheaper that antifreeze.



Notice on this chart Cummins specifies 3 different antifree solutions for their engine variations of engines

http://www.whitfieldoil.com/downloads/ZerexAntifreezeLineupChart.pdf



As I also said you can probably run any antifreeze and be ok. To prove what is ok and what is not you would have to be a little more scientific than thats all I ever used in my truck . I am inclined to go with cummins/chryslers recomendations. Wonder how much it would cost to repair a automatic transmission that was running on antifreeze instead of transfluid due to a leak in that alumium heat exchanger?

 

[Wingate]

There are MANY late model Cat and Cummins Industrial engines using aluminum radiators with plastic tanks, aluminum H2O pump housings, etc. . that are running ELC... Many Many Many. .

My Cat ELC DOES state on the bottle that if you are replacing certain other coolants with ELC, you MUST run a particular cooling system flush thru the engine BEFORE adding the ELC...

 

[Turbo_Bob]

I used 3 gallons of HOAT and 3 gallons of Distilled water in my change. It did take a hundred miles and a few cycles to fill up completely. Once the bulk of the fluid was in, I just topped up the overflow tank, the fluid gets sucked back in to displace the air.

 

[navyjoe]

I used 3 gallons of HOAT and 3 gallons of Distilled water in my change. It did take a hundred miles and a few cycles to fill up completely. Once the bulk of the fluid was in, I just topped up the overflow tank, the fluid gets sucked back in to displace the air.

OK, thanks for the tip. Looks like thats my route too, although one member told me about removing that plug on the top of the engine to speed up the process by letting some of the air out.

 

[navyjoe]

If you are having trouble with trapped air in system loosen one of the water plugs top side of engine, passenger side while adding antifreeze/water with engine running. Only use Zerex G05

Those buggers are really inthere. I guess you have to use a good breaker bar to get out?

What kind of sealant did the factory use?