Truck Extended Life Coolants

[George7941]

There is a whole family of extended life coolants for HD trucks like Cat ELC, Detroit Diesel Powercool Plus etc. and I have been considering using them in some trucks at work. These are Freightliners and they did not come with extended life coolant. They have aluminium rads and I am concerned about using a Dexcool type coolant which is what I think the truck ELCs are. Yet if a company like Caterpillar recommends them, could they possibly do any harm? Are these truck ELCs different enough from Dexcool that I need not be concerned? Any opinions? By the way Detroit Diesel does approve using Powercool Plus in their engines in the Freightliners.

 

[Mechan1c]

In our mixed fleet we have 100 CAT power units and about that many GM light trucks and cars. We use Dexcool in the GM's, and CAT antifreeze in the buses. The Dexcool product is not the same as CAT ELC. Download a product sheet from CAT and compare with Dexcool.
If we were going to run 1 coolant, we would use CAT ELC fleet-wide. But with the GM's being late model, and nothing wrong with the coolant, we stock both products. Since we havn't had much problem with the Dexcool getting mixed with the CAT ect...we've kept both products. I 've used CAT ELC in my '71 Cheyenne for years.

 

[George7941]

I checked out Cat ELC at the Cat website and found that Cat ELC = OAT + nitrites,molybate. I think the nitrites/molybdate is for cavitation protection of water pump and cylinder wet liners. So, is it accurate to characterize Cat ELC as Dexcool + nitrites,molybdate? Are the following generalizations reasonably accurate? GO5 = OAT + Silicates. Japanese coolants = OAT + Phosphates. Or are these generalizations too broad as to be useless and there is a lot more chemistry involved.

 

[ChrisW]

G 05 can be used in both diesel and gasoline engines. It's precharged. If i were to pick one coolant to run in a fleet of mixed vehicles, it'd be G 05 and i'd have no second thoughts, unless it had to do with warranty issues.

I believe G 05 to be one of the best formulated coolant specifications by far. I like the results of it much better than OAT-dexcool type coolants.

 

[George7941]

I believe G 05 to be one of the best formulated coolant specifications by far. I like the results of it much better than OAT-dexcool type coolants.
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Isn't GO-5 essentially Dexcool+Silicates? And if that is the case would it be much different from Dexcool? Or are the OAT's different in Dexcool and GO-5?

 

[ChrisW]

No they are not the same.
Dexcool is an OAT.
G 05 is an HOAT.

They use different corrosion inhibitors.
G 05 uses sodium benzoate and silicates, very low levels I might add.

Whereas dexcool types use some form of 2-EHA, either sodium or potassium 2-EHA.

 

[obbop]

This is the most acronym-laden post mine eyes have rested upon in quite a spell.

YMMV

 

[1sttruck]

ALPs are common in BITOG

 

[George7941]

At the next scheduled coolant change I will switch my 1986 F250 truck over to GO5 and I will switch over the Freightliner trucks to either CatELC or GO5, I haven't decided between the two. A week ago I would have picked CatELC but now I am leaning towards GO5 since Chris feels strongly about it. The 1997 GM diesel 6.5l van will stay with Dexcool since we haven't had any cooling system problems with it in 350000kms other than blown thermostats. The F250 has always had conventional green coolant and average rad life has only been about four to five years and heater core life has been about three years. I suspect the heater core problems has more to do with high flow rate causing erosion inside the heater core and I am planning to put a ball valve in line to throttle the flow somewhat in the winter and cut off the flow completely in the summer.