Which Antifreeze for Cummins 12 Valve?

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Hey guys, I search but couldn't find anything with "Cummins" in the coolant section. So my question is which coolant is best for my truck? A 1996 12 valve Cummins. I picked up 3 gallons of the Supertech green stuff and I was going to mix it with 50% distilled water. Is that ok? Or should I dish out the extra money and go with the Global heavy duty truck coolant or whatever? I prefer to keep it cheap and change it more often if I have to. Truck is now just over 10 years old and I don't know if the original owner ever changed out the coolant. You think it could've caused any damage?
 
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I have a 1999 24 valve Cummins.
I went to my local TSC store and bought their low-silicate All Fleet green anti freeze.
 
Cummins specifically reccomends low silicate.

There are a few options that'll work. I don't know what Dodge reccomends, but I've seen several different antifreezes used with the B-series cummins, depending on the preference of OEM's.

Option 1: Low silicate "heavy duty" antifreeze with SCA's. Sometimes refered to as DCA. Detroit uses nitrite. Usually it's green... but sometimes it's blue or purple. A cheap and readily available example is Texaco Heavy Duty Antifreeze- available at advance auto parts. It isn't considered a "long life" antifreeze- so change it religiously every two years. The antifreeze that fins mentioned probably falls into this category.

Option 2: G-05. I've personally never seen this particular antifreeze used in a B-series cummins... but John Deere used it in all their equipment, including forage harvesters with the 525hp N14 Cummins. It'll work fine- but you'll just be taking my (and Deere's) word for it.

Option 3: NOAT coolant. I've seen it sold under the Rotella and Delo names. It's and OAT coolant similar to Dexcool, but with the addition of nitrite for added protection against cavitation.

Option 4: Dexcool. I've never seen this run in a Dodge... but lots of OEM's ran it with the B-series. I hate the stuff with a passion... and as a matter of personal preference, would NEVER use Dexcool (I've dealt with way too many leaky head gaskets and sludged cooling systems- caused by dexcool). But lots of people use it without problems.

I don't know what to tell you about the Supertech antifreeze. If it says "extended life" on the bottle, then it's an OAT coolant similar to Dexcool... although I think the specific OAT additive used is different. I've never seen it used in a diesel engine, and don't know how it'd work out. But Dexcool seems to work ok (when it doesn't turn to sludge)... so this stuff might.

Really, though- cavitation problems in the B-series are VERY rare since it doesn't have separate cylinder liners. I wouldn't sweat this decision too much.
 
Wow, thanks for the great write-up onion! So it sounds like the low-silicate is the best choice. But what happens if you don't change it often? Will it cause deposits in the cooling system, OR will it just not be as effective leading to possible overheating? If it's the latter, then it's better.
 
It's been several years since I worked on a Dodge with a Cummins (I worked at a Cummins dealer in the mid/late 90's), so bear with me. A '96 Dodge has an aluminum radiator, right?

If so, then any of the listed options will work fine. OAT and NOAT coolants don't fare well with brass/copper/solder.

If you run low-silicate heavy duty antifreeze (like the Texaco stuff), then you'll want to get some test strips from the local Cummins dealer and test the additive level at every oil change. They'll sell you a bottle of DCA (or SCA, or PenCool, depending on where you buy it) to add if the additive level tests low. You can get away with running this antifreeze for quite a few years (5 or so) if you keep the additive levels up. Or just change it every two years and don't bother with the test strips.

If you don't change the coolant often enough and/or let the additive level get low, then you're risking cavitation, corrosion, crud, gasket erosion, and possibly overheating due to the aforementioned problems (not neccesarily due to the coolant's heat-transfer ability). It's well worth the time and money to keep the coolant fresh.

I've worked on more Cummins engines, including B-series, than I could possibly remember- and I've only seen one that had apparent cylinder cavitation (though it could've been a casting flaw, too). Cavitation isn't a big concern on these engines, but there are plenty of other reasons to keep the cooling system in good condition. It'll save you money in the long run.

If it was my engine, then I'd be using either option 1 or option 2. But that's just personal preference. You might look and see what the owner's manual reccomends. I'd be interested to know.
 
Here's what the manual says:

"Chrysler Corporation vehicles have been designed to operate on Ethylene Glycol based engine coolant. Ethylene glycol based coolants are the only type recommended for use in your Chrysler Corporation vehicle."
 
I'm on my way out to pick up some antifreeze. I'm shooting for the low-silicate. I know Walmart sells some Global brand low-silicate and it has a picture of a big rig on it. So that might just do it.
 
Nevermind... I slept on it and took the Supertech back (although it's probably low-silicant, it doesn't say it on the bottle so...). Instead I picked up 3 gallons of low-silicant Fleet Charge from TSC. I figure I do it right since I'm going through all the hassle. I completely flushed the cooling system by hooking up a garden hose to the block where the heater core normally attaches (see pics). I think I got pretty much all 6 gallons of the old coolant out. The water was running out clear by the end. The inside of the radiator looks pretty corroded... The inside of the water pump looks like it has a thin layer of orange rust all over (see pic). I'm debating using Prestone Super Radiator Flush but I don't think I want to risk loosening up gunk particles in the cooling system and have it clog something up. Do you think I should still flush it?

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Try RMI-25 or the Prestone Super Radiator Cleaner. The Super Flush is not as thorough. One person posted about the Radiator Cleaner really removing all kinds of gunk, and RMI-25 has had some great reviews on it's ability to clean.
 
Great thanks. I think I will go ahead and flush. According to RMI-25's website it's ok if you have corroded particles floating in your system. But it looks like I'll be going with the Prestone Super Radiator Cleaner because of availability. You can only get RMI from the internet right?
 
RedLine auto store here stocks the RMI. Cost is less than $25/qt.

Might want to check if RedLine stocks it in your area.
 
Well I went ahead and flushed the system with the Prestone Radiator Cleaner, rinsed it out a couple times, and re-filled the cooling system with fresh Fleet-Charge antifreeze. As I had predicted, the radiator cleaner didn't really do anything. Just a little bit of difference. The water was all rusty colored when it came out but the radiator is still pretty nasty on the inside. Ten years of neglect can't be fixed with two bottles of cleaner. Maybe if I repeat this procedure every 2 years from now on it will eventually make a difference.
 
Did you use the Radiator Cleaner or the Radiator Flush? If I recall, the cleaner is suppose to be added and used for several hours of driving, while the flush is a 15 minute circulation product.
 
Yea I used the Cleaner, not the flush. And I did drive it for several hours over the course of 2 days. Next time I should add 3 bottle though. It says 1 bottle is supposed to treat up to 3 gallons and since my cooling system is 6 gallons I added 2 bottles, but that still may not be enough.
 
Originally Posted By: wcbcruzer
Well I went ahead and flushed the system with the Prestone Radiator Cleaner, rinsed it out a couple times, and re-filled the cooling system with fresh Fleet-Charge antifreeze. As I had predicted, the radiator cleaner didn't really do anything. Just a little bit of difference. The water was all rusty colored when it came out but the radiator is still pretty nasty on the inside. Ten years of neglect can't be fixed with two bottles of cleaner. Maybe if I repeat this procedure every 2 years from now on it will eventually make a difference.


ABSOLUTLY NO FLUSH CHEMICAL OF ANY KIND!!!!!!! IF YOU NEED IT THAT BAD, SEPERATE YOUR HEATER CORE FROM THE SYSTEM, OR ENJOY 12 HOURS UNDER YOUR DASH IN A FEW WEEKS.

Here are the list of vehicles I ruined heater cores in with flush for about 30 minutes at idle instead of 15 minutes.

1985 Crown Vic
1985 Grand Marquis
1991 Caravan
1994 Caravan
1995 Bronco
1996 Bronco
1994 F-150
1986 F-250
etc.........

All these devoloped leaks after 2 weeks to a year. About 4 of them got plugged up, the others all developed leaks. The bad part is they were all done on the same weekend so I did not know it would ruin them. Most were neglected systems, others were clean. The flush made no difference in deposites.

If I need to flush now, I pull the hoses of the core, couple them together, and drive for hours with flush. It cleans well and now no more fear of heater core damage.

On a side note, I used "Fleet Charge" from tractor supply, since 2001, and I replaced the heater core in my diesel 86 F-250 every year. That was with autozone brand cores, I installed a motorcraft core in 2005 and still have it in there. I am not sure if it was the [censored] cores, or the coolant eating them up. If fleetcharge is OAT, that I would say the coolant.
 
Ah great... Now you tell me! I knew I shouldn't have flushed. Have you ever flushed a vehicle that DIDN'T develop a leak in the heater core? I wonder why just the heater core. What's different about the radiator?

Anyway, like I said. The flush didn't do squat! Maybe it was too dilute, which is actually a good thing in my case because there's less of a chance of heater core damage.
 
After doing much reading today, I found that most of those vehicles I owned had the brass/copper heater cores. They were state owned vehicles where the coolant was hydrometer tested frequently and NEVER EVER changed prior to me. The state does a great job at maintenence and keeping oil change intervals, but for some reason they choose to not touch the cooling systems. The 1985 crown vic did develop a leak on the intake manifold coolant passage, and the caprice had a plugged evaporator core (A/C) and we had to use an acid to clean the oil and road grime off it. This certainly could have made its way to the heater core in the duct.

The flush I used was not the yellow bottle stuff, it was a 32 oz white plastic bottle and it was not cheap. It was stuff radiator shops used. My 1986 Diesel still seems to eat heater cores, I am not sure why. I soldered a ground braid to it this time and will see if it fails. I seem to have horrific luck with heater cores, although my cars are always used with a truly unknown service history.

Some cars are piece of cake to swap out the heater cores. Dodge rams, and my newer crown vics and licolns, have impossible to get to heater cores. My crown vic is listed at 8 hours and requires the steering column and dash to come out. I have a 95 dodge ram w/12 valve cummins, and it looks like the entire dash has been out and the heater hoses have been spliced. Hopfully this means the core was already changed. If not, I here they are a bear.
 
Originally Posted By: ConfederateTyrant
Did you use the Radiator Cleaner or the Radiator Flush? If I recall, the cleaner is suppose to be added and used for several hours of driving, while the flush is a 15 minute circulation product.


If you used the cleaner, it is much slower and thus probably not going to hurt much.
 
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