With some modern diesels, you may be able to get away without SCA additives. Check, and double check if your motor requires it.
I know that my older diesels require it. I brought SCA's up in this thread because often people do not know that they are required for many diesel engines.
I struggled a bit to find a good link, but this one will give you a good idea what cavitation corrosion is:
DTS Articles - Cavitation Erosion
If you read the fine print on older style anti-freeze bottles, it will often say that it is suitable for Heavy Duty diesel applications as long as you add SCA to it.
I believe there can be some negative effects to overdosing the SCA, so be sure you understand the mix ratios if you add it yourself.
Can be harder to find, but a good solution for most people is conventional diesel rated anti-freeze, that is pre-charged with SCA. Best deal I found recently was at a local Esso (Canadian Exxon) station, Mobil HD antifreeze with SCA already, for about $16 for 4 litres.
I researched the new organic antifreeze offerings about a year ago, but didn't go that route as I would have to flush a pretty large cooling system with distilled water (I have really hard well water, and never use anything but distilled water in all cooling systems). If I'm remembering right (?), these new organics (OATs ?) address the cavitation corrosion using a different approach than SCA.
Tonight, I was checking Wikipedia for a link to post here. Rather broad listing there, interesting that it indicated that modern car gasoline cooling systems started to experience cavitation corrosion when their cooling systems were downsized. Gotta read more on that later....
My first preference at this time is to use conventional diesel rated anti-freeze (ie. not the new OATs) that ships pre-charged with SCA for my tractor application.
With SCA dosed at prescribed levels, AFAIK, you can not hurt a diesel engine with SCA. Bear in mind though, I'm not a licensed diesel mechanic, so treat the preceding statement as an opinion. Any reputable engine manufacturer should clearly specify if you need SCAs in your coolant.
Bigfoot62 has raised an interesting point about electrolysis, I'm gonna have to add that to my reading list.
In summary, the way I look at the SCA/diesel issue is: There is minimal or no downside to adding SCA, and for engines that need it, you can end up replacing the block if it is neglected.
As an old Ag mechanic put it to me "Yep on tractors there are 2 things that often don't get changed - Antifreeze, and Hydraulic fluid".
Many tractors are pretty heavily designed, but they all live longer lives when the fluids get changed on schedule.
Rgds, D.
I know that my older diesels require it. I brought SCA's up in this thread because often people do not know that they are required for many diesel engines.
I struggled a bit to find a good link, but this one will give you a good idea what cavitation corrosion is:
DTS Articles - Cavitation Erosion
If you read the fine print on older style anti-freeze bottles, it will often say that it is suitable for Heavy Duty diesel applications as long as you add SCA to it.
I believe there can be some negative effects to overdosing the SCA, so be sure you understand the mix ratios if you add it yourself.
Can be harder to find, but a good solution for most people is conventional diesel rated anti-freeze, that is pre-charged with SCA. Best deal I found recently was at a local Esso (Canadian Exxon) station, Mobil HD antifreeze with SCA already, for about $16 for 4 litres.
I researched the new organic antifreeze offerings about a year ago, but didn't go that route as I would have to flush a pretty large cooling system with distilled water (I have really hard well water, and never use anything but distilled water in all cooling systems). If I'm remembering right (?), these new organics (OATs ?) address the cavitation corrosion using a different approach than SCA.
Tonight, I was checking Wikipedia for a link to post here. Rather broad listing there, interesting that it indicated that modern car gasoline cooling systems started to experience cavitation corrosion when their cooling systems were downsized. Gotta read more on that later....
My first preference at this time is to use conventional diesel rated anti-freeze (ie. not the new OATs) that ships pre-charged with SCA for my tractor application.
With SCA dosed at prescribed levels, AFAIK, you can not hurt a diesel engine with SCA. Bear in mind though, I'm not a licensed diesel mechanic, so treat the preceding statement as an opinion. Any reputable engine manufacturer should clearly specify if you need SCAs in your coolant.
Bigfoot62 has raised an interesting point about electrolysis, I'm gonna have to add that to my reading list.
In summary, the way I look at the SCA/diesel issue is: There is minimal or no downside to adding SCA, and for engines that need it, you can end up replacing the block if it is neglected.
As an old Ag mechanic put it to me "Yep on tractors there are 2 things that often don't get changed - Antifreeze, and Hydraulic fluid".
Many tractors are pretty heavily designed, but they all live longer lives when the fluids get changed on schedule.
Rgds, D.
Happy to be of service. :laughing:
