GC17xx, coolant change

[GeneV]

Somebody be a pal and do a quick in-service on it. What's the procedure, are you flushing and what are you using (distilled or no?), what coolant are you using and how much does the radiator hold?

 

[MoMower]

I drain and refill at each engine oil change.

100 hour OCIs after the inti 50 hr.

I drain the radiator and reservoir and refill. Less than 1 gallon. I use Case XHD premix.

The 100 hour OCIs mean at least once a year for me.

 

[GeneV]

I drain and refill at each engine oil change.

100 hour OCIs after the inti 50 hr.

I drain the radiator and reservoir and refill. Less than 1 gallon. I use Case XHD premix.

The 100 hour OCIs mean at least once a year for me.

Ok, so you just drain/fill, no flush? I was reading about sca's for diesels, looks like your case xhd has that. That's part of why I'm asking, manual doesn't say anything about coolant additives.

 

[ray66v]

Ok, so you just drain/fill, no flush? I was reading about sca's for diesels, looks like your case xhd has that. That's part of why I'm asking, manual doesn't say anything about coolant additives.

Since 2005, the MF GC manuals have never specified a diesel specific coolant.

They also don't specify the reason they are requiring annual coolant changes.

We can only speculate.

I have since decided to buy Heavy Duty Fleet Coolant from Tractor Supply, and change it every 3 years. Which is about 100 hours for me.

Thus far, the world has not ended because of this.

You will have to decide for yourself.

 

[def38]

After reading about all these fancy coolants, I guess I had better drain the coolant my MF 231S and use one of these new, fancy coolants. BTW, what are the benefits?

 

[Rocko]

I drained the block and radiator, flushed then filled with Zerex G-05 50/50 pre mix on my GC1710 last year.

 

[MoMower]

Ok, so you just drain/fill, no flush? I was reading about sca's for diesels, looks like your case xhd has that. That's part of why I'm asking, manual doesn't say anything about coolant additives.

I don’t bother flushing. No heater core on these so to me there’s a negligible amount of “old” coolant in the engine.

 

[GeneV]

I ended up with this from tsc: STP Heavy-Duty NOAT Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolant Ready-To-Use at Tractor Supply Co.

 

[def38]

Nothing too fancy regarding benefits other than they offer extended life if you have an aluminum radiator, and you don't have to mess with SCA's. The flip side of the coin is trying to decide which chemistry is best. Do you want silicates or not? How about nitrates and nitrites? Does my coolant have 2-EHA in it and is my engine compatible with it? What's the problem with Dex-Cool and universal types? HOAT or OAT? And the list goes on. Dealing with coolants is far worse than selecting engine oils. I've found that the two mentioned above are some of the best. Following the ASTM D6210 spec is a good idea, and many like to see the CAT EC-1 spec also. Avoid coolants that are ONLY rated as ASTM S3306 and/or ASTM D4985.

Well, after all that (Thank you, BTW), my head is spinning. I think I'll just drain and fill with tap water. The Perkins diesel engine is a big, heavy hunk of iron and the radiator is all brass and copper. My tractor never overheats even though there was a bullet hole in the rad when I bot it a couple years ago. The rad shop fixed it and installed a brass petcock in place of the plastic OE version.

 

[GeneV]

Nothing too fancy regarding benefits other than they offer extended life if you have an aluminum radiator, and you don't have to mess with SCA's. The flip side of the coin is trying to decide which chemistry is best. Do you want silicates or not? How about nitrates and nitrites? Does my coolant have 2-EHA in it and is my engine compatible with it? What's the problem with Dex-Cool and universal types? HOAT or OAT? And the list goes on. Dealing with coolants is far worse than selecting engine oils. I've found that the two mentioned above are some of the best. Following the ASTM D6210 spec is a good idea, and many like to see the CAT EC-1 spec also. Avoid coolants that are ONLY rated as ASTM S3306 and/or ASTM D4985.

Shoot, now you got me worried my choice of coolant is correct. The stuff I got is NOAT. Should I have gotten a nitrite-free coolant instead?