Antifreeze

[oosik]

I've got extended life ( five year ) antifreeze in my tractor. The Power Wagon came with ten year antifreeze. One of these days I will find out the brand and see if it can be used in the tractor also.

 

[ruffdog]

You can't tell just by the colors anymore:

Which Is The Right Coolant For Your Car? | Coolant Colours Explained

 

[SPYDERLK]

Cavitation is sometimes a problem in diesel engines, esp those with wet cylinder liners. I use Fleet Charge from TSC. It is labeled as for all heavy duty engines. It contains Special Coolant Additives to resist cavitation.

 

[jjeff]

You can't tell just by the colors anymore:

Which Is The Right Coolant For Your Car? | Coolant Colours Explained

So if IAT is kind of universal, what are they advertising as extended mileage, claiming it can be "mixed" with all antifreeze? Being somewhat ignorant I've never really studied all the different types of antifreeze available, I've always used the newer "universal" kinds with claims it will work with all other colors. I think I'm definitely more informed yet also more confused. .

 

[jjeff]

Found an answer sort of, disclaimer I was being a keyboard commando, however my thoughts sort of mirror these paragraphs from this article . Universal Coolants: The Ultimate Answer?

Makers of universal coolants say their products are formulated to be compatible with all cooling systems (foreign or domestic) and all coolant types (traditional green, OAT and OAT-hybrid with silicate). The new universal coolants use unique OAT-based corrosion packages with proprietary organic acids (such as carboxylate) to provide broad spectrum protection.

When a universal coolant is used to top off a cooling system that already contains an extended life OAT or hybrid coolant, the service life is unaffected. It remains five years or 150,000 miles. If a universal coolant is added to an older vehicle that has traditional green antifreeze in the cooling system, the service intervals are also the same as before: two to three years or 30,000 to 50,000 miles.

 

[hosspuller]

spyderlnk has posted about liner cavitation. This bears repeating. A perforated liner is a major job to repair. Although you get almost a new engine after liner replacement.

 

[jjeff]

Cavitation is sometimes a problem in diesel engines, esp those with wet cylinder liners. I use Fleet Charge from TSC. It is labeled as for all heavy duty engines. It contains Special Coolant Additives to resist cavitation.

Interesting, never even thought or heard of looking for or adding supplemental coolant additives, or sca. nor did I ever think of cavitation being a issue. Curious as how prevalent a problem this is, at least on a stock non modded engine anyway?

 

[hosspuller]

Interesting, never even thought or heard of looking for or adding supplemental coolant additives, or sca. nor did I ever think of cavitation being a issue. Curious as how prevalent a problem this is, at least on a stock non modded engine anyway?

This is an issue with "wet sleeve" engines. Cylinder bores in the parent block metal are not affected.

 

[jonsstihl]

you have to remember that a gallon of concentrate will make two gallons of coolant and 1 gallon of premix is 1 gallon of coolant so for the same price you get twice as much coolant for the extra price of 1 gallon of distilled water (couple of bucks). thats why I mentioned that coolant companies have figured out how to sell people water "for 10$ a gallon".

I'm pretty sure most compact tractors don't have wet sleeves.

 

[jjeff]

This is an issue with "wet sleeve" engines. Cylinder bores in the parent block metal are not affected.

So for sake of argument let's say my l4150 uses wet sleeves has around 5k hrs is almost 40 yrs old completely stock, never had a rebuild to my knowledge, when I replaced the rad a few yrs back used traditional premixed green antifreeze, probably not even diesel rated with additives, what are warning signs my sleeves are leaking? Low, or oil in antifreeze, vise versa, white exhaust, overheating? So if you have a older tractor with higher hours would it even pay to replace a head gasket maybe a head without doing a complete rebuild with new sleeves? I am curious for future reference.