Coolant Information

Updated 10-19-08

Coolant Products

All made by Old World Industries. . .all the same product except for concentration and color. Since FTL dealers carry different ones, this table may help clear up the confusion.

The factory installed coolant is Fully Formulated, pre-charged with Supplemental Cooling Additives (SCAs), and is the ALAS53 which is Purple in color. If adding coolant to your radiator system, you should try to match the type coolant and the color.  If you mix green with red, the resultant coolant will work, but it will be brownish in color and you won't know if you have a problem or just 'mixed colors'.

For FTL Tech Talk Coolant info - Click Here  

Warning: There are Organic Acid antifreeze/coolants (OAT) advertised as "extended life" coolants i.e. DEXCOOL®, Texaco® Extended Life Antifreeze and Caterpillar® Extended Life Antifreeze. These products' performance may be compromised if mixed with conventional coolants. Do not mix the two. Organic acid antifreeze/coolant can be recognized by its distinctive orange or red-orange color. [Quote from Penray Tech Bulletin # 01.004 dated 01/12/01].

(Editor's note - if you mix OAT and conventional coolants, the mixture will still cool your engine ok, but the corrosion and cavitation inhibitors will be screwed up and engine damage could result.)

* Preferred coolant IF you can find it, if not, the ALA003 will work if you dilute 50/50 with distilled water.

**Fleetcharge product sold at some Pep Boys, NAPA & Tractor Supply stores.

•  Check SCA (supplemental Coolant Additives) and freeze point every 6 months or 25,000 miles. Recharge as required.

•  PENRAY 2 WAY Test Strips # PIC TS 102

  Coolant SCA additive - PenRay Technology #PIC 300016

[Note - Thanks to Ted Bryan, FCOC member for the following information.]

•  Detroit Diesel POWER TRAC 3-WAY Coolant Test Strips:

Alliance Brand Coolant is a DCA-2 COOLANT

and does NOT contain MOLYBDATE as a SCA additive!

Advantages and Benefits:
3-way test for freeze point, nitrite level and contaminants.
1 minute field test for most cooling systems

- If Nitrite levels are = 900ppm or greater, do not add SCAs

- If Nitrite levels are less than 900ppm, add one pint of SCA additive
Designed exclusively for POWER COOL chemistry.
Available as:

•  single foil wrapped strip #23519401

• 10 count bottle, # 23522774

SCA Liquid 1 pint bottle - Penray  # Power Cool 3000 (part # 23507854)

 

Available thru Detroit Diesel dealers

 

• NAPA # FIL4105:  4  Dana/Wix strips $3.77

The Wix strips (from NAPA) are three way--

checks coolant freeze point, pH and SCA level.

* NOTE: Recent experience has shown that NAPA may have changed their sales

methods and no longer offer the single packs of 4 test strips. NAPA may try and sell you the whole box of 24 packages of 4 strips for ~$27!

•  CAT coolant test strips pack of 10 test strips - PN 286-2578

  Effective June 2006

  Available at most CAT dealers

NOT RECOMMENDED:

•  Fleetguard # CC2602A - At any Cummins dealer and many FTL dealers.
  [CC2602A - Contains 25 packages of 4 foil sealed strips]

Fleetguard (Cummins) is a DCA-4 coolant, Ethelyne Glycol and contains Molybdates and Nitrites as corrosion and cavitation inhibitors.

 

FCCC uses a  DCA-2 coolant in Alliance Brand, Fleetcharge, or Power Cool (Detroit Diesel). This coolant is Ethylene Glycol with only Nitrites as an inhibitor.

Caution - these are 3-way test strips - Freeze Point, Molybdates and Nitrites.

Your FCCC supplied coolant does NOT contain any Molybdates, only Nitrites.

FCCC says to use these test strips and just ignore the Molybdate pad on the test strip and use only the FP and Nitrite readings. The Freeze Point is shown separate.  When I tried this, the chart that comes with the test strip yields inconclusive data when reading only the Nitrite reading. . .it doesn't work!

 

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Penray's Recommendation:

Use Penray Two-Way Heavy Duty Test Strips (TS-100 or TS-102) to evaluate nitrite containing coolants including products from Caterpillar®, FleetCharge®, FleetGuard®, Detroit Diesel®, John Deere®, Quaker State®, AES, Toxguard, etc.

Penray recommends that the user evaluate the nitrite concentration and freeze point using a Penray Two-Way Heavy Duty Test Strips. Nitrite concentration and freeze point should be maintained within the engine manufacturer's specification; typically 1,200-6,000 ppm nitrite and 50% glycol is widely considered normal. Penray recommends that the molybdate concentration be ignored when evaluating mixed coolants, as low molybdate concentrations, when using a 3-way test strip, will mislead the user into thinking that the inhibitor concentration is too low, when, in fact, it is not. Therefore the use of 3-way test strips (which test Molybdates)  is not recommended.  [Quote from Penray Tech Bulletin # 99.019 dated 03/01/09] Click Here for a copy.

For further info - see Penray - Technical Bulletins

For a detailed explanation of Molybdates - Click Here

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[Note - we've been waiting on FCCC to find a good source of replacement test strips to help eliminate any confusion caused by testing with the Fleetguard 3-way strips. There is a problem with interpreting the test results with Fleetguard (Cummins brand) 3-way strips (using all three pads) that would lead you to believe your SCAs are low, when in fact your Nitrites are fine.   If your test results have been skewed by the Molybdate reading, and you've added SCA additives, you may have increased your nitrites too much!  Retest with 2-way strips...FP and Nitrites only.]

• NOTE - Buy Test Strips in small quantities due to shelf life limitations

• Approximate COOLING SYSTEM CAPACITIES  does not include heater core or other auxiliary system’s added by Coach Manufacturer.

• Cummins ISB - Rear Radiator 36 Qt. or 9 Gallons.

• Cummins ISC - Rear Radiator 42 Qt. or 10 ½ Gallons.

• Cummins ISC & ISL - Side Radiator 42 Qt. or 10 ½ Gallons.

• Cummins ISM – Side Radiator 50 Qt. or 12 ½ Gallons.

• Caterpillar 3126, 3126B&E, C7 Rear Radiator 38 Qt. or 9 ½ Gallons.

• Caterpillar 3126, 3126B&E, C7 Side Radiator 38 Qt. or 9 ½ Gallons.

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