- 90
- 1
- 6
- Location
- Tomball, TX.
The above issues don't necessitate an engine replacement. These are Heavy Duty engines and built to be over hauled multiple times. The failures noted are from age and lack of maintenance and fall under routine maintenance/ repairs for engines of this age. Because of this is why I have been staying away from the NTC engines. Parts are lots heavier and torques much higher than when dealing with the 8.3L's.
After my department spent over $5000 each for 3 trucks to have radiators removed and replaced, we educated ourselves on cooling system maintenance.
The coolant test strips mentioned by Droprat are an essential tool for caring for our trucks. Heck, they are a must have for any diesel engine! NAPA has them too and if you make the switch to extended life coolant, it requires its own type of test strip because you are testing for different chemicals.
With green diesel engine coolant, NAPA has pint bottles of SCA additive to quickly adjust and correct cooling system levels. It is part # 4056.
We switched over all of our trucks to the 50/50 pre-mix Shell Rotella ELC coolant. first reason is ease of maintenance and life of coolant. Second, we use the 50/50 pre-mix so we don't have firemen adding tap water and contaminating the system. We have real dirty water here and getting/ keeping distilled water in stations is a real PITA.
With the ELC, we run it for 3 years (testing each months) then add 1 pint of system conditioner and run for another 3 years and drain, flush and re-fill with new. Every 6 year coolant replacement we replace all the system hoses. Our cooling system issues are a thing of the past now and I have 12 years of track records to prove it.
After my department spent over $5000 each for 3 trucks to have radiators removed and replaced, we educated ourselves on cooling system maintenance.
The coolant test strips mentioned by Droprat are an essential tool for caring for our trucks. Heck, they are a must have for any diesel engine! NAPA has them too and if you make the switch to extended life coolant, it requires its own type of test strip because you are testing for different chemicals.
With green diesel engine coolant, NAPA has pint bottles of SCA additive to quickly adjust and correct cooling system levels. It is part # 4056.
We switched over all of our trucks to the 50/50 pre-mix Shell Rotella ELC coolant. first reason is ease of maintenance and life of coolant. Second, we use the 50/50 pre-mix so we don't have firemen adding tap water and contaminating the system. We have real dirty water here and getting/ keeping distilled water in stations is a real PITA.
With the ELC, we run it for 3 years (testing each months) then add 1 pint of system conditioner and run for another 3 years and drain, flush and re-fill with new. Every 6 year coolant replacement we replace all the system hoses. Our cooling system issues are a thing of the past now and I have 12 years of track records to prove it.
