Can anyone explain which coolant/antifreeze is appropriate for a Komatsu PC160LC-7? Thank you!
Good day From what information I have it appears to be run of the mill antifreeze mix see attched from the operation manual. Kind regards Uffex
Thanks very much. I know very little about antifreezes, but I know that there are different types, and there are various warnings abound regarding using the correct one. There's ethylene-glycol, propylene-glycol and Dexcool. Would a Prestone Yellow (universal) or Valvoline ethylene-glycol antifreeze be okay?
Good day pre low emmision engines I believe the ethylene-glycol was the standard in which case I suggest it would be suitable, however that is not to say providing you are doing a complete flush the other options you mention may well be used. Kind reagrds Uffex
Good day, Was not planning on doing a flush. Thank you very much!
Komatsu super coolant is a non-amine ethylene glycol based coolant with DCA additive package included. The whole "non-amine" thing is supposedly to protect the water supply in the event of a spill or deliberate dumping into water reclamation sewers.
depending on what corner of the internet you read, Dexcool is either propylene or ethylene or both. The only thing I can say safely is that most antifreeze will contain one or both glycols. The anti corrosion package is the main difference, and how they interact with each other, and with the glycol, and with water contaminants, mostly mineral hardness. Having said that, and having no desire to do a PHD in anti freeze, the safest/simplest is to choose a suitable coolant for the machine, flush the system with rainwater, soft water or distilled water, and then add nothing but the coolant, DI or distilled water if it's concentrate, and any additive package for that coolant. just the cost of coolant these days makes a flush a good idea if you're changing the antifreeze, or don't know the history of the system. By flush, I mean filling the radiator after draining, running it for an hour or so, draining hot, and repeating if there's sediment in the drain water. The color of the water doesn't matter, it will always be dirty looking, the sediment means it needs to be flushed again.
I believe dexcool is an OAT coolant and should not be mixed with either glycol coolant. Volvo VCS was an OAT coolant and it caused glycol to shed its silica like it was going out of style
FWF, I have utmost respect for you and your posts, but nearly all antifreeze is propylene glycol or ethylene glycol, dexcool included from everything I've read, just don't ask me which. OAT, SCA, silicates, phosphates, molybdates, etc. are ALL corrosion protection added to the glycol base. correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not a coolant guy, and try to know how much I don't know.
Nearly all the "permanent " or " extended life" coolants are an organic acidic something or other. When you combine with the traditional coolant, something happens causing the silica to drop-out really fast. Then you have abrasive wear on water pumps, timing covers and liners. Before it even gets there, you usually get a call for no / poor heat. You'll find the heater core plugged with sand. Just my experience
https://gmb.net/blog/inorganic-vs-organic-coolants/ A little light reading.
I'm not sure if you're agreeing or disagreeing. The article could be clearer, but it says that all of the differences are the additive package, the common ethylene glycol base is not the issue as far as I know. Silica will drop out as gel which will make slime and plug, or grit/sand which will wear out water pumps and radiators in heavy duty applications. I suspect most of the bad examples come from long change intervals, puddle water added to top off a leaking radiator, and possibly glycol breaking down. From what I've read, there "shouldn't" be big problems like that from mixing a well maintained SCA antifreeze with an OAT or similar. Automotive or general purpose might be higher silicate than a heavy duty SCA type.
That's where I beg to differ. I came from a Volvo dealership. Relatively new machines sold to customers who had the same thought process. The felt Cat ELC was good for everything. They would mix it into machines equipped with VCS and in short order would begin to have compounded cooling failures. Plugged heater cores, plugged trans coolers, accelerated water pump wear, it was a valuable lesson i had a front row seat to. This comes on the heels of seeing people just "top off" red coolant with green or vice versa. The result was always the same, brown muck that couldn't carry heat away from critical parts. This was in a fleet of 366 tonawanda gassers in top kicks and kodiaks. I've seen the results in automotive as well as equipment. I make a firm rule, stick with mfr recommendations. Less problems that way.
And yes, it's the additive package, that's where the magic happens. That said, IAT, is what we commonly consider ethylene glycol or good ol green coolant. OAT & HOAT different animals. No silica if I am correct. Something different altogether
I'm not disagreeing at all with your experiences with mixed coolants, I just haven't had that much experience, none with new stuff like that. Just clarifying that the base is the same, the additive package is what differs.
No, old coolant, silica based, new coolant considered silica free.
Old additive package, silica based. New additive package, silica free. Both coolants are mostly water and glycols, most likely ethylene glycol. By additive package, I mean the corrosion inhibitors that come in the coolant, not the extender bottle or a separate additive package.
Yes, all are ethylene glycol based products. My misunderstanding. With exceptions to propylene glycol which is "less toxic " and "environmentally friendly " You are absolutely correct in that statement.
Propylene glycol is edible, or drinkable with minor side effects, diarrhea for some amount of days. As I've read things on medicine ingredients, some form of propylene glycol is an amendment to the active drug. Ethylene glycol is wood alcohol and sugar. It's sweet and animals love it. The one big side affect is death, the minor side affect is blindness if you survive the death part. I'm told that neither is compatible with ELC. There was a time when the parts people would tell you that you are giving up the benefits of ELC by mixing it with standard antifreeze. Before I left the Cat dealer the mechanics there would warn to never mix them. My Goldwing is the only vehicle I have left that uses standard antifreeze. My two Toyotas use their extended life coolant.
Again, ELC is ethylene glycol with a different corrosion inhibitor added. this is from the CAT ELC MSDS: _____________________________________________________________________ Revision Number: %%revision_number%% Revision Date: APRIL 29, 2015 2 of 8 CAT ® ELC (Extended Life Coolant) SDS : 10674 local/regional/national/international regulations. HAZARDS NOT OTHERWISE CLASSIFIED: Not Applicable SECTION 3 COMPOSITION/ INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS COMPONENTS CAS NUMBER AMOUNT Ethylene Glycol 107-21-1 30 - 60 %weight Sodium 2-ethylhexanoate 19766-89-3 1 - 5 %weight Molybdic acid, disodium salt, dihydrate 10102-40-6 0.1 - 1 %weight even if it doesn't matter to the user, we should keep this straight because antifreeze is still as poisonous as it always has been, unless it's propylene glycol.
One thing to point out to the OP. If you have no idea what coolant is in the system right now (it may be what the OEM recommends, but then again it could just as easily be something entirely different) then the ONLY certain way to avoid the type of problems described by various posters above is to do a complete flush of the cooling system, at least IMHO.
This gets to an important practical aspect of this very fascinating discussion. Why would adding a "universal" antifreeze (which are ethylene glycol based) not be okay (or, wise) to add to a system with unknown coolant? Here is a basic article that points out one reason why not, but if I understand correctly, the reason to flush the system is not related to mixing universal with whatever unknown coolant exists in the system. Rather, it is to "remove contaminants and to maximize the service life of the new coolant," which would apply in any situation. https://www.counterman.com/universal-coolants-the-ultimate-answer/
I always try to stay well away from any product (or sales outlet) that contains the following words - farm, tractor, or universal...... To me universal is another word for “compromise”. YMMV.