Hey all, what are you running for coolant in your 71 series? 92 series need not apply - seems like most of the two-stroke coolant discussions revolve around the 92s' wet liners and anti-cavitation requirements, I'd like to get the scoop specifically on us dry-linered folks. Preferred coolant type and brand, any good tales or horror stories?
Ethylene Glycol based heavy duty with low silica drop out ,Power Cool,Zerex any good antifreeze 92's use the same, there is no cavitation on 92 series only 2 inches of the liner have water touching the liner the rest of the liner is dry like a 71 series,the pre charge type is the easiest then there is no need to deal with the chemicals of the past
This came up yesterday in a conversation where I learned the standard green stuff is not the right product. Hell if I'm going to do a total flush. Maybe when I feel generous I can drain a couple gallons and refill with the right stuff. At least it will boost my conscious that I'm not abusing my bus. LOL
Quote from: windtrader on June 03, 2022, 03:51:09 PM
This came up yesterday in a conversation where I learned the standard green stuff is not the right product. Hell if I'm going to do a total flush. Maybe when I feel generous I can drain a couple gallons and refill with the right stuff. At least it will boost my conscious that I'm not abusing my bus. LOL
Color has nothing to do with it ,the extended life antifreeze started the designer colors ,you can buy green at a Detroit dealer I buy OAT in green from WW Williams in the case for less than 10 bucks a gal for a Detroit,buying antifreeze is like buying ice cream your engine came into the world with green antifreeze all the old 2 stroke DD have since 1939 ,Cummins engines use the red ,new 4 strokes take a different type antifreeze,buy good heavy duty green not the W/M crap and you are fine if it meets GM 6038M or GM 1899M specs
Thanks for the details. I may have to bite the bullet and drain and refill with the proper stuff because, yeah, the stuff in there is surely the run of the mill. I love to spend money on my bus, the theme song for all busnuts!
Yeah I'm just making sure I'm doing it right as I had a feature creep moment. Snapped a bolt on the power steering reservoir so I figured "Well, while I'm fixing that I may as well have those old PS lines rebuilt. And if I'm doing that, I should replace the water line from the block to the air compressor and install the block heater too."
Of course, then the next day I backed the bolt out successfully and could have just put it right back on the road if not for everything else, but I'll never regret preventative maintenance.
We'd been running store bought off the shelf Prestone concentrate with distilled water for 43 years now w/o issue and run a coolant bypass filter with additives.
Quote from: dtcerrato on June 04, 2022, 12:15:45 AM
We'd been running store bought off the shelf Prestone concentrate with distilled water for 43 years now w/o issue and run a coolant bypass filter with additives.
Is that just the yellow bottle 'light duty' Prestone stuff? That stuff tempts me because it would let me put off a full coolant flush.
Walmart sells a house brand heavy duty coolant that meets specs for current otr hd vehicles. Should be fine for yours, but better than you actually need.
https://www.walmart.com/search?q=Heavy+duty+otr+coolant
Sometimes I have to step back, look up, get out of the weeds, and put comments, great comments, into perspective. There is a lot of highly professional experience here that drove and serviced buses that ran millions of miles. Now, in a year my bus puts on the miles a revenue bus does in a week, so I need to put myself back in the seat of MY bus, consider the advice, and decide if doing something different probably is alright with such a tiny fraction of use compared to OTR buses.
Forget biting the bullet and draining all the fluid. It's green, so what. Is it even light green, fine for me. I don't go anywhere it freezes. I just go the other way. Just a note to other noobie busnuts to help sort out the line between works for recreational use vs commercial service.
Quote from: windtrader on June 04, 2022, 08:12:11 AM
Sometimes I have to step back, look up, get out of the weeds, and put comments, great comments, into perspective. There is a lot of highly professional experience here that drove and serviced buses that ran millions of miles. Now, in a year my bus puts on the miles a revenue bus does in a week, so I need to put myself back in the seat of MY bus, consider the advice, and decide if doing something different probably is alright with such a tiny fraction of use compared to OTR buses.
Forget biting the bullet and draining all the fluid. It's green, so what. Is it even light green, fine for me. I don't go anywhere it freezes. I just go the other way. Just a note to other noobie busnuts to help sort out the line between works for recreational use vs commercial service.
Coolants are designed to dissipate the heat and protect engine parts too it is not all freezing coolant has to do it's job,with the engines firing at 1000 degrees cheap coolant will take the top of a piston or crack a liner and kill the o_rings on the head set,It is really no place to get cheap.Now with all the G rating on antifreeze it is more confusing .it is a no brainer if you read your manual it all there and DD even sent out upgrade on the coolant section years ago as better products came on the market.I bought my manuals many years ago and DD always sent me all the changes up to about 8 years ago
Quote from: Nova Eona on June 04, 2022, 07:25:56 AM
Is that just the yellow bottle 'light duty' Prestone stuff? That stuff tempts me because it would let me put off a full coolant flush.
Yes the yellow gallon jugs. But even they are varieties now - regular, extended life, yada yada. Sometimes I wonder how far beyond the lable the differences are!
The wording in Da book for the 4104 671 is as simple as it gets before all the capitalistic hoopla happened. IMHO.
I run good old Prestone green in my 8V-71 for 28 years. And clean as a whistle.
Hey Don,
At least if you are not going to use the right stuff, go to NAPA and get the coolant test strips(cheap) and test the coolant and see if it needs the lost chemicals. At least you will know or as Clifford referenced you can wait until there is coolant in your oil and then it is easy to drain out the same hole. And it makes oil right in your engine so that's cheaper too. :^
Quote from: TomC on June 04, 2022, 09:28:47 AM
I run good old Prestone green in my 8V-71 for 28 years. And clean as a whistle.
I am sure when FreightLiner in Vegas rebuilt that engine Prestone was not dumped in it maybe Aliance Green
I have my oil and my anti freeze tested at a lab every 2 years and so far the anti freeze comes back fine and the oil as well .
( started in 2016 when I got the coach )
all this for $ 32 each test then I know how things are plus the first year it gave me a starting test point for years to come
You could always use some good ol'"Ditch Water" it said some where in some DD book a lil' birdie told me.
"Objection your honor... Hearsay! ; :o
Quote from: Van on June 04, 2022, 02:32:29 PM
You coul
d always use some good ol'"Ditch Water" it said some where in some DD book a lil' birdie told me.
"Objection your honor... Hearsay! ; :o
It says DD does not recommend ditch water lol,I have never used distilled water R/O is all I ever used only beacuse the well water here is nasty,I have no idea where use only distilled water came from but it did not come from Detroit for the 2 strokes
Quote from: windtrader on June 04, 2022, 08:12:11 AM
Sometimes I have to step back, look up, get out of the weeds, and put comments, great comments, into perspective. There is a lot of highly professional experience here that drove and serviced buses that ran millions of miles. Now, in a year my bus puts on the miles a revenue bus does in a week, so I need to put myself back in the seat of MY bus, consider the advice, and decide if doing something different probably is alright with such a tiny fraction of use compared to OTR buses.
Forget biting the bullet and draining all the fluid. It's green, so what. Is it even light green, fine for me. I don't go anywhere it freezes. I just go the other way. Just a note to other noobie busnuts to help sort out the line between works for recreational use vs commercial service.
Think I needed to hear this, thanks! I like to take good care of the old girl, but at the same time there's a lot to take care of and only so much time; skipping a full coolant flush cycle to switch over to a more 'ideal' coolant means less time to fix other things that matter more for what I'm doing with it, then I can revisit the idea in a couple years and probably pay a shop to do it right if I want to swap out.
On a separate note, anyone know how a block heater is meant to install in a 6-71? I've got a Kat's DD1 which looks like it should go into one of the water jacket ports, but the one in the front has the water pump assembly on it and the back one has a coolant line going to the air compressor, no visible matching ports on the far side of the engine either.
Obviously, if the problem using the stuff on sale O'reilly is that bad, I will add to the list of crap to do the bus. A flush/refill of the right stuff is cheap insurance. It's sometimes y'all get down, way down, where some topics are more preference or more relevant to buses running every day. What is the code phrase "heavy duty truck"?
We have the 2000 watt Jimmy - Heet block heater on our 671. It's in the water jacket opening behind & right of the fuel pump. Replaced the element once in 43 years. Makes the engine toasty in short order...
Are you referring to this opening here?
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLVqe-JpXFTpHy47fLxEW6GDKOyx6j7Z-nhgZqfKcGctqzBsapCoegOsAwxy-MQiQoIuy2YZIhlNiCSTHDITMHHeM-NVeTECUOhLAwnu7RZm6UMpkUc5XTKqcqH6oOj-4UXQP4S8t5KD6ZcDcgBtrrz0tw=w1080-h1440-no?authuser=0)
Yes
They made a air heater for Detroit's and Cummins still uses it, just a giant spark plug with a relay and the glow plug was mounted on the intake above the blowers you still see those on generators with the 6-71
Quote from: dtcerrato on June 05, 2022, 10:36:44 AM
Yes
Curious - where does the aft-facing water port on your air compressor connect to if that port is occupied with the heater?
That air heater sounds interesting too, any idea on a make or model?
We had a brand new surplus 8-71. In our school. Light seafoam green color. It had an intake heater on it.
Aha, answered my own question. 6-71s came both with and without a water-cooled air compressor as an option, mine is the former and the block heater I have is meant for the latter. Explains why the P.O. never installed it! They sell block heater kits which have a port on the plate for the compressor line, got one of those on order.
Now just gotta figure out a source or replacement for the defroster-core bleeder valve that barely came out in one piece, then I can get this thing back together. Still curious to know more about intake heaters as well, I live in New England and can never have enough cold-weather options.
Well it is still green
Quote from: windtrader on June 04, 2022, 09:23:34 PM
Obviously, if the problem using the stuff on sale O'reilly is that bad, I will add to the list of crap to do the bus. A flush/refill of the right stuff is cheap insurance. It's sometimes y'all get down, way down, where some topics are more preference or more relevant to buses running every day. What is the code phrase "heavy duty truck"?
Don first thing I would do is go get the test strips as advised earlier. You may not need to flush and fill at all. You might only need to add a little of this or that to what ya got and be good to go!
IF your bus has a coolant filter (and it probably doesn't unless someone added it after it was built), you can put the pre-charged filters on it and have no worries!
;D BK ;D
Coolant system refilled! Fun little FYI, if anyone else is ever doing this and finds that their defrost heater core vent valve screw is mangled behind re-usability, you can purchase the following or similar:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GLWJTGW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GLWJTGW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)
and turn it down then re-thread it to 5/16-24 so it will fit (high temp thread seal suggested). The work to change it over was a PITA, but now installed it works great! Pokes out further than OEM, so if you have a factory front that might be an issue, mine will be concealed behind some drawers and the radio. I don't have a lathe so I wound up using a bolt in the drill press and some files to make the magic happen, amazing how creative you can get sometimes with these things.
replace defroster radiator ( recore) a few years ago. had a tiny damp spot on floor in shop under the drain hose for defroster rad. slowly more noticeable after a few years. when I bleed it with new core, just opened bleeder and since it is a little lower than the rest of cooling system, bled nicely. reopened bleeded twice after that in next couple of days and no more air.