71 Series Coolant

[Nova Eona]

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?

[luvrbus]

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 

[windtrader]

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

[luvrbus]

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 

[windtrader]

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!

[Nova Eona]

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.

[dtcerrato]

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.

[Nova Eona]

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.

[chessie4905]

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

[windtrader]

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.

[luvrbus]

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 

[dtcerrato]

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.

[TomC]

I run good old Prestone green in my 8V-71 for 28 years. And clean as a whistle.

[Dave5Cs]

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.

[luvrbus]

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