color of anifreeze

[Jerry Hixon]

I have a new to me 2004 beaver marquis. It currently has green color antifreeze. I need to add some, and what I have on hand is final charge global, but it is red or orange in color. On the container it is supposed to work for ec-1 cat.  Is this ok to add to the green that I currently have?   My motor is the 505P C-12.
Thank you, Jerry  

[Keith Moffett]

Hey Jerry congrats on the new rig, sounds great!
My best answer for you is no.  Were I in your place and depending on the maintenance records that came with the rig, I would simply add some distilled water and plan to flush the entire coolant system out and refill with CAT ELC.  (Just got this done and the shop charged me $50. for the work, I supplied the 12 gallons of ELC.)
I just dont like mixing antifreeze at all if it can be helped.
Does your rig have the plastic surge tank for the radiator fill?  Could that be a problem for you like it was on ours?

Best
Keith

[Joel Weiss]

Jerry:

All the green antifreeze is the traditional glycol-based product.  The red one you have is, most likely, the extended life product intended as an equivalent to CAT ELC. Although the products can be mixed it is not recommended and you would lose the benefits of the extended life coolant.  IMHO Keith is correct and the best thing to do would be to flush the system and refill it with CAT ELC.

Joel

[Edward Buker]

Jerry,

Standard antifreeze, the green stuff, if it is Prestone is not rated for heavy duty diesels because it does not have the right additive package in it. If you have maintenance records that tell you what was used maybe there is a green colored heavy duty diesel antifreeze that you could buy and add.

If you cannot sort that out, add distilled water for the short term and get the engine converted to Cat ELC or equivalent rated antifreeze for heavy duty diesel engines as others have suggested fairly soon.

Later Ed

[Gerald Farris]

Jerry,
I am going to give you a combination of the above answers, but with a little different view point. The red antifreeze you have is an equivalent coolant to Cat ELC, and it can be added to the green, but you loose all of the extended life benefits if you do. The green (ethylene glycol) coolant that you are using now is low silica coolant that is designed for HD diesel engines. It can be purchased at a HD truck supply store. However, the downside to running the green coolant is that it needs to be changed about every three years and the SCA (supplemental coolant additive) level needs to be checked and maintained at least yearly by changing the coolant filter.

On the other hand if you just add distilled water for now and change over to ELC (extended life coolant) at the next convenient time, you will get at least six years of service (most coaches are getting 7 or 8 years) and the only maintenance is to add an extender at 3 or 4 years. Also if you change over to ELC, I would strongly encourage removing the hoses to the coolant filter and plugging them at the engine. The reason for plugging these off at the engine is that the coolant filter is no longer needed with ELC, and these hoses are the number one reason for a cooling system related failure on a C 12.

Gerald    

[Edward Buker]

Here is a list from Prestone of all the varieties they sell and their version of green low silicate is called Prime that is suitable for heavy duty diesels. I was concerned that the RV had the green standard Prestone Longlife which is not. It is mind boggling all the colors out there now.....

http://prestone.com/enca/products/antifreeze_coolant/product_list

Gerald, thanks for pointing out that green dyed antifreeze is available in a heavy duty diesel formula, I had forgotten that and assumed that it might be the commonly available Prestone Longlife that I had been using in the Aqua Hot.

Jerry, Cat dealers have a small container of test strips to measure the SCA level of conventional antifreeze which may be new to you. They have bottles of SCA conditioner that you can use to add some if needed. The conditioner depletes over time so a check every few months is in order. Most of us have followed Gerald's advice and changed over to ELC and removed the filter and coolant lines that are prone to fail.....very good idea.

http://www.petersoncat.com/sites/all/sites/default/files/files/coolant_test_strip.pdf

Later Ed

[Jerry Hixon]

Thank,s everyone. I'm going to add distilled water for now and completely change to the newer stuff in the near future. I will probable eliminate the filter also. Jerry

[Gerald Farris]

Jerry,
To take the coolant filter out of the circuit, do not just close the valves at the filter. The hoses are the failure issue, and they will still have pressurized coolant in them unless they are removed and plugged at the engine.

Gerald