Do it yourself ?

[Richard Wold]

My 03 Diplomat with the Cummins 330ISC is overdue a cooling system flush and fill. I want to get away from using SCA and use Final Charge coolant.

My question is, has anyone done this job themselves?

Also, what is the capacity of the cooling system? Neither the Cummins engine manual or the Monaco manual give a specific cooling system capacity.

I am hoping that this can be a do it yourself because the labor rate at Cummins is $120/hr.

[a k]

I just changed mine and used Shell EC. nothing to do for 6 years or 300,000 miles. Bought it for $14.05/gal and mixed it 50-50
with RO water. Took 12 gallons total. Didn't flush. Was clean. Had Shell in it and some Jackass mech added a SAC filled filter.

Drain it out in 5 gal buckets and you can get pretty close what it holds. No one could answer what mine held either.

500 HP ISM

[H. Miller]

My Beaver (with same engine) owners handbook gives complete details as to how to change coolant but no capacity!! Guess you are expected to note "what comes out" so that you'll know "what should go in"
The change procedure is about the same as a car.
1. Drain
2. Fill with clean water and sodium carbonate (1 pound per 6 gallons)
3. Run engine 5 min. ABOVE 176 deg. F.
4. Drain
5. Refill with clean water
6. Run engine 5 min. ABOVE 176 deg. F.
7. Drain
8. Flush with clean water til only clean comes out the drain
9. Change thermostat.
10. Fill with new coolant
11. Run engine til warm (thermostat opens) and add add'l coolant as req'd.
12. Check for leaks.
I omitted all the obvious drain opening and closings also, animals LOVE the deadly old coolant. Dispose off correctly.
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Also note that the SCA element is to be replaced but if SCA is no longer in the system would the element be discarded with no replacement?? Hopefully one of our more knowledgeable folks can shed light on that area.

[Diplomat Don]

Richard....Good info from H. Miller. Yours should take somewhere around 10-12 gallons of coolant. I used Final Charge in mine, but ran into a problem. I could only find Final Charge in a 50/50 mix. I wanted at least a couple of gallons of straight Final Charge so I could add that at the end to compensate for water I couldn't drain out. I eventually found some and kept one bottle in the coach for emergencies.

I didn't change my thermostat and I didn't add anything else to the flush. I drained, flushed, drained, flushed and refilled it.

I think my coach actually runs cooler on the Final Charge. The temp gauge stays the same, but it doesn't climb as fast or has high on grades.

One other note: Turn the heater on so it circulates coolant out of the heater core.

[Sixpack98]

I used the same method Hal describes and can only suggest you turn the heater on and adjust the thermostat to full hot. Otherwise, you will leave residual old coolant in the system. Not sure so little will harm anything but still not a bad idea.

I also used Final Charge and the biggest hurdle is finding full concentrate. A fellow member hooked me up with a couple of gallons of full strength. In retrospect, using 50/50 is probably ok. With such a large coolant capacity the gallon or so residual water left after flushing probably does not greatly impact the recommended %.

[Rex]

Guys, if you have a coolant filter on you engine, and go to Final Charge, you must replace the coolant filter with a dummy filter without the SCA charge. DON'T leave the old filter in place thinking it will be ok once the SCA is depleted out of it. Problem doing that is the filter deteriorates internally and can then cause you big problems.

[walt2137]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Wold My 03 Diplomat with the Cummins 330ISC is overdue a cooling system flush and fill. I want to get away from using SCA and use Final Charge coolant. My question is, has anyone done this job themselves? Also, what is the capacity of the cooling system? Neither the Cummins engine manual or the Monaco manual give a specific cooling system capacity. I am hoping that this can be a do it yourself because the labor rate at Cummins is $120/hr.

Richard here is a web site for instructions for Final Charge.
Final Charge Antifreeze - Heavy Duty Links

[Richard Wold]

Thanks for the replies. Good information. I am going to see if I can get an accurate quote from Cummins. If it is to high, I will give it a go myself.

[Twomed]

Also note that the SCA element is to be replaced but if SCA is no longer in the system would the element be discarded with no replacement?? Hopefully one of our more knowledgeable folks can shed light on that area.
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Hal they make a filter with no SCA in in, just a blank, that you use with the EL coolant,

[Richard Wold]

I changed the coolant to Final Charge yesterday. Wasn't a hard job. The hardest part was getting the old coolant filter off. Must have been installed with no oil and by a gorilla.

Drained about 11 1/2 gallons out of the sysem. Got the coolant in the heater core and 40' hoses as well.

Main concern is I could only get 11 gallons back in the system. Cummins manual talks about bleeding air out of aftercooler if equipped but I don't think the ISC 330 has an aftercooler. I know that the heater system is full. Only thing I noticed was the lower half of the radiator was warm and the upper half was cooler. Ran the motor at idle for about 15 min. and temp gauge got midway betweenn 150 and 175.

Any ideas where the other 1/2 gallon might belong?

[GaryKD]

Hi Richard,
For me that last 1/2 gallon was found over the next few months. The cooling system "burped" several times. Check your expansion tank coolant level frequently over the next couple of thousand miles.