Final Charge is Installed

[moisheh]

I bumped this up as I just found an old email from Cummins. It appears that the life of the coolant in an RV application is forever!!!


" Thank you for contacting us using FleetMaster. Our ES Compleat OAT coolant is an organic coolant that is NAPS free (Nitrites, Amines, Phosphates and Silicates). This coolant is also a lifetime coolant (300,000 mile or 6000 hr.). If you mix it with any other coolant that does not meet those specifications, then you effectively reduce the life of the coolant as well as make it extremely difficult to get accurate readings when testing your coolant yearly. We do not make any type of converter. You cannot remove NAPS from coolant that contains it. If you want to change coolant the best way to do it is to drain and flush the system and then add the new coolant.

There is not a month limit on coolant in the system. If you properly monitor your coolant and re-charge when needed there is no reason why it should not last the 300,000 miles. However, coolant still sealed in it's container has a shelf life. Concentrate is 2 years and pre-mix has a 5 year shelf life. I hope this helps. Please let me know if you need anything else. Thanks again and have a great day!

[Barlow46]

Originally Posted by William Willard

moisheh -- happycarz (Harry Martin), our friend Terry, & myself have had aluminum tanks made -- A radiator shop in Phoenix made them using Harry`s drawing -- It`s been over 2 years & have had good results -- I carried the plastic tank around for a year just in case the new tank didn`t work out, but it`s sitting in my shop now, waiting for someone who really needs one, & I can sell it for twice what`s it`s worth -- I replaced mine to keep up with Harry -- Pep Boy`s Auto Parts is a good place to buy Final Charge -- They don`t carry full strengh, but do stock 50/50 -- The best hose we`ve found is from NAPA Auto Parts -- The hose will have a white stripe on it -- About $10.00 per foot -- You would only need to drain enough coolant, so it would be below the bottom end of the hose, where it connects to the engine, or just wait till Q this winter, & I`ll be glad to crawl around on the rocks & change the hose for you -- The picture in the attachment is Harry`s tank, buy mine is identical -- The cost of the tank was $325.00 -- Bill Willard

Bill, help me with what I am seeing on your aluminum tank. The two bulb looking fittings are fluid level indicators? The wired fitting near the bottom is the low fluid warning indicator? On the top just just back of the Radiator cap are two elbow fittings, fluid in and out fittings? Anything else? Did they happen to put a petcock drain on the bottom? What are the dimensions of the tank and do you have the name of the radiator shop that made the tank? Reason I ask is that I have an aluminum fuel cell tank with standard boat fuel cap installed. It has never been used for anything and looks to be about the right size to modify for overflow tank. Would need to get someone put in the fittings but I would like to talk with someone at the shop about it before I get too far into a retrofit. Thanks

[moisheh]

Barlow: Source Engineering also sells an aluminum tank.

[William Willard]

Barlow46 --The tank is 8 x 8 x 12 inches high -- It has a baffle in the middle for reinforcement -- It`s about a 3 gallon tank, where as the plastic stock tank is about 5 gallons --It has no petcock -- I use a 16# pressure cap because that`s what was stock when new --Will try to find the invoice for the radiator`s shop name -- Bill Willard

[Mbl Cndo]

Ok, I'll be the token dummy here.... what's an "AF" in this regard?

[Barlow46]

No problem, I have a problem with acronyms at times also. AF = anti freeze

[Happycarz]

After Bill telling me of his coolant hose failure, I looked at mine to find it cracking. This 1 1/4' hose had a blue strip on it. I had Monaco change it while there with my "list" of items to be taken care under warranty when the coach was 10 months old. They installed a blue stripped hose, which lasted 2 years before severe cracking. Both of these hoses are straight hoses with an wire molded in and were cracking where it was flexed. Now I have had a white striped hose on for a year and so far so good. Maybe tomorrow I should look closely again. But I do keep a spare on board. My friend Terry has his rupture twice on his 08 Scepter. So for those that haven't yet inspected theirs, maybe now iis a good time to.

I had the tank made at CRS for $325. The two fittings at the top, which are for return lines, were always hissing and seeping on the original plastic tank. Next, the tank started leaking at the neck, hence the aluminum tank. Problem solved.

So, to tie this to the OP, when doing cooling service, look closely at the tank and especially the hose that exits from the bottom of it.

Here's another view of the tank.

[moisheh]

I wonder if the premature failure of the hose is due to a sharp bend in the hose. Mine is a side rad and the tank is mounted to the far right of the engine compartment. I will go out to the unit and check that this morning.

[moisheh]

I am enclosing some pics of the hose routing on my unit. I can see a few problems. That hose should never have been installed without at least one metal elbow. Any hose that long with that sharp a bend is going to fail. The hose is not secure and only held from moving via a very large Adel clamp. Not good. There is another bend as well. That along with the heat from the DPF is a disaster waiting to happen. The file I have enclosed is a description of the Gates Green Stripe hose. I first learned of this hose when working on our Bluebird. BB used this hose in the generator compartment and also behind the rad. Our Bird is a 1988 and was 19 years old when I changed these hoses. The generator compartment is very small and gets very hot. This hose is bullet proof. However it is not very flexible. It can take a slight bend so Bluebird used those copper elbows. Very common on HD trucks. This hose is EXTREMELY expensive but worth it. NAPA has the same hose but it is called Yellow Stripe. Something like $10.00 a foot.

[Mr_D]

I found, through the forums here, that Detroit Diesel Power Cool Plus is the same thing as Final Charge and approved by Cummins. Final Charge was going for just over $25 a gallon for the concentrate, the Power Cool Plus is $15.04 at Pacific Power. They got 6 gallons in yesterday and set it aside for me, waiting for the 7th gallon to come in.

[William Willard]

Where are you going to put 7 gallons of concentrate anti freeze -- Bill Willard