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Changing the engine coolant – standard to extended
A couple of months and 600 miles ago I changed the engine coolant chemistry from standard life conventional with SCA, to extended life OAT (DD PowerCool+).I did 5 dump and refills w/distilled water and drove the bus each time to open up the thermostats. I also turned on the Webasto cabin and dash circuits, and the valves open for the Raritan hot water heater. These sub-systems are tied into the engine cooling system on our 96 Liberty XL.Folks that have done this before know you can only drain out about 75% (at best) of the cooling system fluid each time its drained.The 6th fill I did was with 12 gals of DD PowerCool Plus OAT concentrate (pt# OWI 23519397), and the remainder with distilled water, a blank Fleetguard # 2077 filter, and a new OTR heater system stainless filter located in the OTR evaparator/heater core bay, Wix # D42A250TAV, which is the same as Parker # 925566.This project took many days. Combined with the spring of 2023 radiator core cleaning: https://www.prevostcommunity.com/forum/threaddetails.asp? Category=Chassis&ThreadID= 14152 I’ve noticed on my ScanGaugeD the engine fan clutch not kicking into high as often as it use to. Better fuel mileage:) On this report:Sample #1 is about a unused/virgin 59/41% sample.Sample #2 is a sample I sent after 2 mths and 600 miles of use.This provides me a starting point with the OAT chemistry. I’ll get annual reports so I know what is what.*PS* – I’ll dump a couple of gals and replenish with concentrate to bring the concentration up since we operate as high as 10,000′ above sea-level in the western USA. -
2 Replies
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I have done the change Don describes on two of my coaches and it is a labor intensive job to get the old coolant from the system as well described by Don.
Anyone contemplating the change which is worth its weight in gold is to do two things. First and foremost change every coolant hose because when the job is complete you do not want a hose to fail before the coolant ages out, making a premature refill necessary.
Secondly mark tags in big letters so even the dumbest mechanic on his worst day will not add conventional coolant to the system or replace the blank coolant conditioner with one that adds the needed chemicals to a conventional coolant.
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Pic of the supplies
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