Coolant/antifreeze to use?

[Bob86ZZ4]

My truck is a '03. I bought it April of '09 with 53,xxx miles on the clock. It had been sitting on the dealer's lot for over a year when I bought it. I don't have good records of the maintenance that was done on it before I got it. I've now got 61,xxx on it. I was thinking I should flush out the cooling system and fill with new stuff. I visited my local truck service center and talked to one of the mechanics. He said I could flush it out and just use whatever coolant I want in it. I hate dexcool since GM has had millions of problems with it. Figured I'd go with Prestone green stuff. But then I looked on the Caterpillar web site and they show two different kinds of coolant there. Anybody have any ideas whats the best?

 

[geofkaye]

.....use the CAT pinkish/orangie stuff.....and test it with the test strips every year in the spring and fall.....add the additive as per the instructions on the bottle and test again....if is important to do this because of cavitation near the cylinder liners to avoid holes......Cat had a problem with it years ago and their answer is the correct juice for a CAT engine.....usually speaking....one might have to change the juice every 5 years or more now.......geofkaye and the a Rivercity Girlz///...ps: treat your juice two times a year and ask about the water pump lube scenario....

 

[volvoman]

we sell texaco long life (red) and green antifreeze. both work well as long as you add conditioner. cat dosent use a coolant filter so you have to test and add conditioner. you can buy both premixed or pure. we change alot to green but were old school.

 

[Bob86ZZ4]

Thanks Volvoman. The Kenworth shop near me said pretty much the same thing. They also said to check it with the test strips Geof. They sell the Cat conditioner too and said it's good to use. I'm planning on draining as much out as I can, then adding water and running it a bit, then drain, then add 3 bottles of Cat cooling system flush. Then top off with water and run it for 90 minutes at operating temp. Then flush it all out a few times with water. Then drain it as much as possible. Fill with 6 gallons of Cat coolant, not the extended, just the regular Cat. Then top off with distilled water and add conditioner. That should about do it. After that I'm going to flush out the generator coolant too.