Teardown and Rebuild

[Dieselfuture]

9 minutes ago, leathermaneod said:

Did he give you any recommendations on what you should use?

No, and I wasn't talking about diesel at that time ether, just had some Chevy stuff in for surfacing and that's when he said all dexcoll they deal with they flush out and put regular long life Preston in. In my truck I'm running Zerex go5 right now, it's also environment friendly and suposedly you can dump it on the ground. I did some research and very few people said there are few engines that had some damage from using wrong coolant and thing is you won't know till it's coming in your cilynders. It's cheap enough I'm not risking it. The whole reason GM uses it is for longer waranty.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Dieselfuture

[leathermaneod]

3 minutes ago, Dieselfuture said:

It's cheap enough I'm not risking it.

That's how I feel too. That's why I'm trying to make sure I get the best. 

[Dieselfuture]

1 minute ago, leathermaneod said:

That's how I feel too. That's why I'm trying to make sure I get the best. 

Flletguard from cummins supposed to be really good. I'll try it next.

[leathermaneod]

I was looking into that, but I'd kinda like something that's a little more readily available. I just saw the Zerex G05 at autozone and that is looking pretty good.

[Buzzinhalfdozen]

6 hours ago, CSM said:

 

In the past I've thought that.  I also wonder if the grease is really what wears out first?  I know the general train of thought is "it can't hurt" but I don't think it is worth the work.  If the bearings are high quality and the truck is used properly with semi normal tires, it should work well.  Personally, I think that the big killer of unit bearings in our trucks is side loading from ball joints, track bars, etc. that are failed and are loading the bearings more than a truck in good repair.  The unit bearings i've replaced coincide with other front end issues, mainly ball joints.  

 

In short, I think the bearings are seeing a surface wear issue that results in dirty grease, where the cause of failure is surface fatigue, not lack of lubrication.   

You make some good points, those bearings take a pounding I'm actually surprised they last as long as they do. I just wonder how much dirt the seals are letting in because after 200k miles they're probably getting weak. This is where adding some grease could help. "The solution to pollution is dilution" 

[TFaoro]

12 hours ago, CSM said:

 

In the past I've thought that.  I also wonder if the grease is really what wears out first?  I know the general train of thought is "it can't hurt" but I don't think it is worth the work.  If the bearings are high quality and the truck is used properly with semi normal tires, it should work well.  Personally, I think that the big killer of unit bearings in our trucks is side loading from ball joints, track bars, etc. that are failed and are loading the bearings more than a truck in good repair.  The unit bearings i've replaced coincide with other front end issues, mainly ball joints.  

 

In short, I think the bearings are seeing a surface wear issue that results in dirty grease, where the cause of failure is surface fatigue, not lack of lubrication.   

 

I think the grease is what dries out first. Then it starts to surface fatigue the rollers and races. As long as there's a plentiful amount of grease in the bearing there should always be a thin boundary layer between the rollers and races.

As for not being worth the work.... it took me less than 20 min for each side.

 

10 hours ago, Dieselfuture said:

I was told by a rebuilder not to use dexcool as it causes severe electrolysis and damaging to gaskets and some other stuff.

 

Doing some research now......

 

4 hours ago, Buzzinhalfdozen said:

You make some good points, those bearings take a pounding I'm actually surprised they last as long as they do. I just wonder how much dirt the seals are letting in because after 200k miles they're probably getting weak. This is where adding some grease could help. "The solution to pollution is dilution" 

Love it!

[leathermaneod]

This TDR article gives some good info on coolant requirements for us. I don't think it says anything much about Dexcool, but it's still a good read...

http://www.turbodieselregister.com/tdrarticles/tdrarticle62_antifreeze.html

[TFaoro]

16 minutes ago, leathermaneod said:

This TDR article gives some good info on coolant requirements for us. I don't think it says anything much about Dexcool, but it's still a good read...

http://www.turbodieselregister.com/tdrarticles/tdrarticle62_antifreeze.html

Good read! From what I can find we need a HOAT (Hybrid Organic Acid Technology). I don't think the Dex meets that spec, so I'll likely be dumping it this weekend. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

 

I'm going to go with the Zerex G-05 for the aluminum protection, and it's readily available from Napa stores.

[Mopar1973Man]

As for universals like Prestone, Zerex, or NAPA coolants that yellow in color do a very good job as well for protection as well.

[leathermaneod]

1 hour ago, TFaoro said:

Good read! From what I can find we need a HOAT (Hybrid Organic Acid Technology). I don't think the Dex meets that spec, so I'll likely be dumping it this weekend. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

 

I'm going to go with the Zerex G-05 for the aluminum protection, and it's readily available from Napa stores.

No problem! I only know because I've been looking into this for myself. The thing that confuses me is the ASTM numbers. As per our owners manual, we don't need the HOAT, but that article claims that it is backwards compatible. However, IIRC the Zerex G-05 does not say the ASTM 4985 thats in our owners manual, it says 3066 I believe. Not sure how that affects things. I saw it is low silicate though. I was going to use the regular old green stuff from auto zone because it is ASTM 4985 and low silicate, but I want the premixed stuff and they don't have it in premixed. So then I was gona use Super Tech, but it doesn't say low silicate....

[Mopar1973Man]

I think there is too much being caught up in the technology and extended life change cycles. Pure in simple all coolant have a life cycle once the the coolant become corrosive in nature all them will do damage to a cooling system period. Don't matter if its HOAT, IAT, orange, yellow, or any color. If seen badly damaged radiators that have ran HOAT I've seen the same thing with yellow or green coolants too. So it comes down to cost of operation. Which material is cheaper and going to provide the needed protection for a period of time without damage. Being green coolant is what came in the engine that would be the cheapest typically. Yellow or orange typically are a bit more spendy (more so on the HOAT). Still in all you have to change and flush the system every so often because all coolant will break down and turn corrosive with time. The life span varies greatly with the vehicle, weather, driver and driving conditions.

[leathermaneod]

My intention is not to go a crazy long drain interval on the coolant. I'm just trying to figure out which is the safest option for the cooling system to run for a couple years. 

[Mopar1973Man]

Basically all name brands should be safe for use in our trucks.

 

Like the whole silicate issue was a big stink on Honda Goldwing's on how it would destroy water pumps and how you had to use a low or zero silicate coolant (Honda Coolant). I never did... Never had a water pump problem.

 

So like I said green coolant came with our trucks and anything today design wise is improvement over 15 year old technology which is still improving to this day. So I would have to say pick something of a name brand and go for it. If your changing colors I highly suggest you flush the either system out with lots and lots of water until it runs clear. If your using the same color / technology light flush with but good before loading up again.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Mopar1973Man

[leathermaneod]

Yes I am planning to face the truck downhill and then disconnect the lower hose and drain everything out as good as possible. Then fill up with distilled water, then run the truck, drain and repeat. 

[Mopar1973Man]

Won't be enough...I drain the existing coolant first. Then I pull the upper hose and thermostat out stick the garden hose to the radiator and leave idling for 2-3 minutes pumping through the block till nothing but clear water comes out. I normally kick the throttle up a couple of times to force more water through in surge to remove all sediment i the bottom of the block. Usually takes the 2-3 minutes of flowing water and engine idling to clear the entire system completely.

 

The whole fill with distilled water and run thing does not remove all the debris or sediment from the rear and bottom of the block and typically those people end up with water pump problems. Just draining out and filling up leaves all the junk in the back of the block. Where constant flowing water and surging the throttle now and then will remove it.

[CSM]

3 hours ago, TFaoro said:

 

I think the grease is what dries out first. Then it starts to surface fatigue the rollers and races. As long as there's a plentiful amount of grease in the bearing there should always be a thin boundary layer between the rollers and races.

 

true.  but does it dry out from overheating from bent parts or under normal driving conditions?  one points to grease being causal, one for not.  either way, it doesnt hurt to add some grease...  but filling it bothers me i think it adds undue stress to the seals.  

[leathermaneod]

My only concern with that is that my water has a lot of minerals in it...my shower heads get clogged and have to be cleaned out periodically...not sure how I feel about putting that in my cooling system....I debated about just getting a flush done for this reason, but I don't know if that's really any better than just draining and filling myself...I also thought about dumping gallons of distilled water in while running it to flush but idk if I can get the water in fast enough like that. 

Edited June 7, 2016 by leathermaneod

[Mopar1973Man]

I'm not saying to fill the truck with it I'm say to rinse and drain it out then load up with distilled water. Any cooling system shop is going to use a garden hose and lots of water. Then drain it out and fill with mixed coolant and distilled water.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Mopar1973Man

[deehammer]

4 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

I'm not saying to fill the truck with it I'm say to rinse and drain it out then load up with distilled water. Any cooling system shop is going to use a garden hose and lots of water. Then drain it out and fill with mixed coolant and distilled water.

 

Exactly what I did.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Mopar1973Man

[leathermaneod]

When you do it you put water in through the rad cap correct? Where does the water come out? And do you have to do anything special to make sure you get the heater core too?

Edited June 7, 2016 by leathermaneod