When it comes to extended life coolants (ELCs), the news is all good. They’re more expensive than conventional coolants, but last for 500,000 miles or better in trucks and 6,000 hours or more in off-road equipment. And ELCs don’t plate out a mineral coating on the inside of your cooling system, so the heat exchange process is more efficient and water pump wear is greatly reduced.
ELCs are also backward compatible to any age or vintage of truck or equipment, and they deliver exceptionally good returns on investment in trucks or equipment that operate in severe conditions, high dust areas or have high idle time, says Jeff Snyder, industrial brand specialist, Chevron Products.
“With conventional coolants, the system was checked at every service interval,” says Snyder. “A lot of times with extended life coolants they fail to do that because they see that word ‘extended’ in there.”
The lesson here is you don’t have to change ELCs nearly as often, but you should keep an eye on your cooling systems regardless of what type of coolant you use, for reasons unrelated to the coolant itself.
The best coolant in the world won’t save you any money if you neglect your cooling system or don’t follow the manufacturer’s recommended procedures. So make sure everybody in your shop and your drivers and operators and the people in your supply and inventory positions know what’s going on and why. Here are the steps you need to take to ensure success:
The new ELCs have become the factory fill for many equipment and truck OEMs. If you have new equipment or trucks with ELCs but you’re still using conventional coolants in older equipment and trucks, consider upgrading the older engines to ELCs at the next change interval. The reason for this is simple – inventory management. If you have only one coolant in your equipment and inventory, you reduce to zero the chance that somebody will use the wrong coolant.
