Ford 83-94 6.9 and 7.3L General Discussion of 83-94 6.9 and 7.3 Liter Ford Diesels

coolant questions

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  #1  
Old 02-11-2014, 01:11 PM
Crazyredneck1980's Avatar
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Ok so I changed my antifreeze to regular green antifreeze how many ounces of sca additive do i need to add if my coolant capacity is 8 gallons my truck is a 88 f250 7.3 idi
 
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Old 02-12-2014, 04:04 AM
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You should get a coolant test strip and see what your at right now. But you should be fine with a 1 pint bottle. I put 1 pint in a big rig with reg. green 50/50 coolant.
 
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Old 02-12-2014, 04:02 PM
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Make sure the coolant you used is low silicate coolant. It should say that somewhere on the bottle. If it doesn't say low silicate then it's not. If you mix SCA's with regular antifreeze it will turn to goo.

You know what, here's a clip from the article I got that info from.

Here is some simple advice about how to treat your engine to prevent any harm. If you have no clue what type of coolant you have or what's going on with your engine coolant, drain and flush your cooling system. You need to find old style ethylene glycol antifreeze, it's the green stuff. It also needs to be the low silicate formula, if you don't use low silicate formula, the silicates will mix with your SCAs and create a really nasty sludge in your radiator and it'll destroy your cavitation protection and probably your radiator.

A perfect example of what is needed is FLEETRITE Antifreeze. FLEETRITE is sold at International parts dealers and probably other places. You will need 4 gallons of FLEETRITE. (you can find better buys than fleetrite, just make sure it is green LOW SILICATE antifreeze, if it doesn't specifically say low silicate, then it isn't) Next, go to Ford and buy 2 bottles of VC-8, previously known as FW-16, this is your SCAs. Sometimes you may also to buy the SCAs you need at the International dealer, it'll be called DCA-4, they don't always have it in stock though. You can also buy them from Fleetguard/Cummins and it will be called DCA-4 as well. Then go to the grocery store and buy 4 gallons of distilled water. It MUST be distilled water, this can't be stressed enough. With other minerals and metals floating around in the coolant from tap water your SCAs won't function properly and may potentially not bond to walls and you'll be no better off than before.

Finally fill your cooling system with a 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze and add two bottles of SCAs. Two bottles is what it requires to reach the amount of concentration to be effective in preventing damage from cavitation.

You will need to get test strips to check your concentration of SCAs from time to time, these are purchased at a Cummins dealer or Fleetguard dealer. Cummins owns Fleetguard.
 

Last edited by Sycostang67; 02-12-2014 at 04:33 PM.
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Old 02-12-2014, 08:40 PM
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thank you both
 
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Old 02-13-2014, 07:29 PM
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I checked at ford dealer today and they said add half a pint and in a couple of months check with strip and add the other half pint, thanks
 
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Old 02-14-2014, 07:33 PM
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yeah its like 1 unit per 5 gallons or so .. just did this on a bus ... and use de-ionized water ... less salinity content and less to no mineral content .. cheep too ... Wal-Mart
 
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