Choosing the right coolant for truck fleets is not as simple as finding the cheapest price. FE (Fleet Equipment Mag) surveyed coolant experts around the industry about the most important things fleets should know when it comes to their coolant. Below is a brief guide to your trucks’ coolant, in the form of 10 coolant tips. Enjoy!

10 Tips

1. First things first: know what kind of coolant your truck OEM recommends. If you’ve bought a used truck, you’ll want to know what coolant the previous owner used.
2. There are quite a few different types of coolant. The color is a good indicator. TMC recommends purple for fully formulated coolants, and red for extended life coolants.
3. Don’t mix coolant types in the same truck! “The problem with topping off a fully formulated cooling system with extended life coolant is you’re diluting the additive technologies in both products, and in this case they don’t work together to fight corrosion,” says Stede Granger, OEM service manager for Shell. “So, as you add more extended life coolant, you’re diluting the amount of additive you have from the fully formulated conventional coolant. Mixing the two coolants will result in not enough additive from either to protect the engine, which could result in engine failure.”
4. Darryl Purificati is the OEM technical liaison for Petro-Canada Lubricants. He recommends pre-mixed solutions to ensure concentration and consistency is correct.

Coolant Quality Matters

1. Is the coolant certified? Does the coolant feature virgin or recycled materials? (Mark Alexander, director of product management for Old World Industries). Additionally, it should comply with minimum requirements for heavy-duty coolant. Refer to the appropriate ASTM, TMC and SAE specifications/recommendations.
2. “If you’re buying bulk (unpackaged) coolant, be sure to include specific instructions regarding coolant quality during transit and delivery.” This recommendation is from Lauren Lewis. Lauren is the senior technical support specialist of coolant and chemical technology for Cummins Filtration. “Be clear about your requirements for cleanliness, verification of product type, and so on.”
3. Dan Holdmeyer, industrial and coolants brand manager at Chevron, recommends finding out whether you need nitrite or nitrite-free coolant. Equally important is whether you need to condition any new radiators.
4. Holdmeyer also suggests determining whether the entire fleet’s coolants should be consolidated and/or replaced. In other words, should all of your trucks use the same coolant? If so, you’ll need to follow the right procedures.
5. When switching coolant brands or types, consider the end-goal. Colin Dilley, VP of technology for Prestone, recommends asking: what am I trying to achieve with my coolant change?” “Coolant is often taken for granted and the financial return on investment for it is overlooked,” he says. “Coolant is designed to do one thing: keep the temperature of the engine at an optimal temperature so the engine is the most fuel efficient and produces the least amount of emissions. To perform in this manner, the coolant must do two things well: (1) transfer heat from the engine and (2) keep the cooling system clean by preventing and eliminating future corrosion for the life of the coolant so it works as it is designed.”

Last, but not least…

1. Switching from one type of coolant to another is not easy. Draining and replacing engine oils is common procedure. This rarely happens with coolant, as it’s both costly and difficult to do so. So if you do want to switch your fleet over to a different type of coolant, you need to be sure to follow the appropriate steps, working with your coolant supplier to do so, according to Shell’s Granger. Your coolant supplier may offer products that help with this; in Shell’s case, Granger says, that would be Shell Rotella ELC correction fluid, which brings up the additive level in the existing coolant to the level it needs to reach to provide the expected corrosion protection in the cooling system.

Truck fleet oil analysis is not a “one-size-fits-all” formula. Cutting corners in the short term often proves consequential in the long run. This article explains the risk of excluding truck fleet oil analysis from your PM program.

Among our trucking customers, we are seeing more and more mixed fleets of older and newer trucks from different OEMs. That presents a challenge from a preventive maintenance perspective.

Many operators are under the impression they can have a standardized PM program across their entire fleet. To keep things simple, they rely on one oil grade for both older and newer engines. Additionally, they service every vehicle on the same, conservative schedule. This means oil changes are taking place at more frequent intervals than manufacturers recommend. Further, because they are changing oil so often, they believe they can afford to forego routine oil analysis.

Flawed Logic

There are a couple of flaws in this logic. For one thing, maintenance managers following this conservative approach are not making optimal use of their oil. They are spending more than they really need to on oil and service year after year. Factor in downtime across a large or mid-sized fleet, and the costs of unnecessary maintenance add up quickly.

Two, routine oil analysis isn’t just about the condition of in-service oil. It’s a proven, effective way to uncover a host of issues that can impair engine durability and performance. Issues include dirt contamination, coolant leakage, fuel dilution or a number of other potential problems.  By foregoing routine oil analysis, you are losing that insight – and therefore increasing the risk that an undetected problem might eventually lead to equipment failure.

Of course, routine oil analysis will also give you indicators of how much longer the oil is likely to hold up. This enables you to establish practical maintenance schedules that take into account the varying requirements of vehicles within your fleet.

Best Practices

Best practices call for a comprehensive preventive maintenance plan in which you track each vehicle individually and use the OEM-recommended grade of oil for that vehicle and its operating conditions. Knowing the OEM guidelines for oil drain intervals, you can use routine oil analysis to identify potential problems and make an informed judgment about how much to safely extend drain intervals. Yes, routine oil analysis requires some extra effort, but it’s a relatively small investment that may pay big dividends in the form of lower annual maintenance costs and more productive time on the road. Why not reduce your risks in order to reap a big reward?

About the Author

James Booth graduated from the University of Southampton (UK) with an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and Ph.D. in Tribology. James began his career with Chevron 10 years ago in Chevron Oronite Technology, The Netherlands, and later moved to Richmond (Ca, USA), as a formulator within Automotive Engine Oil (AEO) Product Development team. He previously held the position of Americas region AEO Product Qualification Team Leader, and vice-Chair of the American Chemistry Council Product Approval Protocol Task Group. James is currently the Commercial Sector Manager supporting Chevron’s Delo brand and other related lubricants brands.

Coopersburg & Liberty Kenworth Service Department

Drivers need dependable transportation and they also need a dependable service team to get the job done when work is required. The service experts at Coopersburg & Liberty Kenworth share one common goal: getting you back on the road quickly. Whether you’ve scheduled a preventative maintenance appointment, or your truck has been towed in, our team of factory trained certified technicians will make sure you’re back on the road in no time. Services include major and minor repairs, factory recall repairs, preventative and seasonal maintenance, body repairs, and more.

Fast turnaround times, competitive pricing, and friendly customer service set us apart from the competition.