Volvo Cooling System & Antifreeze

7/28/2015

Volvo Cooling System & Antifreeze

I may have screwed up (again)......

RandyA
11 June 2010
09:01 AM
I recently added two gallons of regular Advance Auto (green) antifreeze to my Volvo after doing some work on the rear heater core.

I happened to note in the maintenance manual while doing some reading last night that I am NOT suppose to use regular automotive antifreeze due to the amount of silicates added.  I also noted that I have a filter I am suppose to change when a test of the antifreeze shows the need for certain additives.

Well, do I need to drain and refill the cooling system due to my 2 gallon boo-boo? Other than Volvo, where may I get the coolant tested? I have not been able to locate a small test kit on the Internet, only fleet kits with hundreds of strips that are extremely expensive.

Jack Mayer
11 June 2010
12:53 PM
Well, as you noted, you used the wrong antifreeze. You should use antifreeze formulated for diesel use, since the silicate levels are different.  They are higher in the antifreeze you used.  The DCA used in the diesel antifreeze "may" react with the higher levels of silicates and cause a "paste" to form in the radiator...not good since it can clog the passages over time.

The test strips measure the DCA levels.  Most NAPAs carry test strips, as do all big truck dealers.

I don't know if you should flush and refill or not....one of the "wrenches" here will have to say....John, Dave?

Russ Barnes
11 June 2010
02:40 PM
Locally here in the S.E. Truck Pro handles many of the supplies I get.  The test strips can go bad with age so they have smaller quantities available in plastic bottles.  Also Detroit Diesel has additives to reduce the silicate levels from the old days of their 2 cycle engines.  It takes a pint bottle or two of their additive and then test strips to see if you have it neutralized, however that is for normal anti-freeze for diesels and I don't know if it applies to using the gasoline formulated antifreezes.
D K.
11 June 2010
02:43 PM
It is always a good idea to change the coolant completely after switching out parts such as heater cores or radiators etc.  The sediment that you may have developed can end up shortening the life of the new heater core.  O'Reilly, Napa and several other places you can readily find carry the test strips.  At the bare minimum, test to make sure you didn't throw off the balance.  2 gallons is a lot though, even with the capacity of these trucks, which my 1st reaction would be to dump everything.

I am very hesitant to recommend flushing the system, few shops follow through with the correct procedure and end up doing more damage than good.  If they introduce radiator flush to the system with the radiator and heater core in place, odds are the end result is the sediment that breaks loose will plug up as the tubes start to un-scale.  Further genius technicians will stick a garden hose into the filler cap and fill the system up with well water, which if you've ever looked at your domestic water heater should give you the idea how bad of an idea this is for anything besides an emergency fill-up situation.

If you have the means to drain & collect the entire system yourself, I would just drain it out and replace it with the proper rated diesel product.  If you need to add water, follow the spec's on the bottle when it says distilled water only.  Several products are now sold with no dilution required, (which leads back to the whole garden hose of well water putting you right back to a radiator full of crap in short order).  John can flog me later, I'm sure I've forgotten something, but that's the view from my keyboard for you.

Bill B
11 June 2010
03:14 PM
Prof - the other thing is that some (if the antifreeze is RED) antifreeze is based on different chemistry altogether.  It might be Texaco, Cat, Cummins ELC (Extended Life Coolant) that is good for 150,000 miles or 3 years and 300,000 miles or 5 years with additive at 150.  The different chemistry does NOT mix with the green and does not use the test strips.  Do NOT add DCA to the red.

Personally, the Volvo came with the red, I changed the Ford to the red (years ago), and run the red in the tractors, and backhoe.  No silicates, no testing, and no worries.  NOTE: do my own work and yes use distilled water.

PS I have 375,000 / 12 years on the Ford and the water pump is just starting to leak.

RandyA
11 June 2010
08:30 PM
You know, water pumps and clogged radiators are not something I want to worry about on the Volvo.  I think I will follow Bill's advice and just drain it and refill with new diesel certified antifreeze and distilled water.  I guess I should replace the coolant filter as well?  From the diagrams in the maintenance manual, it looks like the coolant filter is a bypass filter, not full flow.  Still, it should collect loose scale shouldn't it?

Better safe than sorry....... BTW, my 2 gallons was a 50/50 dilution,  so it was 1 gallon of full strength automobile antifreeze that was added.

I know how to drain the radiator, but have no clue as to where the block drain plugs are.  Does anyone remember the coolant capacity of a Volvo D12?

Bill B
11 June 2010
09:06 PM
No No No Yes - There is green diesel certified as Jack, Russ, and Dave have all refereed to and has been used successfully for many, many, years.  The red that I am using has a different chemistry.  The system has to be drained, flushed, flushed front and back heaters also.  All the directions are there.  One of the sites also stated that the coolant filters (so make sure you have the right one for the chemistry) also replenishes the SCA numbers.  Not saying not to do it, just be careful to do it right.

By the way, the filter is on the passenger side, front just below the air compressor / water pump / back a little.  In front of the oil filters.

I'll try to go find the references.

Donaldson Filters

D K.
11 June 2010
10:12 PM
Bill covered what I failed to mention earlier.  You need to know exactly what coolant type is in the engine currently.  If you cross contaminated the coolant, you need to purge everything out of the system entirely.  Not sure if you ever experienced the Dexcool nightmares that unknowing owners went through years back when the whole new fangled magic liquid came out or not, but if you introduce incompatible coolant to another, the result is very bad.  Rather than protect, some will eat the system from the inside out like acid.  Aluminum is the weakest point when this happens, so guess where the weak link is?  (Radiator and heater core).

Hopefully your accidental error will prevent someone else from making the same mistake.  Get the system drained asap.  In the event you cross contaminated, this is about the only time I would recommend putting a garden hose to the engine and making sure it is clear throughout before wasting money on more coolant.  (Do NOT use water off a well unless you know it is filtered to some degree to prevent dirt etc. getting into the engine)  Drain the existing fluid, fill it with the hose, overfill it until it spills out clear.  Start the truck up so circulates the coolant pockets in the block as well, make sure the thermostat opens to allow full flow.  Drain the water out completely from all available drain ports you have, including the bottom hose on the radiator. . Going the extra step of filling the system back up with distilled water for one last gravity flush of the system wouldn't be a bad idea, but not necessary if you know for certain you got all the garden hose water out.  Once you know for sure it is completely empty, then start over with new coolant as the book specifies.

The desiccant filters will not break down from this short period of coolant change, but if you did cross contaminate coolant, then it's best to replace it so you know you got it all out.  Location is covered by Bill.