Cavitation

Frank A · Jan 7, 2016

After seeing a post about coolant in crankcase I started wondering how many on here don't know that you need coolant with the proper additives in diesel engines with wet sleeves to prevent cavitation pitting of liners. May be that everyone knows just kind of made me curious.

wolfman · Jan 7, 2016

Thanks for the reminder. How often should the coolant be changed? Does that additive wear out?

4020 electrician · Jan 7, 2016

I was told by a diesel mechanic to drain coolant and run water and cascade through the cooling system for a day and new antifreeze/coolant once a yr? Haven't done it yet but changed coolant. I think I'm going to try the cascade for a day next yr.

4520BW · Jan 7, 2016

That also works if you get oil in your coolant. Couple fill and flush and its clean.

RBoots · Jan 7, 2016

Cavitation can also occur in parent bore engines as well. If not always, I believe most of the time in line with the crank.

Ross

notjustair · Jan 7, 2016

I use test strips once a year on all of the engines here and put additive in them accordingly. I don't have any engines with coolant filters but I have a couple I'd be interested in putting one on it if they have aftermarkets. In the meantime I just keep testing.

The other day the guy at Deere told me they were no longer selling the compatable style of antifreeze. They figure everything old should have had the green style flushed out of it. You can only mix the two in very small quantities (at least that's what he said).

Frank A · Jan 7, 2016

The additives do wear out. Best thing to do is read the label. First time I changed coolant when I bought my Oliver I bought John Deere coolant because it had the additive already. This time I wanted to use up a case of the green coolant my wife had picked for me by mistake. I ended up going to a truck service center to find some additive.

VicS · Jan 7, 2016

I have a 6060 all is 83 model. Two years ago the water pump bearing went out. Let's see. 2013 minus 1983 would be 30yrs. Never had the cap off. I did put some antifreeze in the puke tank and every 5 yrs. or so some additive from Valvoline. Yes it has wet sleeves. I have read it,electrolysis, is caused by a bad ground in the vehicle itself. Cat believes this also. We had a semi that turned the antifreeze brown. The dealer laughed at such a silly thing. But when they looked the ground straps from the rear ends was coiled on top and not hooked up. Bolted them to the frame. No more brown water. The truck had air ride. You can tell if you have a problem by grounding one lead of a good ohm meter and the other lead in the water. Jack it up and run it in all gears and turn everything on one thing at a time. Haul pvc pipe without covering the front. See how long till you have problems. 20000 miles loaded with PVC not covered got some trucks. The u-joints first.

Eldon (WA) · Jan 7, 2016

(quoted from post at 19:09:00 01/07/16) I was told by a diesel mechanic to drain coolant and run water and cascade through the cooling system for a day and new antifreeze/coolant once a yr? Haven't done it yet but changed coolant. I think I'm going to try the cascade for a day next yr.

Cascade probably isn't much good anymore if it doesn't have the phosphates in it...we used to be able to get it in Idaho, but they don't carry it anymore either. The new formula is pretty much worthless.....

Frank A · Jan 7, 2016

A flush shouldn't hurt just be sure the coolant you choose has the right additives.

Frank A · Jan 7, 2016

Electrolysis is a bit different than cavitation.

showcrop · Jan 8, 2016

Frank, it actually comes up fairly regularly, although I believe that it is on the once annually schedule, so no where near as often as many others. When I had my 2003 International with C-15 Cat they told me that it was now a thing of the past because the silicone now put in the steel at least in Cat puts a coating in the water jacket that needs no additive help.

John M · Jan 8, 2016

Weve eliminated cavitation at work on our trucks by using Evans.

Frank A · Jan 8, 2016

I guess I missed it but I don't have that much time to spend on here so I mostly just look at what title catches my eye. I didn't know that about Cat. I wonder what year that started. Hopefully all liners will be made that way.

Frank A · Jan 8, 2016

Interesting, thanks for the reply. I had to do a search to know what you were talking about. All I work on any more is my own and relatives equipment.

rustred · Jan 8, 2016

And, have a good rad cap is the most important thing to help prevent cavitation. the coolant must always be under pressure when the engine is running. do not loosen the cap on warm engines as this looses the pressure and you will not get it back till the engine cools down on shut down then restart it to gain your pressure. keeping the coolant pressurized keeps those air bubbles tiny on the out side of cyl. sleeve from the compression explosions.

Tx Jim · Jan 9, 2016

(quoted from post at 22:38:19 01/08/16) And, have a good rad cap is the most important thing to help prevent cavitation. the coolant must always be under pressure when the engine is running. do not loosen the cap on warm engines as this looses the pressure and you will not get it back till the engine cools down on shut down then restart it to gain your pressure. .

I never heard that before and I'd have to witness it to believe it.

Pressure in rad is created from heating the coolant similar to heating water in a pan.

Cavitation

Frank A

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wolfman

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4020 electrician

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4520BW

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RBoots

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notjustair

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Frank A

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VicS

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Eldon (WA)

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Frank A

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Frank A

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showcrop

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John M

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rustred

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