![]() ![]() Because as soon as it leaves and the driver has it, if they have to top up with coolant over the road, you could be commingling two different coolants. You know what coolant you have in the cooling system and honestly, when it comes to over the road fleets, the only time that we have an opportunity to make sure that the truck has the proper amount of coolant and the proper physical properties of the coolant is when that truck is in the bay. We've also, and this is where it gets a little complicated, we have these carboxylate test strips, organic acid test strips, right? That's going to be very formula specific. So it's a nice little trick to monitor your cooling system easily in the field. If it increases, it typically indicates that if you're running at a nitrite-free coolant, it'll indicate that you have nitrites in your cooling system. And make sure that it's just a room temperature water, put it on the refractometer and you make sure that it's calibrated correctly. So it's easy, right? You can use the water from the sink or even water from the streams. And I'll ask them, "How do you check to make sure this is reading correctly?" And I get some very crazy answers and I'll tell them it's room temperature water because all water freezes at 32 degrees. I will go into a shop and I'll ask them where all the refractometers are and bring them to me and I'll ask them, "Has this been calibrated?" Some will say yes and some will say no. ![]() So therefore, the freeze points will be off. I've seen things out there that are like the floating balls and those don't work, so I make my guys throw them out because the second they suck up any oil when they've test testing that, it causes the floating balls to be off. There are more than a handful of ways to test a coolant, but Shelly is adamant that fleets lean most heavily on two, a properly calibrated refractometer and test strips. The way to properly check that is to utilize a refractometer. We work with our fleets to make sure that there's a section on their PM worksheets that includes bullet points to inspect their cooling system, such as making sure you're checking your freeze point to make sure it is adequate and that you're not out of balance with the amount of water to glycol to start with because that is the number one critical physical property of the coolant. The way that we approach coolant maintenance, or I approach coolant maintenance, is really to encourage year round coolant maintenance, including it into your normal PM process. A good fundamental PM program is a year round thing, but as the seasons change, the demand on a truck system and its components also changes making at least a seasonal checkup a good idea. It's a misnomer that there's a seasonal component to maintenance. ![]() I'm Jason Cannon and my co-host on the other side is Matt Cole. Hey everybody, happy Black Friday and welcome back to the 10-44 a weekly webisode from the editors here at CCJ. Are your trucks ready for the changing of the seasons? Temperatures are dropping faster than spot market rates. Transcript This week's 10-44 is brought to you by Chevron Delo 600 ADF ultra-low ash diesel engine oil. Chevron Lubricants Commercial Fleets Business Consultant Shelly Eckert, who joins Jason and Matt on this week's 10-44, said while a good maintenance program isn't necessarily tied to the changing of the seasons, there's no time like the present to give your coolant system a thorough checkup.Ĭontents of this episode 00:00 Coolant maintenance ![]()
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