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Technical
Service Bulletin 97-2
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Extended Life Antifreeze / Coolant
Light
duty and heavy duty maintenance technology and methodology is constantly
changing. One of these technological changes involves the antifreeze/coolant
available for use in cooling systems. A new type of antifreeze, referred
to as extended life or long life, is now available. The chemistry used
in this product is unique and very different from that used in traditional
antifreezes. These differences require a significant change in the maintenance
procedures used to maintain cooling systems when extended life antifreeze
is utilized.
The
total maintenance package offered by the use of extended life antifreeze
is directed at extending total cooling system drain intervals to 300,000
miles, 6000 hours or four years, whichever comes first. Since this doubles
all existing engine manufacturers current recommendations, some specific
maintenance practices must be adhered to in order to realize the benefits
of extended life antifreeze.
Extended
life antifreezes are available in both ethylene and propylene glycol bases.
These can be either undiluted or pre-mixed 50/50 with water. Of specific
interest in the corrosion inhibitor additive package used in the extended
life antifreezes. Its major ingredient is an organic acid. Because of
the organic acid additive package and some other chemical characteristics
of extended life antifreeze, the depletion of the corrosion inhibitors
is very different than coolants utilizing traditional supplemental coolant
additives (SCA's).
While
coolants using current SCA's require the SCA level to be replenished on
a routine basis, coolants using extended life antifreeze require inhibitor
package replenishment only once during its service life. The inhibitor
additive for extended life antifreeze is not an SCA style package. Only
a special formulation additive package is to be used with extended life
antifreezes. Neither the current formulation SCA package nor the special
extended life packages are to be substituted for each other at anytime.
Although
extended life antifreeze is chemically compatible with traditional formulation
antifreezes, it is the recommendation of all extended life antifreeze
manufacturers and suppliers that the two types not be mixed. Mixing the
two types of antifreezes completely negates any extended life characteristics.
For this reason, extended life antifreezes have been colored red and orange
depending on the supplier. Other colors may appear in the future. Top-off
and refill of these systems is to be done only with the appropriate products.
Further, if a coolant recycling program is being used, the extended life
antifreezes should be segregated from the traditional antifreezes and
the recycling process reviewed. Also, the original antifreeze manufacturer's
recommendations for recycling should be reviewed.
For additional information, contact:
Filter Manufacturers
Council
P.O. Box 13966
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3966
Phone: 919/406-8817 Fax: 919/406-1306
www.filtercouncil.org
Administered by Motor & Equipment
Manufacturers Association
Created May 1997
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