Engine Coolant

Fundamentals
 Topic Overview
Engine Coolant Basics
• Function
• Composition
• Corrosion Inhibitors & Applications

Market Issues & Coolant Technology

• Industry Specifications
• Engine Engineering Changes
• Regulatory Influence

Product Assortment & Positioning

• New products
• Support Tools

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 Manufacture - Recochem Americas
• Six Vertically Integrated, Facilities in Canada:
• Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal (2), St. John
• 360,000 Gal/day – Vertically integrated -blow and fill
• All sites are ISO 9001-2015 certified
• Brands and P/L – In house regulatory and graphic design

• Leading Supplier of Transportation Fluids in Canada:

• Coolants / Antifreeze
• Windshield Wash
• DEF, Performance Chemicals, Brake Fluid, Power Steering Fluids, Cleaners, etc.

• Bulk Distribution Capabilities

• 7 domestic facilities & 60 trucks
• Programs for Coolants / Antifreeze & Windshield Wash

• Laboratory Facilities:
• Global R&D dept in Edmonton, AB
• QA labs in all production facilities

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 Engine Coolant Basics
Coolant Function:
• Absorb and release heat of
combustion through radiator
• Prevent boil over & freeze up
• Provide corrosion protection to
coolant system metals
• Maintain integrity of system
• Compatibility with hoses,
elastomers, seals & ancillary
systems
• Chemical stability

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Engine Coolant Basics
Engine Coolant Composition:
Corrosion Inhibitor

+
Package Quality
= Engine
Glycol + Water
Antifoam/Dye/Scale Coolant
Inhibitors

Typical Coolant Composition

100% 5 2,5
3
90%
80%
70% 51,5
Component, %

Additives
60%
50%
92 Water
40%
30% Glycol
20% 46

10%
0%
Concentrate 50/50 Prediluted
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Engine Coolant Basics Quality Water

General Industry Water: Coolant Requirements:

Soft: 0–60 mg/L ASTM
Property Units
Limits
Moderately hard: 61–120 mg/L Chlorides mg/L 40 max

Hard: 121–180 mg/L Sulfates mg/L 100 max

340
Very hard: ≥181 mg/L Total Dissolved solids mg/L
max
Total hardness mg/L 40 max

pH NA 5.5-9.0
Treated water required for coolant
blending… “tap” water should not be used

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 Engine Coolant Basics Quality Water
Not all water promotes good engine coolant performance!

Better sources include…

• Reverse Osmosis/ De-ionized
• Distilled

Do not use:
• Municipal Tap water
• Well water
• Rain/ Snow water
• Boiled water
• Filtered Water
Possible elevated levels of environmental pollutants, bacteria, inorganic minerals and
organic materials

Recommended Practice
Install a Prediluted/ Premixed Coolant

Where hard water scale forms, heat transfer is

reduced to such a degree that 1/16” buildup has
the same insulating effect as 4 ½ ” of cast iron!

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 Engine Coolant Basics
Glycol
(%) GLYCOL (Ethylene Glycol) VS. FREEZE POINT (°F / C)
40
32 / 0
J 26 / -3.3
J
20 16 / -8.9
J
4 / -15.6 5 / -15
J
0
FREEZE PT. (°F)
-12 / - 24.4
J
-20
-31 / -35
J -34 / -37 J
-40
-57 / -49.4
-60 -62 / 52.2 J
J

-80 -85 / -65

J
% GLYCOL
-100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

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Engine Coolant Basics
Automotive (LD) service
• 16,000-24,000 km/yr
• 30% load factor
• smaller coolant requirement
(7.5-12 L)
• Coolant to provide 240,000 km
• no wet sleeve liner
• mostly aluminum based
• “Cleaner” operating environment
with routine exterior debris removal
• Downtime more so an
inconvenience
Heavy Duty (HD) service
– 160,000-240,000 km/yr
– 70%+ load factor
– larger coolant requirement (38+ L)
– Coolant to provide up to fill for life
(with SCA/ extender or base fluid)
– wet sleeve liners
– little aluminum content in the past
while more today
– Can be harsh to extreme conditions
with long intervals between exterior
debris removal
– Costly downtime
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Engine Coolant Basics Inhibitor Package

Prevalent Technology Type General Info

• Referred to as Traditional, developed mainly for LD use

• Inhibitor supplementation required for use in HD Diesel applications,
Conventional (IAT) supplemental corrosion additives (SCA)
• Typical color is GREEN

• Conventional coolant with initial charge of SCA for HD applications

Fully Formulated (UFF) • Typical colour is Purple

• Developed to extend the service life of conventional coolants

• Combination of Inorganic (IAT) and Organic (OAT) additives
Hybrid (HOAT) •
•
Provides overall longer service life performance
Suited for HD application
• Typical color is RED – ORANGE
• Developed for extended life engine coolant requirements
• Eliminate need for IAT SCA and/or extender
OAT • Typical colour is ORANGE (LD), Yellow (HD)
• Long life/ Extended Service Interval (ESI)
• Nitrite or Nitrite & Molybdate added to OAT basis (N-OAT) or silicate
based OAT (Si-OAT) other additives can be phosphate (Asian)
Lobrid • technology to provide HDD cylinder liner cavitation protection
• Typical color is RED – ORANGE
• Long life/ Extended Service Interval (ESI)

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Engine Coolant Basics Inhibitor Package

Type Inhibitor Protection/Function

Phosphate Iron, Steel, Al (Cavitation), pH buffer

Borates Iron, pH buffer

Inorganic
Nitrate, NO3 Aluminum (pitting), Solder

Conventional
Nitrite, NO2 Iron (cavitation)
Silicate Aluminum, Iron
Molybdate Iron, Aluminum, Solder
Amine Cast Iron , pH buffer
MBT/Tolytriazole/
Copper, Brass, Solder
Benzotriazole
Organic Benzonate Salts Solder, Steel and Aluminum
Organic Acid
Technology (OAT) Salts of Carboxylic Acids, General Corrosion Light Alloys including
di/mono- acids Aluminum, Solder, Iron (Cavitation)

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Engine Coolant Basics
Inhibitor Package
Service Life: Different Rates via Different Inhibitors
Inhibitor depletion (relative concentrations ,% initial)
Conventional OAT
BORATE,NITRATE
100 100 CARBOXYLATES

NITRITE, MOLYBDATE
PHOSPHATE
TRIAZOLE

MBTA, NITRITE, BORATE

SILICATE

0 40 80 0 400 800
Test duration, km/1000 Test duration, km/1000

80,000 km vs. 800,000 km

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 Engine Coolant Basics Inhibitor Package

Inhibitor Protective Function

HD Cavitation Issue
• Bubble formation and implosion caused by
rapid movement of cylinder

• Implosion will ware bare metal surface,

causing pitting

• Inhibitors “fill in gaps” and prevent continued

erosion and pitting

• Nitrite, Molybdate & certain Organic Acids

work well as protective material in coolant

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Engine Coolant Basics Inhibitor Package
Inhibitor Level Issues – classic issue with IAT
type inhibitor chemistry
Under- dosing of Inhibitors/ SCA results in…
Over-dosing of SCA results in … • Liner and/or water pumps impeller cavitation
• Plugging of the system with precipitates of • General corrosion
gelled additive • Deposits on heat transfer surfaces
• Solids buildup in radiator tubes • Plugging of the system with corrosion
• Solder bloom or solder corrosion products
• Water pump seal seepage/failure
• Ultimately to engine failure

Primarily a concern with SCA use/ nitrite extenders

Additive plugging - OCC Solder bloom Silicate fallout Cavitation erosion

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 Coolant Standards & Specifications
On a Global basis there are multiple performance requirements as indicated below:
OEMs:
• National Standards: – Cummins CES 14603. 14439 & SB 3666132
• North America – MTU MTL5048
• ASTM D3306 (Auto/LD), D6210 (HD), D7583 (HD)
– Caterpillar EC-1
• TMC RP 329
• SAE J 1034 – DDC 2987SE & 92K217
• Europe – PACCAR CS0185
• FVV R503/2005 (Germany) – DAF 74002
• AFNOR NFR15-601 (France)
• BS6580 (United Kingdom) – Others
• ONORM V 5123 (Austria)
• CUNA NC 956-16 (Italy)
• Others
• Japan - JIS K2234
• Korea - KSM 2142
• India - IS 5769
• China - GB 29743-2013
• Australia - AS 2108
• Others

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Coolant Standard & Specifications
• North American main ASTM designations:

• ASTM D3306 - Standard Specification for Glycol Base Engine Coolant for Automobile and Light-Duty Service and is
composed of the following test methods

• ASTM D1384 - Standard Test Method for Corrosion Test for Engine Coolants in Glassware
• ASTM D2570 - Standard Test Method for Simulated Service Corrosion Testing of Engine Coolants
• ASTM D2809 - Standard Test Method for Cavitation Corrosion and Erosion-Corrosion Characteristics of Aluminum Pumps with Engine
Coolants
• ASTM D4340 - Standard Test Method for Corrosion of Cast Aluminum Alloys in Engine Coolants under Heat-Rejecting Conditions

• ASTM D4985 – Standard Specification for Low Silicate Ethylene Glycol Base Engine Coolants for Heavy Duty Engines
Requiring a Pre-Charge of Supplemental Coolant Additive (SCA)

• ASTM D6210 – Standard Specification for Fully-Formulated Glycol Base Engine Coolant for Heavy-Duty Engines

• ASTM D7583 – Standard Test Method for John Deere Coolant Cavitation Test added to ASTM D6210 to show that
OAT type nitrite free coolants could provide very good liner cavitation performance

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 Market Issues & Coolant Technology
Evolving Engine Technology Market Factors

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations

• Smaller engines using lighter / softer metals
• Increase use of diesel
• More aluminum in HD Diesel Engines
• Radiators are becoming filters due to downsizing of spacing between tubes

Environmental concerns;
pollution abatement technology
• EGR (exhaust gas recirculation)...seeing reduced favor
• SCR (selective catalytic reduction)...seeing increased utilization
• Higher operating temps accelerated oxidative degradation of coolant
• EG converts to acidic species
• Greater stress & demand on inhibitors
• Hybrid / Electric

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 Market Issues & Coolant Technology
Market Factors
Engineering Changes
• Smaller engines using lighter / softer metals
• More aluminum in HD & HDD Engines; Move from Copper/Brass to Aluminum
Radiators
• Radiators are becoming filters due to downsizing of spacing between tubes.
More opportunities for plugging
• Manufacturing process for Aluminum Radiators has changed from Assembly Line
and/or Vacuum Brazing process, to Controlled Atmospheric Brazing (CAB)

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 Market Issues & Coolant Technology
Market Factors
What is the Deal with Nitrite?
• Provides excellent iron/ wet sleeve liner corrosion protection
• Prevalent use in coolant; originally “Spec’ed” in with ASTM D6210

Nitrite’s Disadvantages
• Regulatory hit list in some countries
• In Acid or Alkaline solutions, Nitrite is extremely corrosive

• Very aggressive* to bare Aluminum

• Increased corrosion promotes ‘poor heat transfer’ & leaks
• Premature cooling system failure

OEMs moving to Nitrite-free coolants, especially newer diesels with High Aluminum
Content engines (+ 2010 model years )
• Detroit Diesel
• International/ Navistar Maxxforce Engines
• John Deere
• Euro OEM; MAN, MTU, Volvo
• Asian OEM’s

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 Market Issues & Coolant Technology
Hard part Manufacturing process change; Aluminum Radiators
Market Factors

• CAB manufacturing process leaves brazing flux behind

• Flux “washed” into cooling system, leaving bare aluminum
• Nitrite (from coolant) attacks bare aluminum surfaces
creating ammonia, results in corrosion and filter plugging
• Causes a pH spike in the coolant, quickly decreases nitrite
concentration leaving metal surfaces unprotected
CAB flux Contaminated
Coolant symptoms:

• Ammonia smell
• Coolant discolouration
• Black particulate
suspended in coolant
Internals of New & Unused Radiators
Deionized Water / 24hr cool soak of Rad / 1hr hot soak of Rad

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 Market Issues & Coolant Technology
Market Factors
CAB Flux Issues: Hard part Manufacturing process change; Aluminum Radiators

Oxide layer
removed with
removed flux
coating

Oxide layer
removed with
removed flux
coating

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What is the Deal with OATs?
• OAT- Organic Acid Technology, primary corrosion inhibitors in
Extended Life Coolants (ELC)

• Various types in use (aka: Carboxylate acids)

• amount of OAT used depends on technology manufacturer

• One OAT based product is generally compatible to another but

performance and impact to the cooling system can differ

2-Ethylhexanoic Acid (2-EHA) 2-EHA Concerns

• Long lasting • Acts as a Plasticizer; i.e. elastomer issues
• Readily available • Softens hoses/ gaskets: Can result in
• Used in system leaks
 Prestone Command • Requires “break-in” period in coolant use
 Chervon Delo • Several OEMs & Regulator bodies taking a
 BASF/ Valvoline/ Zerex 2nd look
 GM Dex-Cool REACH – European Commission

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 HD Market Issues & Coolant Technology
Product Color… somewhat meaningless
• TMC RP351 provides guidance on coolant color
• Observable changes to dye clarity and hue
• Attempt to distinguish different technologies can provide an indication of system
• Some OEMs Factory Fill may differ (LD & HD) changes such as from contamination or
• Newer coolants offered in Pale Yellow/ Amber overheating
• When used as top-up, will not alter existing coolant color

Antifreeze/Coolant TMC Spec Suggested Color Code

TMC A - Conventional Low-Silicate RP 302A Greenish

TMC B - Fully Formulated Ethylene Glycol RP 329 Purplish

TMC C - Fully Formulated Propylene Glycol RP 330 Bluish

TMC D - Organic Acid Technoogy (OAT) Per OEM Specs Reddish

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 HD Coolant Technology
HD Coolant Maintenance & Usage Consideration

• Select and use appropriate product (Nitrite or Nitrite-free)

• Inspect and/or repair unit before install (flush & fill)
• Use appropriate hardware & parts
• Take preventative measures
• Follow recommended additive schedule
• Value in a new ELC HD Coolant that does not require SCA/ Extender
• Inspect or test accordingly  Test appropriately
• At prescribed time points
• Monitor for deterioration

Recommended Practices:
• Prediluted coolant  alleviate the guesswork
• Properly formulated ELC coolant  leverage the service life value
• Top-up with the same product or a product with coolant to coolant compatibility
• ELC with ELC, Conventional with Conventional

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 New products

Mobil Delvac HD OAT

Mobil Delvac HD OAT
Mobil Delvac HD NF 50/50
M&N ELC 50/50
Mixed Fleet 8 YEARS
8 YEARS
ELC 50/50 1 600 000 KM /
1 200 000 KM/
6 YEARS 1,000,000 MILES
750,000 MILES
960 000 KM/ 600,000 20 000 HRS BNAPS-
15 000 HRS
MILES free OAT
Nitrited OAT
12 000 HRS ON ROAD
OFF ROAD
BNAP-free OAT

BNAPS=Borate, Nitrite, Amine, Phosphate, Silicate

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 Service Coolant Replacement HDD (North America)
“Best Fit” per Chemistry Requirements
Mobil Heavy Duty Mobil Delvac Mobil Delvac HD
Mobil Delvac HD OAT Mobil Delvac HD OAT
Technology SCA Precharged Extended Life Mixed Fleet
M&N ELC 50/50 NF 50/50
Coolant Coolant/Antifreeze ELC 50/50
CASE IH ACTIFULL™ OT EXTENDED-LIFE SERVICE MATCH
CAT DEAC (Diesel Engine Antifreeze/Coolant) SERVICE MATCH YES
CAT ELC SERVICE MATCH YES
CAT NGEC (Natural Gas Engine Coolant) YES SERVICE MATCH
Chevron Delo ELC SERVICE MATCH YES
Chevron Delo XLC YES SERVICE MATCH
Cummins ES Compleat YES SERVICE MATCH
Cummins ES Compleat OAT YES SERVICE MATCH
Cummins Fleetcool EX SERVICE MATCH YES
Detroit Diesel Power Cool Diesel SERVICE MATCH YES
Detroit Diesel Power Cool Plus YES SERVICE MATCH
Komatsu Super Antifreeze/Coolant YES SERVICE MATCH
PACCAR TRP ELC SERVICE MATCH YES
PACCAR TRP Heavy Duty SERVICE MATCH YES
Peak Final Charge Global YES SERVICE MATCH
Peak Fleet Charge SERVICE MATCH YES
Prestone Command Heavy Duty SERVICE MATCH YES
Prestone Command Heavy Duty Nitrite Free YES SERVICE MATCH
Prestone Command Heavy Duty NOAT SERVICE MATCH YES
Shell Rotella ELC SERVICE MATCH YES
Shell Rotella Fully Formulated SERVICE MATCH YES
Shell Rotella Ultra ELC YES SERVICE MATCH
Volvo Penta VCS YES SERVICE MATCH 26