I got the test kit, now what? Where do I obtain the samples? Thanks in advance.
Andy

 

Many posts on here. Short story, there is a petcock toward the bottom of each radiator on the vertical edge, one on drivers side, the other on the pass side.

let it run for a few seconds to clear the drain from any debris, before collecting the sample.

The drains turn a little hard. might need a pliers to help. They are plastic. A knuckle buster for sure...

 

Thanks Bud! Tired of reading through every post

 

The valves will turn 180°. The first 90°is easy. Then they CAM out of the housing and that is when they open up. So don't be afraid to keep turning past the 90° position.

We flushed a small 1/4" rubber tube out clean than attached it to drain nipple and fed the coolant into a cup that was sitting on the floor. Trying to get your hands up there to turn the valve, maybe holding a small wrench and a cup is a magician act. The nipples on the valve collect lots of road dirt. So if you can get by a car wash or someplace and spray that area out good to help clean it, You will get a better sample.

 

Update:
Big thanks to djousma and Painted Horse for the advice. I bought the Rotunda #328-00008 Antifreeze Coolant ELC Contamination Kit and did the testing tonight. Everything worked out great and the coolant in both radiators tested fine. I highly recommend removing the grill assembly as it allows better access to the passenger side petcock. Due to the awkward, front facing, position of the petcock "release ****" I could not turn it past the first 90 degrees by hand. Otherwise not too bad. It would be nice to make a wrench short enough to be able to turn it while under the truck. Next time I will be more prepared.

 

Epic and I pulled the grill off his truck, But still had to reach up from underneath. So on my truck we just left the grill on. It just didn't save us any time. It is awkward to reach either way.

 

I have 15000 miles to figure out a better way

 

Just curious, I thought these cooling systems needed two different tests, 328-0001 and 328-00008? 328-0001 is three way test and 328-0008 is the contamination (corrosion inhibitor) test. Together they test for Nitirites, percent of Glycol, Reserve Alkalinity, and then corrosion inhibitor. Did you test for all the above?

 

IMHO the test strips are difficult to get a conclusive reading. I pretty much gave up on the whole thing and will just replace coolant every 100K. I got a new radiator at 60K so I am good to go for a while. If I only ran 30K miles per year or less I would be with all of you and making more of an effort to refine the testing process. So my point is, do what is best for your situation and don't stress over it too much.

 

Funny you mentioned that. Darren32 just sent me the shop manual procedure and there are actually 4 tests like you mentioned. So I have two more to do

 

Here's a thought...I wonder if it's OK to simply dump in the additive twice prior to the 100,000 change if the coolant is still orange?
We can use that additive up to twice.
My idea seems risky though since there could still be things wrong when it looks fine.
I didn't design this process or the engine.

Was it you that said your coolant turned purple(ish) in color?

Any future readers of my post searching for help, don't stop reading this thread at this post and call it good.
Simply throwing out an idea for now.

 

So if someone would want to take pics and do a good writeup it would be a great addition to the tech folder.

 

Yes, my degas canister has a black spot where the return coolant hose feeds in on top. So there is a black residue stain where the coolant flows in. The color of the coolant is kind of a darker orange and the inside surface of the degas bottle is stained dark purple/black. The diesel tech keeps an eye on it and he says that most of the 6.7 trucks that come in the shop develop this staining. Don't really think its a problem but it would be nice if nothing would get dirty....

My thinking is this, the coolant is not that expensive and to replace it every 100K or two years is not that big of a deal to me. I also like your idea of adding the additive at least once for good measure. Sort of like fuel additive, may not really need it but it sure does not hurt.

 

Here are the two test procedures out of the shop manual. One is for the primary system and the other is for the secondary. They look the same to me. Probably the only difference is how much VC-12 you would have to put one system versus the other if needed.

 

Exactly what Darren sent me. Thank you though