I have been reading good things about the Shell Rotella Ultra ELC. Do you guys think that's the best coolant for my 6.0s and 7.3s?

 

Any of the rated EC1 coolant will be fine, I use Rotella and it's not expensive.

 

Is the Shell ELC 50/50 that Chinamart now carries the stuff that we use? Up to this point I've been getting Zerex at Napa but that store is closed and the small one 10 miles away doesn't carry it. I don't want to buy a case for just a top off.

 

My local Napa does not carry it either but they will order in a gallon for me.

I can only find the Rotella ELC concentrate that meets CAT-EC1 requirements. I can't find it in a 50/50 mix online or in my local store.

It would be easy to buy a 1 gallon concentrate bottle along with a gallon of distilled water and make a 50/50 mix.

edit: My bad. I can't find Shell ELC on walmart.com

 

Oreilly carries Final Charge ELC concentrate, which is what you would use. Not 50/50. It was 20 bucks a gallon.

 

Rotella "ultra" isn't EC-1 rated and is for sure not the best coolant for your 6.0. Rotella ELC is EC-1 rated and contains no silicates. I'm not sure how it stacks up against other brands but that's what I'm running in my own truck now. My local Tractor Supply store keeps it on the shelf for a decent price.

 

If I remember correctly, the Caterpillar EC1 is what International recommends for the 6.0 & I think it has no silicates unlike the other EC1 brands. It's been almost 4 years since I did mine

 

I haven't read any recommendation from International for a brand name of coolant or even a type of coolant (CAT EC1 vs ELC) but I have read International's factory fill on the trucks with the VT365 engines was silicate free coolant.

ELC means Extended Life Coolant. It's extended life because it can safely stay in service much longer than the old green coolant we used to use. The older coolants are silicate based, meaning the primary effective component of the mix was a silicate. many ELC contain small amounts of silicate.

EC-1 is Catapillar's own specification number describing a coolant that among other things, does not contain silicates. Other manufactures are allowed to refer to this (CAT) spec on their packaging and literature. EC-1 coolant is referred to as an ELC because it also has a longer service life.

To put it another way, All EC-1 coolants are ELCs, but not all ELCs are EC-1 rated.

 

I couldn't find the EC-1 rating on this bottle, but it was "rated" for 15+ cooling systems and good for 600K miles. It also had a red cap on the bottle. I'll do a little more checking on it. 50/50 is fine for topping off when I change thermostats, I was just concerned about the compatability. It's the first time Wally world has carried this, at least at this store. Actually the first time I've seen it, period.

 

This is what I had used.

I flushed with distilled water. 80 cents a gallon at wally world. Took me all day. I used restore in my chemical flush. A year later I was changing out my oil cooler.

When you flush be prepared to change out your oil cooler at some point.

 

If it's the Rotella "ULTRA" it isn't EC-1 rated but to be honest I don't think it matters much especially just for topping off. I got a bit frustrated on the labeling of the Rotella stuff in the store and had to spend some time on my phone before getting the right answer. I don't know why but they seem to be making the labels confusing on purpose.

 

I've been using the Rotella ELC (non-untra) product. Initially I got it from our regional Shell distributor but now I get it from my local Tractor Supply as Rusty does. I'm now using it in all my diesels, truck, tractors, Chipper, .... this summer will convert over my GMC 2-stroke powered A-C Dozer. It's a good product.

I only get the concentrate. Since you can never remove all of the flushing water out of a block the only way to build up a true 50/50 concentration in the cooling system is to measure the final drop of water out of the cooling system and then from the stated capacity of the motors system calculate the added coolant and water you need to build up.

 

If push came to shove, I'd use it. I have yet to see any ELC that isn't a HOAT or OAT and without silicates that claims anything close to 600K miles -- the "other" ELCs will be 100K maybe up to 150K. 600K to 1M miles is another league, the league we all want to be in...

 

It's not an emergency but I always ask my fellow FTE'ers for feedback if it's something I haven't seen or seen talked about. The bottle didn't have a lot of information so I'll do some more searching. Thanks everyone for your feedback.

 

I've got 52k on my coolant now. I've been wondering what I should change to when the time comes. Thanks for the input guys. Sounds like Rotella ELC may be the way to go if it's the more readily available one.