one thing to check also is how this chemical will react to other stuff in the motor
IE:
1. how it will react to Iron, aluminum, and rust.
2. how it will react to stuff like rubber, radiator hoses, and plastic
3. how this will react to RTV, gaskets, head gaskets.

The thing Im getting at is if you can safetly engineer this into a flush process, it may be very marketable to the average Joe who can do a coolant flush but not remove the cooler for a "bucket wash"

Keep in mind that your flush process for this chemical can be different than the process currently being used.

If you are in the Southern California area, I will gladly donate a hand, my time and truck to your research, for nothing in return. I currently have a stock rig with a stock cooler as far as Im aware of. PM me if your intrested.

 

It's been a LONG time since I had a working EGR cooler on my truck but it seems to me that if high heat were causing dropout then there would be a lot more buildup in the EGR cooler itself. Has anyone cut one of those open to explore that possibility? I seem to see more buildup at the oil cooler exit than anywhere. AND lets mention the fact that it's a LONG way from the EGR cooler back to the oil cooler for those precipitates to travel. Wouldn't there be a lot of buildup in the radiator also? And one more fact......the gold coolant is designed to "coat" parts to protect them from cavitation...at least that's what my old brain THINKS it remembers reading.

 

"Guageless".... or is that "Clueless".... I guess I am a match on both accounts.

I don't have a guage(s) or a clue!!!!!

 

I appreciate your offer to guinea pig your truck but it's not needed. I work part time in a big lab so I have access to everything I need.

 

I tend to agree with your line of reasoning, I've been real hesitant to point the finger at the higher EGR temps but I've got some G05 on hand and I'm going to play with it and see what it takes to get the silicates to fall out of solution, so we'll see.

I think that's a fair statement but to be fair really anything that raises a solution's boiling temp would do the same, so it sounds like Ford's claiming something as an intended & exclusive benefit of their coolant when in reality it's just a fringe benefit of all coolants and is akin to a side-effect that just so happens to be positive but not intended.

 

As I understand it, the purpose of silicates in the coolant was to coat the outside of the cylinder sleeves and prevent cavitation specifically in diesel engines. Prior to extended life coolants with silicates already in them, you had to add and maintain silicate levels. I know in my Dad's '96, you are supposed to check and maintain SCA's (Silicate Charged Additives) regularly. The idea behind the Gold coolant, with the silicates already there and supposedly intended to last 100,000 miles was to make maintenance easier, but maybe that didn't work out so well.

 

I guess I'm wondering why you would see cavitation on the cylinder walls in the first place. I could see it occurring if there was some kind of harmonic i.e. a specific vibration resulting in a rapid pressure change in that area but I think that would be a long shot. However, if there was cavitation in that area and the silicates were being used to coat the surface of the walls it would be to prevent nucleation, but I wonder how effective that would be, because of the way nucleation works...? My guess is if the silicates are added to prevent cavitation it would be to protect the water pump (housing/impeller) which is the area I would expect to see cavitation but that's just assuming that the silicates are in fact added to minimize cavitation. In doing silicate research for my little project, it sounded like the silicates were a corrosion inhibitor but that doesn't mean they can't have multiple uses..

 

As I understand it, cavitation on the outside of the cylinder sleeves is caused by the detonation of the fuel causing the cylinder sleeve to expand slightly and contract immediately. Cavitation occurs on any slight imperfection point. The sudden and minute expansion of the sleeve causes a bubble to form and then instantly implode. That implosion takes a tiny amount of metal off of the cylinder sleeve at that point, eventually causing a pit to form in the sleeve. After enough time, the pit can work it's way entirely through the sleeve and compromise the cylinder itself.

The additives either added to the coolant or in the coolant already coat the sleeve and prevent the cavitation from occurring.

 

Oh, I've never seen that but it makes sense that the high compression would vibrate the cylinder wall and cause a little cavitation. So if the silicates are added to prevent this, obviously the cast surface is ripe for nucleation sites and it would take a lot of silicate to create a smooth surface so it must be forming some sort of cavitation resistant coating, like a skim coating of gel or the like. If that's the case than the silicates are probably polar and would be easy to pull out of suspension and do nefarious things such as clog oil coolers and the like.

 

after reading this i have come to the conclusion that im not a smart man thank y'all for doing the work you are even if its over my head

 

Here's some subject specific reading for you Cody: DTS Articles - Cavitation Erosion

 

And there were many 7.3 IDI owners who found out the hard way of the effects of not having the proper silicate level in the cooling system. The coolant would migrate through the damaged areas after engine shut down to eventually hydro-lock the engine. This was more prevalent in the 7.3 which was a 6.9 bored out to 7.3 with thin cylinder walls.

 

Thanks for the link. In my whole time at Cat I never saw that or heard of that occurring on the cylinder walls, but everyone's seen it in the pump areas. I suspect Cat's blocks are built a lot better (far thicker cylinder walls which would obviously dissipate that pulse better) and we already know the coolant (ELC) is different but than again I worked on the fuel side so... Pretty interesting though, the link mentions nitrites being used to prevent cavitation "Ford diesel equipped trucks require nitrite" but the article doesn't capture the whole story as the nitrite is attached to a Si creating a silicate that in turn forms an oxide and explains the silicate 'fall-out' and why it's usually adhered to a surface (forms an oxide layer) instead of just staying in suspension like a colloid or flocking and simply settling.

 

no problem! Im subscribed!