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Are coolant filters really worth the effort and money to add them to our trucks? I've been looking at them online. Sinister has one for 175 and xdp has one for 125. Is any one better than the other? They all look pretty much the same.
I bought mine from Dieselsite nine years ago, it is well made and they are selling the complete kit today for less than $130. The kit comes with a Baldwin filter and refills can be bought on Amazon. Is it worth the effort? Installation was very little effort for me. Is it worth the money? Yes, if you have the usual particulates floating around in the 6.0 coolant. If your coolant is pristine, it would probably provide no additional benefit. Anyone here have pristine coolant? Tell me how you do it. May I suggest you use the search function on this site and you will have more opinions than you will probably care to read. Good luck with your truck.
I have had the Sinister one for over 4 years, but you’re right- they are basically all the same. One nice thing is the Sinister one comes with a lifetime warranty and they have great customer service.
One thing I would recommend, no matter which kit you get, is staking the center threaded section. As far as I know none of them are tightened using Loctite. I know of one Sinister (mine) and several from other brands where the center section got loose from the aluminum block, which allowed the filter to loosen and leak coolant.
I have the XDP one, you can use discount code DIESEL10 at checkout and get another 10% off. They may have a 4th of July sale, but likely the same deal...
Recently put an XPD one on mine. It comes with a Donaldson filter. I bought an extra when I ordered it. Glad I did. From them it’s only $8 and change. Everywhere local I have looked at is almost twice that.
I started using them with the 7.3, but the benefit there was in maintaining the coolant additive package.
These are a bypass of the heater bypass, so a small percentage of what gets flowed through the block on a continuous basis. They do grab material, but it will be a percentage of what the oil cooler grabs. I'm not sure anyone can say I've got a cooler filter and I don't maintain my coolant so I've not had an issue. I know I can't raise my hand on that one as I believed Ford in the 100k changeout for the gold and the filter didn't stop me from having a clogged oil cooler.
But it catches things. Is it worth it ........ ?????? I would have been better off using the money to change the coolant at 50k miles.
Again, it catches things. Mine was a DIY, buying a base and building up from there.
I put one on the other truck about 1000 miles after the shop did a flush and new oil cooler and head gaskets.
I ran it for 1000 miles and cut it open and there was a lot of trash. The next one when 5000 miles and it was
a lot cleaner. After that I switched to once a year.
On the cost. You can do a DIY one. All you have to do is get the base and some fittings.
I used an IPR full flow coolant filter connected inline with the heater hose for 45k miles. My coolant stayed cleaned. I did this after replacing a clogged oil cooler and EGR cooler. Did it work? While I cannot prove anything, the coolant was filthy when I bought the vehicle. I sold it last month and the coolant was pristine. I cleaned the filter every 5k and there was always sediment in it.
It was about $500 for the kit. Was it worth it? Yes, because I have a van!
Jack, I miss this active forum! The van forum is quiet as there are not as many users. I look for posts that I can help out with. The coolant filter sure did what it was supposed to do for me. After 20k miles with the same coolant, it still looked fresh.
I already miss the 6.0 diesel. With all the steep grades that we climb, I either need to lighten the load or get a diesel. I don't see any chance of lightening the load even after the kids grew up. I carried 4 sockets sets, jack stands, various wrenches, medium hydraulic jack, barrel jack, come-along, and telescoping ladder, and many other tools. I changed out a tire on the road, installed the Active Suspension, replaced a failed air conditioner pulley (missing 50% of the bearings), replaced EGR pressure feedback sensor, and a few other minor repairs on the road.
I will either get another 6.0 that's been upgraded or the 7.3. The V10 has the torque that I need. But it's even harder to work on in such limited space. The 6.0 was a trooper for nearly 45k miles!
Nice! I’d like to get rid of this sinister pos that came with my truck. This seems like a real solution. Thanks.
I installed the Sinister and removed it because the hose did not seem strong enough. I try to think like an engineer. While I believe in using a coolant filter, I had to remember that I was introducing more failure points into the system. More clamps, filter housing, filter, valves, etc. It made me nervous about driving long trips. I was diligent about checking it for failure.
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