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As the title states - who understands SCA? I changed my water pump in Oct. '18 (early '99) and didn't drain the block. Green coolant was
really clean so added 50/50 and I believe 3 bottles of Motorcraft SCA. I'm just now testing with the Acustrips I got from the dealer. Which line is the most important? As far as freeze issues, I know I'm fine just given the clean rich color in the degas bottle. Is the Ph or Reserve Alkalinity the most important? Is it possible to put too much SCA in the cooling system?
I appreciate any assistance.
Why did you add three bottles? Yes with that much SCA you compromise the chemistry of the coolant and also create fall out. The nitrates are way high and should be near 1.0-1.2.
I used dialogue from thedieselstop.com as my guideline but possibly didn't follow correctly. That information may have been incorrect as well. It stated, "Using 8 gallons as your cooling system capacity gives you a unit capacity range of 9.6 units to 24 units as being acceptable. A 16 ounce bottle is 5 units so that makes one unit equal to 3.2 ounces. So 30.72 ounces is the minimum and 76.6 ounces is the maximum."
It may have been 2 new bottles. I would have to go back and look at receipts. I have an old, unused bottle that I received from my Dad that I didn't use because I was unsure of the shelf life. Regardless, I have some colors on the test strip that don't align with the chart.
You could of just bought Fleetcharge concentrate, its compatible with the e99 and OBS trucks. No need to mess with the SCA, wish I knew about it back then if it was even available.
I used green Prestone with distilled water. I just read the label and nitrates are not mentioned one way or another. I appreciate the patience as chemistry is not my thing! I checked the receipts and see that 2 - 16oz bottles of Motorcraft SCA were used. I have the old 3rd bottle on a shelf. I recall 8 gallons of 50/50 mix were used to fill the system. The fill level has remained constant in the degas bottle.
My engine is running great but I don’t want to screw things up. What damage does too much SCA cause?
According to the thread posted by Stewart_H, Gooch stated - "You could use HD ELC's in the older engines, but you run the risk of having to replace the cups and maybe some other stuff. I always try to recommend conventional coolant meeting ASTM D4985 with SCA or a pre-charged conventional coolant meeting ASTM D6210 for those."
The conventional green Prestone that I mixed 50/50 meets or exceeds ASTM D4985. According to an article also in that thread by Mark Wildman, Field Service Rep for International, he states - "At service intervals where the coolant is replaced, two 16-ounce bottles of SCA should be added." He later states to add 8-10 ounces every 15,000 miles according to the service manual.
My strips have been stored in a dry plastic bag for over a year and who knows how long they were on the shelf at the dealer. Is it possible that these have gone bad therefore I'm getting colors not even on the chart? I'm not a mechanic by any stretch but I wouldn't consider myself a complete idiot. I research the unknown prior to touching anything on my truck. If there are high risks in screwing something up, I'm not going to touch it. I felt like job was well researched and would like to get the coolant back in check. I appreciate any help!
The only conventional green coolant Prestone makes is called "Prime". The Prestone universal is green DexCool and shouldn't be used. That's a 2-EHA coolant and doesn't play well.
Thank you. I will have to look for the Prime. Never heard of it before so will shop around or order online. I saw this product met the ASTM D4985 requirement so I figured it was good. I only drove it maybe 10,000 miles since doing the water pump so hopefully damage if any is minimal.
JBE99.. lets stop and figure out what vehicle you have and go from there, you may be doing way too much work with these SCAs and you may
be able to use the CAT style coolant and be done with it. If you are reading the document I think you are, at the bottom it says something to the
idea to ignore all of this SCA stuff and use the CAT style red stuff if you have a engine built after a specific date.
This line.. "EDIT: For clarity sake, obviously if you're gonna replace the coolant with an OAT ELC meeting CAT EC-1 specs, ignore the parts referring to SCA's"
2/2/99-up build engines (SN 940614-up) can use the EC-1 spec and forget the SCA.
Fill out your footer with the specifics on the vehicle. Kinda like mine below.
Thank you. I haven’t put much in my footer b/c there isn’t much to add with my truck. Early ‘99, build 9/98, 2wd. Not too sexy as my wife calls it an “old man’s truck.” She is right - it was my Old Man’s and he can no longer drive. I’m in $2k deep with a garage kept truck with 162k on the clock. It never pulled a load, Rotella every 3k miles and paint looks new. I keep it in my garage and plan some subtle updates. Dad smiled a bit with the 4” MBRP that was recently installed! I’m going to shop coolant this week and come up with something. I will flush the system and get things back into check. I appreciate the resources this site offers. Unfortunately, I have more to take than to give.
Provided you do a full flush no I don't see an issue. We use the purple coolant on older equipment where ELC can causes issues. For your use the SCA charge will never need to be topped off but should be checked every 50k.
