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OK, I changed the coolant in my truck and tested the coolant. Now I need to figure out what I need to do. I used NAPA green, pure coolant and used distilled water. Firefighter sent me these NAPA (WIX?) strips and here are my results. It looks to me like PH is OK but I need to add for Nitrite. I have about a pint of Fleetguard SCA-4 in stock. What should I do with this? Is 1 pint going to be enough? Below the picture of my strip are some pictures that I stole from another thread on here for the purpose of color references. Color guides for these strips are not easy to come by on here (at least not for me).
Mark, the test strips I used had molybdate instead of PH. I used the Fleetguard 3 way test strips in the video below. I bought the truck with the molybdate and nitrite pretty much depleted, and had to add 3 pints of motorcraft VC-8 (replacement equivalent to SCA-4) to bring it up to an acceptable level. I think you will need at least 2 pints to start with.
The one on the end is supposed to be in the pink range. A pint might be enough but I cant quite remember. It should say on the bottle how many oz's to add per gallon of water in the cooling system. I use the Ford VC-8. I think I remember dumping a whole bottle of it in also the first time I tested it and found there was none in it. Those strips also don't last forever. They'll go bad quickly unless stored sealed up and kept at room temperature. You have to test it again a week or so later to get an accurate read after it mixes itself into the rest of the system.
I got the stuff at NAPA and it calls for 1pt:4gals of coolant so I'll add 1 1/2 pts and test. The strips have an expiration date of April, 2022. I don't understand why they won't just sell a couple of strips, I don't know anyone who needs 35.
Thanks for the input.
I know. I usually test mine when I change the oil and add a small maintenance dose or 4 oz. I've had that bottle for a few years now and will probably never use them all before they go bad. One major bummer with mine is it's got too early of a serial number to switch to the red stuff which needs no testing or additive.
I know. I usually test mine when I change the oil and add a small maintenance dose or 4 oz. I've had that bottle for a few years now and will probably never use them all before they go bad. One major bummer with mine is it's got too early of a serial number to switch to the red stuff which needs no testing or additive.
I'm stuck in yesteryear, I like green. Give me green for everything. Just one jug of stuff on the shelf for when I need it.
For now it looks like I have my SCA's in line. Somewhere I saw that someone said that the degas bottle is a flow-thru setup. From looking at it, it doesn't look that way. It looks to me like the coolant there only mixes with the system as it expands and contracts...The bottle is connected to the radiator at the bottom with about a 1" or 1 1/2" hose then at the top with about a 1/4" or 3/8" hose. the coolant level in the radiator should match the level in the degas bottle and the degas bottle never expands to the point where that top hose is seeing coolant. It looks like all it does is let air flow back and forth between the bottle and the radiator. If I'm seeing it wrong, could someone 'splain it to me?
