Heavy-duty diesels can be switched from standard coolant to organic-based extended life coolant without completely draining and refilling the cooling system using a new kit from Shell. The kit, which includes enough supplies for five heavy-duty trucks, cuts conversion costs in half compared to completely draining and flushing a system, and only takes about 30 minutes per truck, according to Shell.
The switch over to Shell Rotella ELC Extended Life Coolant allows trucks to run for up to 600,000 mi. without adding supplemental coolant additives. It's also said to improve coolant heat-transfer properties and water pump seal life while providing superior protection in high-temperature conditions like those created by cooled EGR systems.
Each new Shell kit includes five one-gallon jugs of ELC conversion fluid. One gallon added to a 12-gal. heavy-duty engine system filled with conventional ethylene glycol coolant converts the entire system to ELC, even changing the original green or purple color to the standard ELC red. Kits also include test strips for ensuring that the original conventional coolant is in good condition before the conversion, detailed instructions, tags to mark the coolant system as filled with ELC, and sample bottles with mailers to ensure that the conversion is completely up to specifications.
In addition to the kit, fleets converting trucks to ELC will also need blank coolant filters or some other device for bypassing filters designed to add SCAs, Rotella ELC 50/50 premix to top off cooling systems, and Rotella ELC concentrate to make any freeze-point corrections needed.
