There are several important reasons to maintain proper antifreeze levels in your truck’s engine cooling system. The most important reason is for proper cooling of the engine in hot weather.  When the water content is too high the cooling system will retain heat longer because water does not cool as efficiently as antifreeze.  The other reason is for exactly what antifreeze was intended for in the first place…not freezing inside the engine block.  Straight water, or a poor mixture of antifreeze and water, creates the potential for freezing and cracking of metal parts when the temperature drops.

There is another longer term issue that should motivate fleet professionals to be concerned with maintaining proper antifreeze levels in the vehicles they have in their care. Correctly maintaining a cooling system includes flushing the system, replacing with new antifreeze, and consistently keeping the proper mixture of water and antifreeze. If not maintained properly the system could potentially rust. This picture is an example of what rust can do to a cooling system over a long period of time. This fuel/water separator housing accumulated rust and ate up the O-ring that connects the heated base and caused a fuel leak. With the current supply chain issues, the heated base to this housing was over two weeks out if ordered critical. The lesson here is to maintain your equipment’s engine cooling systems on a consistent interval to avoid break downs and unexpected repairs.

Article By: Darin Rickard Regional Service Manager & Photography By: Val Lezama Repair Technician.