Coolant flush or drain/fill?

[Trash Panda]

I much rather just do a drop and refill life left or not. Whether coolant, engine oil, trans/gearbox, whatever. Firm believer in avoiding issues. I get it though. If you're running a fleet you want to squeeze every dime you can

You’re just pouring money into the waste barrel, and wasting your time.

Coolant test strips are cheap, accurate, and effective. There is nothing to gain by draining before it has begun to lose some of its effectiveness. 2 years on a modern coolant is an absurd drain interval.

 

[SDT]

That’s the answer I was looking for and thank you. I don’t believe for one second after 2 years that the system needs a flush. It’s green colored coolant, and will stick with the Kubota coolant as well.

The freeze protection properties of modern engine coolants last almost indefinitely. The corrosion protection properties do not. This is why you need to change coolant regularly. Doing so is more important now than in decades past due to aluminum components used in the coolinig system, e.g., radiators, etc.

 

[Trash Panda]

The freeze protection properties of modern engine coolants last almost indefinitely. The corrosion protection properties do not. This is why you need to change coolant regularly. Doing so is more important now than in decades past due to aluminum components used in the coolinig system, e.g., radiators, etc.

The corrosion protection doesn’t last forever, but it damn sure lasts a lot longer than 2 years like Kubota claims.

 

[hagrid]

All,

I had just stumbled across the coolant change recommended interval of 2000 hrs OR 2 years in my manual, and saw it mentioned doing a flush? I’d like anyone’s opinion on this with their experience… I’m no professional but I highly doubt that at 2 years old with not even 200 hours on my L2502 that the factory coolant should be degraded enough to flush? If I am mistaken please advise me. Give me your insights on staying with the Kubota coolant or an aftermarket name like the Prestone all makes and models coolant. Thank you all in advance!

Learn from my mistake:

Change coolant on tiniest of tractors...

Shoulda leestened to Q'doba and changed it after 2 years instead of six. The hourly interval is 1000 and I'm at 179. Attend your eyes: Unsightly corrosion!!

www.orangetractortalks.com

 

[TheOldHokie]

The corrosion protection doesn’t last forever, but it damn sure lasts a lot longer than 2 years like Kubota claims.

One size dies not fit all. The quoted service life of modern heavy duty ELC coolants varies greatly across products and formulations. Some examples:

Kubota OEM - 2 years
Zerex HD nitrated - 3 years
Cummins PGXL Vital - 6 years (test yearly)
Shell Rotella ELC - 6 years
Prestone ELC - 6 years
CAT ELC-1 (all brands) - 6 years
Delo HD - 8 years

If you plan on extending flushes beyond Kubota"s two year recommendation you might want to choose something other than the Kubota product. Right now I have the Delo product on the shelf and I take that 8 year claim with a large grain of salt.

Dan

 

[Trash Panda]

The quoted service life of modern heavy duty ELC coolants varies greatly across products and formulations. Some examples:

Kubota OEM - 2 years
Zerex HD nitrated - 3 years
Cumm8ns PGXL Vital - 6 years (test yeatly)
Shell Rotella ELC - 6 years
Prestone ELC - 6 years
CAT ELC-1 (all brands) - 6 years
Delo HD - 8 years

If you plan on extending flushes beyond Kubota"s two year recommendation you might want to choose something other than the Kubota product. Right now I have the Delo product on the shelf.

Dan

I won’t refill with Kubotas product, but I am currently on year 4 with it, and the coolant is testing great. I do it annually when I change the engine oil. It seems their recommendation is pretty conservative, or I’m just not hard on coolant with my operating habits. The unit also doesn’t have a ton of hours put on it.

When the testing numbers begin to take a turn for the worse, I will likely be making the swap to CAT ELC due to cheap local availability.

 

[lmichael]

You’re just pouring money into the waste barrel, and wasting your time.

Coolant test strips are cheap, accurate, and effective. There is nothing to gain by draining before it has begun to lose some of its effectiveness. 2 years on a modern coolant is an absurd drain interval.

Likely so. But honestly I don't care. (not being flippant BTW) I've just always been a more=less trouble regardless of the fluid involved. And yeah I get it but in my case if I drop an extra $15 or so on it per year it's just something I do, it's a past time and makes me feel better as I'm in there checking things at the same time. I don't have a need to squeak every last cent of work out of every fluid or filter on the machine.
I treat my vehicles the same way. I.E. our Rav4 Hybrid (bought new 8/20) is a bit over 40k miles. But this year it will be treated to O&F change (6 mos and about 2800 miles interval), both transaxle fluids changed, coolant in both systems (hybrid has 2 systems but same type coolant), likely brake fluid flush as well. Does it need all this? Likely not. But I need/want 100% reliability. That car ferries "da boss" and our little granddaughters and last thing I need is them stranded because I tried to eek out a few extra miles on something. Yeah, call me weird or obsessive but I've always done this and won't stop

 

[Trash Panda]

Likely so. But honestly I don't care. (not being flippant BTW) I've just always been a more=less trouble regardless of the fluid involved. And yeah I get it but in my case if I drop an extra $15 or so on it per year it's just something I do, it's a past time and makes me feel better as I'm in there checking things at the same time. I don't have a need to squeak every last cent of work out of every fluid or filter on the machine.
I treat my vehicles the same way. I.E. our Rav4 Hybrid (bought new 8/20) is a bit over 40k miles. But this year it will be treated to O&F change (6 mos and about 2800 miles interval), both transaxle fluids changed, coolant in both systems (hybrid has 2 systems but same type coolant), likely brake fluid flush as well. Does it need all this? Likely not. But I need/want 100% reliability. That car ferries "da boss" and our little granddaughters and last thing I need is them stranded because I tried to eek out a few extra miles on something. Yeah, call me weird or obsessive but I've always done this and won't stop

Some people like buying fluids unnecessarily because it makes them feel better.

I like seeing how many safes I can fill with rifles I don’t need. Which is an actual insane waste of money.

To each their own!