Extended Life Coolant

Cooling System - The Challenge

 Customers in Botswana face a real cooling system challenge.
 Ambient temperatures often hit 50 degrees Celsius.
 Need cooling systems in top condition to keep machines productive.
 Water used on many sites is supplied from bore holes.
 Quality of most bore hole water is not ideal.
 Most customers were using commercial additives or Caterpillar coolant
 conditioners (SCA).
 The poor water quality on site reduced the effectiveness of these coolants.
 The coolant conditioners were a planned maintenance item.
 This imposed an additional maintenance burden to the customer.
 Concentrate top ups every 250 hours.
 Coolant change out and flush every 3000 hours.
 Cooling System - The Problem
 At engine rebuild, scheduled and unscheduled.
 It was apparent that cooling systems were not in optimum condition.
 In some cases the cooling system was the root cause of a failure.
 Pitting, corrosion and scaling were common findings.
 Usually resulted in parts having to be replaced at the customers expense.
 Additional repairs were often needed on radiator and cooling system.
 Cooling System - The Solution
 Introduction of Cat Extended Life Coolant
 ELC provided BEMCO with a new preventive maintenance product.
 Competitive pricing.
BEMCO opted to recommend premixed ELC.
 Initial fill price higher than SCA, over a 6000hr period often worked out
cheaper.
This took care of the poor water quality found at many sites in Botswana.
 The reduced maintenance burden was also a bonus.
 3000 hour extender addition, 6000 hours between change outs.
 All new Cat machines are now factory-shipped with ELC.
 BEMCO encourage customers to run these machines with ELC allowing
them to make a direct comparison.
 Cooling System - The Results
 Results were excellent
 Had to wait for the ELC units to clock up hours.
 The benefits of Cat ELC could be verified at the first engine rebuild.
 The results were better than both BEMCO and customers expected.
 No signs of corrosion, pitting or scaling.
 Resulted in reduced rebuild costs.
 Customers also reported that repairs to cooling system components
 had been reduced on site. Hoses, radiators, coolers and regulators.
 Reduced interventions had also reduced the chance of mechanic error.
 Cooling System - The Future
A BEMCO customer recently purchased some competitive equipment. During the
commissioning of the equipment the customer insisted that the supplier factory-fill
coolant be replaced with CAT ELC.

•BEMCO run a large repair and maintenance fleet. It was an automatic choice that we
use Cat ELC as part of our preventive maintenance. To date we have had no failure
due to cooling system faults.

•Bemco have developed and purchased units to recover and reuse Cat ELC during any
unscheduled repairs where the cooling system has to be drained. At our R&M sites,
this saves money and reduces pollution.

Part No. Package Size Description

119-5148 Bulk (5,000 Gallons) Premixed (50/50)
101-2845 55 Gallons Premixed (50/50)
101-2844 1 Gallon Premixed (50/50)
119-5150 1 Gallon Concentrate
119-5152 Quart Bottle Cat Extender
 Faults Resulting from lack of
Hard water scale
Chemical Protection Thermostat
buildup on the cold Fouling of the heater core malfunctions
side of the liner, with silica gel & phosphate Corrosion of
creating an insulating sludge, resulting in water pump
effect & consequent reduced heat to the cab & impellers
Solder corrosion &
hot spots bunk heaters consequent solder
bloom fouling

Corrosion of the
Cylinder copper or aluminum
Corrosion of the steel Thermostat radiator core
& cast iron surfaces Head Housing Radiator
Water
Bypass
Fouling of the radiator
Water with silica gel or
Severe pitting of Oil Pump phosphate sludge
Cylinder
wet sleeve liners Cooler from the antifreeze
Liners
Gel insulates fan
temperature sensors
causing improper
Cylinder air fan operation
Short-outs in block Block leading to overheating
heater Water pump seal failure
due to phosphate scale due to excess dissolved Hoses can become soft
buildup Water pump cavitation solids and/or high and brittle if the wrong
due to foaming phosphate levels additives are used
 ELC Versus SCA
• These photos of Cat 3408 HEUI engines
illustrate the differences discovered
during engine tear down at BEMCO
CRC in Gaborone.
• Left - 5300hrs(SCA) - Engine failed.
• Right - 10103hrs(ELC) - Scheduled
rebuild.
 ELC Versus SCA
Wet liner

SCA - 5300 ELC - 10,103

hours hours
 ELC Versus SCA
Wet liner close-up

SAC ELC
SCA - 5300 ELC - 10,103
hours hours
 ELC Versus SCA
Injector sleeve

SCA - 5300 ELC - 10,103

hours hours
 ELC Versus SCA
Injector sleeve close-up

SCA - 5300 ELC - 10,103

hours hours
 ELC Versus SCA
Water pump inlet

SCA - 5300 ELC - 10,103

hours hours
 ELC Versus SCA
Water pump impeller

SCA - 5300 ELC - 10,103

hours hours
 ELC Versus SCA
Water flow switch

SCA - 5300 ELC - 10,103

hours hours
 ELC Versus SCA
Temperature regulator

SCA - 5300 ELC - 10,103

hours hours
 ELC Versus SCA
Temperature regulator

SCA - 5300 ELC - 10,103

hours hours