It's time to change the coolant in my 07 Contessa with a C9. I have the original green coolant from Monaco at production. Now, we are in Mesa AZ and leave SU for Gulf Shores AL and ultimately Tampa and Orlando FL. We are tarveling along I-10 EB the entire trip.

If possible, I would like some recommendations on this service. If you can please provide places with great service and good prices. Also, any place I should avoid.

Thanks, Ken 2007 Beaver Contessa

Hi Ken,

I just left Thompson CAT in Spanish Fort, Alabama on the bay near Mobile.  They did a valve lash on my coach.  In the past they have also replaced a turbo and an injector.  Not necessarily the cheapest but they don't mind working on motorhomes and are very friendly.  They also permit overnighting in their parking lot.  If that isn't your thing, I would recommend Maeher State Park off Battleship Parkway and right on the bay which is only about 6 miles from Thompson.

Good luck,

Tim

You also could stop in Lake City FL off I75 at http://www.ringpower.com/ as they have a small (compared to Tampa) location if you want a CAT RV friendly dealer in FL

You can also choose fromhttp://www.catrvclub.org/cat_rv_centers.htm a CAT RV Center and if you belong to the CAT RV Club get a discount.

Tim,

I live about 25 miles from the Spanish Fort Thompson Dealership. If you do not mind, let me know if you were happy with the quality of the work and what they charged for the valve lash adjustment there. I have been over to pick up filters and a few parts but they were mostly working on heavy equipment whenever I checked out the shop so I had been reluctant to bring the coach in.  I was thinking of going to the Cat dealership near Bend on my next trip west for the valve lash given they have done a bunch of these coaches before . Your insight may get me over the hurdle to deal locally...

You can e mail me if you prefer e.buker@gulftel.com

Later Ed

Here is what I found out today after a few phone calls. Drain coolant, flush 2-3 times and then re-fill with CAT ELC. Wagner CAT in El Paso TX, $700, Holt CAT in Sonora TX $650 and Holt CAT in San Antonio $650. All were about $16 for a gallon of ELC and fours labor, plus tax. YIKES! I'm in shock. That seems really high to me.

Someone somewhere must be more reasonably priced than this. I am going to check Freightliner etc. My coolant has lasted 5 years so I am not opposed to just a drain and re-fill with regular coolant.

Gerald, any ideas?

Ken Sair 2007 Contessa

You might give A call to Ironhorse Rv in San Antonio,tx. They work on all type of MH's {not a Cat dealer} but do excellent work. They are off off Loop 1604 The Anderson loop and that would be off I-10 East. They also have places to camp with full hookups [3] Very courteous and fast.
Frank

Frank  I was their at Iron Hores to have them check the under side of the rear road side slide and they said that every thing was ok and when I got home about 2 weeks later i still had the same problem that i wanted them to fix I end up having to repair it my self .

Ken,

It is the four hours labor that brings the price up and it does take that long. Between the drain time, the fill time, running it to bring the temp up and circulate the fluid each time, it ends up being time consuming. A couple of things to note. Be sure they have the dash heater temp control fully on during the procedure. Becuase you keep dilluting the current antifreeze with water and you cannot drain it all out, your first two gallons af ELC should be non dillute and then the rest can be the 50/50 premix. Some shops only have 50/50 premix ELC on hand and just go ahead with that. You may want to check and assure they have both mixes and use them.  It is painful price wise but then you do not have to deal with it for a long time and it also eliminates dealing with coolant conditioner and cartridges. The ELC actually reduces the level of wall deposits in the water jacket which probably maintains better heat transfer over time.

Later Ed  

Thanks Ed and Frank. I have called a few Freightliner places along I-10. Price a little better although all are estimates. Freightliner open 7 days a week so they may be more convenient for our travel plans. I will give Ironhorse a call. another BAC member also recommends them.

Ken 2007 Contessa

Another question. I just had a coolant SOS test. My PH was a little low. Is that the SCA additive? Freezepoint and nitrites were OK.

Ken 2007 Contessa

Quoted from Edward Buker

Ken,

It is the four hours labor that brings the price up and it does take that long. Between the drain time, the fill time, running it to bring the temp up and circulate the fluid each time, it ends up being time consuming. A couple of things to note. Be sure they have the dash heater temp control fully on during the procedure. Becuase you keep dilluting the current antifreeze with water and you cannot drain it all out, your first two gallons af ELC should be non dillute and then the rest can be the 50/50 premix. Some shops only have 50/50 premix ELC on hand and just go ahead with that. You may want to check and assure they have both mixes and use them.  It is painful price wise but then you do not have to deal with it for a long time and it also eliminates dealing with coolant conditioner and cartridges. The ELC actually reduces the level of wall deposits in the water jacket which probably maintains better heat transfer over time.

Later Ed  

I'm curious Ed how you get all but 2 gallons out of your cooling system, in order to just add 2 gallons of concentrate and the rest pre-mix? Or maybe the question is better worded, how you you know how much water is left in the system after you drain the final flush?

Our coaches, Ken Sairs and mine are both 07 Contessas which Beaver says hold 50-55 quarts of coolant on initial fill. Lets assume the actual number is in the middle and we hold 13 gallons of coolant. I've always held to the belief that if I know what the coolant capacity is, then after the final flush, knowing that the water remaining is suitable for continued use, put in the correct number of gallons of concentrate, (in this case 6.5) and then top off with water. This way I am assured of exactly the mix I wanted. If I start filling with 50/50 and can only get 8 gallons back in, 2 concentrate and 6 pre-mix, I'm at a dilute mixture right out of the box and have no easy way to correct it. In round numbers in my head I'm starting with my fresh anti-freeze at a 40% solution instead of 50%. Am I missing something? I've done many flush and fills in my life but never been able to accurately calculate the retain in heaters, AquaHots, engine blocks, radiators etc.

Ken

One more side note question and then I think I'm done. One vendor, Ironhorse in San Antonio uses the Fleetguard ELC. Is there any major performance difference between this ELC and the CAT ELC?

Thanks

Ken Sair 2007 Contessa

Ken,

On my first drain into a large container I measured what came out of the drain valve using a gallon jug, Given the capacity of the system, I calculated just over two gallons remained that did not drain. I actually flushed three times and used distilled water for the last flush given several gallons would remain. What was finally left in the system was a 2 gallon mix of mostly distiilled water, a small amount of city water, and a small amount of dilute ethylene glycol. I started with two gallons of concentrate ELC (I used Cat) and then filled with 50/50 mix. My Cat dealer did not stock any concentrate so I had to order it before I did the job. That is what prompted my note. If I had brought my coach into the dealer they would have flushed with water, perhaps a cleaner, and just put in 50/50 premix and called it a day. Now I'm not convinced that would have made a big difference given there is a range of acceptable concentrations and I'm living near Gulf Shores AL and we are not exactly cold here. Still I would rather have it right....

Your method of using only concentrate is just fine if your dealer has it. Given my local dealer just had 50/50 I planned to use what I could of that and ordered 3 gallons of concentrate to have on hand.  I'm a little parenoid about using Cat ELC given they did the testing and know the material compatibility that is requred for thier engines. As long as Fleetguard has Cat EC-1 approval listed then that would ease my mind.

One other item. The Cat procedure for ELC  change over would have you run a cleaner concentrate through the system that you are supposed to flush out. It would not be very easy to effectively flush that cleaner out given the residuals left in our system. The antifreeze that I drained out was clean and I only had 38K miles on the coach at that time, with a prior standard antifreeze change at 28K, Given that I elected not to use the cleaner. Hope his helps.

Later Ed

Ken,

One last thing, I also turned on my engine preheat maybe a minute or so during each flush to clear that loop of standard Antifreeze. Not sure if you have that loop but something else to remember if you do.

later Ed

Thanks Ed. If you measured it then we know you got the right amount. It seems like with so many different places to hide that you'd never get that much to drain.

Happy trails,
Ken