If you own a diesel truck, it is considered a light-duty diesel application. When you consider how diesel engines typically work, that makes sense. When these light-duty designs first emerged, one vital part was often left out of the design.
Heavy and medium-duty engines come with a coolant filtration system built-in. They serve a vital need in these engines. Likely as a cost-saving measure, they are often not included in light-duty engines. But you can fix the problem by installing one yourself.
What is a Coolant Filtration System?
Coolant filtration systems are by-pass style kits that you can install on your diesel truck. It is built to remove harmful and abrasive particles from your engine through the coolant flow, protecting your water pump and radiator system.
How Does It Work?
As a by-pass, these filtration systems siphon off small amounts of coolant fluid on each pass through the upper radiator hose. That small amount of coolant gets filtered to remove any abrasive material that it may have collected from your engine block.
As the filter acts as a radiator itself, that small amount of coolant can transfer out its heat normally. There is no loss of cooling power to your engine. Over time, your coolant fluid will slowly be cleaned of debris as it repeats the process on every pass.
Why Do I Need One?
Light duty diesel engine blocks are built from large casts made with sand. While most of that sand is removed in the casting process, some of it remains in your engine block. This sand is abrasive and will slowly wear down your water pump seals, hoses, and radiator as it flows through your engine in your coolant fluid.
Over time, other particles flake off the walls of your engine’s parts, as well. These flaked bits are very abrasive and add to the erosion of your system as they flow through your coolant stream. Larger duty diesel engines take care of this problem through filtration systems designed to remove these particles.
If you want to extend the life of the water pump and radiator system on your light-duty diesel truck engine, you should consider putting a cooling filtration system back into use. Doing so can double the life of your water pump up to 90,000 miles or more. Even already damaged pumps can benefit from this type of filtration. It’s never too late to protect your engine’s parts.
