I never believed coolant analysis was worth the money until I caught a failing injector cup on my 3406E last month

For like 15 years I figured oil analysis was fine and coolant sampling was just a way for labs to make extra cash. Then I saw a buddy send off a sample from his CAT C15 and the report showed high silica and some other numbers that didn't look right. The lab flagged it as possible pre-combustion gas leaking into the coolant. We pulled the head and sure enough, one injector cup had a hairline crack. That repair would have been a lot worse if we waited for a full failure. 40 bucks for the kit saved him probably 3 grand in parts and downtime. Has anyone else had a cheap test like that save them a headache?

3 comments

3 Comments

christopher94329d agoMost Upvoted

Shook my head reading this. Had almost the same thing happen with a 3406E last fall. Lab flagged sodium and potassium levels that were way off. I thought it was just a bad gasket. Pulled the head and found three injector cups with cracks you couldn't see with the naked eye. That 40 dollar kit saved me from buying a new head when one finally let go. Now I send coolant samples every other oil change without question. It's cheap insurance against a very expensive surprise.

burns.jenny29d ago

Not sure I'd go that far with it, @christopher943. I've seen coolant samples come back looking bad and still run engines for years without a hiccup. Labs can flag stuff that's just normal wear and tear if you ask me.

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nancy81729d ago

Oh man, that's wild! Three injector cups cracked and you couldn't even see them?