​Radiators, Liner Protrusion, and Max Mileage

Do you think all radiators are created equal and built to the same specifications? Please don’t ever think that. Original equipment radiators are built to the minimum requirements because the average grade in the USA is 3 percent. Can you believe that? The OEM engineers told me back in 1992 they only have to spec a radiator to control coolant temperature for a 3 percent grade. I asked him if he has ever traveled outside the state of Texas and I got a cold stare from him. Even though he was older than me, I knew more about cooling diesel engines in a semi-trucks than he did. We learned a lot about cooling at Pittsburgh Power back in the days of the Cummins Big Cam 4 low flow cooling disaster. We learned how to convert the engine to high flow cooling, or if the existing radiator was in good shape, we would install an air tank along the frame rail and run a 1” hose to and from it and add 5 to 6 gallons of coolant to the system and the problem was solved. On Prevost motorhomes to this day we add the additional coolant tank to resolve overheating problems. Here are the radiator specifications on a 379 Peterbilt: if the truck came with a 60 Series Detroit there were 177 tubes, if the Pete came with a 550 CAT there were 234 tubes straight through with 14 fins per inch. The Pittsburgh Power Radiator has 4 rows of tubes with 100 tubes per row or 400 dimpled tubes. The dimple increases the surface area for coolant touching the sides of the tube thus transferring more heat to the fin. And we have 16 fins per inch to carry away the heat. Yes, it’s twice the radiator of the stock unit, and the price is about $1,000 more. It’s your decision, do you want to be sitting on the side of the mountain waiting for your coolant temperature to drop, or do you want to pull effortlessly over the mountain. The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten.

Liner protrusion, when you are getting your engine rebuilt at a shop you need to talk to the mechanic about the liner protrusion. If he says they don’t have the equipment to cut the upper counter bores, you need to see to it that they get someone to come to their shop that knows how to do the job and set the protrusion .001 over the factory spec. If another shop is doing the work, please ask them for the spec. It’s not fair to call us unless we are supplying some of the parts, such as manifolds, turbos, torsional dampers, mercury filled engine balancers, or ECM tuning. We realize most of you never get East, however, consider giving us the opportunity to sell you great parts that will allow the truck to run free, pull stronger, and gain fuel mileage, keep us in business and you more profitable. We have many remote tuners across the country and Canada, and they can plug into your data port and we can tune your ECM or trouble shoot it from our engineering center in Saxonburg, PA.

Max Mileage Fuel Born Catalyst, if you are NOT using this catalyst in your diesel fuel and gasoline powered vehicles, you are missing out on a wonder experience and your engines are suffering from soot and carbon buildup. I have talked in previous articles about why we at Pittsburgh Power have been testing our products with owner operators over the past 42 years, and the reason is they tell the truth about the product. If the product makes a positive or negative difference to their engine or truck, they will let you know. Many of you reading this article also listen to the Power Hour every Tuesday on the Kevin Rutherford’s show (channel 146 Sirius XM from noon to 2 pm EST) and have heard many testimonials of how the Max Mileage has improved their engines and eliminated problems with the emissions system.

Byron Stoll from New London, Wisconsin, is one of our newest Max Mileage dealers. He travelled 100 miles south to Sheboygan in his 2015 1500 Ram Hemi pickup with the Max Mileage Catalyst in the tank on Sunday the first of September. He made this trip to treat Matteo Vaughn-Rupp’s Cummins ISX powered International Pro Star that had severe regen problems. According to Matteo, his engine would regen 3 times a day and the third re-gen of that day was 1 hour and 40 minutes long. Byron put 10 ounces of the catalyst in his fuel and gave him another 10 ounces to take with him on Monday. He did have 1 parked regen on Monday and on Tuesday Matteo added the second 10 ounces to his tank while purchasing fuel. For the rest of the week there were NO parked regens. There were some rolling regens, however, this was the first week of the Max Mileage Catalyst in his fuel. Matteo did purchase 1 gallon of the catalyst and will be keeping us informed as to how the ISX emission system is performing. Byron Stoll has seen significant fuel savings and performance gains in his Ram pickup. He has the catalyst in stock, his phone number is 920-202-6001. Byron also noticed the ISX in his Volvo was getting quieter during the first week of using the catalyst, his normal volume setting on is Sirius XM radio 34 and now it’s turned down to 20. Byron is going to put the catalyst in an aerobatic airplane. This will be the first time Max Mileage takes to the sky!

Pete, the Vice President of Pittsburgh Power on his first trip with our 1996 Dodge powered by the 12 valve Cummins to the Iowa Truck Jamboree turned down the radio 3 times because the engine keeps getting quieter.

We now have 2 dealers on the I-95 corridor, Kenly 95 Petro Truck Stop in Kenly, N.C. exit 106. We also have a dealer in Bowie, MD, Bayard Construction and his phone number is 240-417-0898. He will deliver the catalyst to surrounding areas such as Upper Marlboro and Annapolis. Today he put the catalyst in 2- 12V71 Detroit Diesels in a marine application, and this is the first Max Mileage going into 2 stroke diesel engines for marine use. It will be interesting to see if the engines start better in cold weather and if the 2 stroke smoke clears up. We know the carbon and soot buildup in the engines will diminish.

Here is what the Max Mileage Catalyst does in diesel fuel:

1. Burns 60% of the soot and carbon in the combustion chamber.

2. It takes 15 degrees of crankshaft rotation to ignite fuel, this is lowered to 10 degrees with the catalyst. So, there is a 33 percent faster burn and the engineers at Cummins will tell you the faster you can get the fuel into the combustion and ignite the better the power and cleaner exhaust.

3. The Variable Geometry vanes in the turbine housing of the turbocharger will stay much cleaner and eliminate turbo failures saving you $5100 with an ISX.

4. The EGR valve, EGR cooler, Doser, DOC, and the DPF filter will all stay cleaner and the amount or re-gens will be greatly reduced.

5. Within the first week the consumption of DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) will decrease significantly.

6. The engine will run quieter, pull stronger, run smoother, and sometimes obtain better fuel mileage, especially the MX 13 Paccar engine.

7. If you wash your stacks after 3 weeks of running the catalyst, the stacks will stay clean.

8. Emissions systems shouldn’t give you nearly as much trouble, possibly for the life of the truck.

9. Piston rings will stay carbon and soot free; this will eliminate liner bore polishing which causes the engine to consume oil.

10. If the engine oil is keep clean, the air filters working properly, especially using the Fleet Air filters, these engines should run 1,500,000 miles between rebuilds and may be even further.

The Max Mileage is expensive, 1 gallon will treat 3200 gallons of diesel fuel, you will need a gallon every 6 to 8 weeks and the cost is $220 per gallon plus shipping. Our dealers are charging $230 per gallon and that includes freight. This is NOT the Canadian price, there it’s about $310 Canadian. Yes, it’s expensive, however the savings alone on the DEF fluid will pay for the catalyst. No emissions problems, no VG turbo problems, quieter engine and more torque, why would you not use Max Mileage? Plus, Harley Davidsons get an increase of 7 miles per gallon and can lug to 1200 RPM and still accelerate, no more coughing from the Harley engine.

For 42 years I have been helping owner-operators to have a better performing truck, and I have been very successful at what I do. Of course, I have critics, negative thinking and speaking people in this industry. What amazes me, most of these people have never been to my shop or have done business with me. If you feel this way, do me a favor, don’t read my articles and please don’t listen to my radio show. I have 51 years in the trucking industry and will be 71 years old this February. My days of being in this industry are coming to an end. The critics will have to find someone else to be critical about. But I will say this, I have always done my best to serve the hard working owner-operator. Whether it’s providing a reliable shop for repairs or improving their truck to make their drive more enjoyable and their business more profitable, the success of the owner-operator was always my main concern. Pittsburgh Power has served tens of thousands of owner-operators over the past 42 years and will continue to do so in the future.

Written by; Bruce Mallinson, Pittsburgh Power Inc., 3600 S. Noah Dr., Saxonburg, PA 16056. Phone 724-360-4080