Jump to content

How-To: Adding A Coolant Filter K2.


Recommended Posts

Posted

This is a write-up/how to for installing a coolant filter on your 1500. I have a 5.3L, I'm not sure how the V6 or larger engines look. I've had the filter on for about 3 gas tanks and it's been working well. When I shine a flashlight into the overflow tank through the cap opening I used to see a lot of debris, crud etc floating around. Not anymore. Shine a light into the overflow tank and it's clean as a whistle. Plus the walls were beginning to grow "crud" in a matter of 16mo and 40k miles. SO that's why I got off my but and got this kit put together and installed ASAP. Here we go....

 

Parts list:

-Wix Filter Base # 24019 (Napa # 4019). Picked it up new on Ebay for $46.50 to the door.

-Coolant Filter Wix # 24069 (Napa # 4069). $15.50 local.

-5/16" Fuel Line, 4' from Autozone. Good for 3.4 bar (48psi +/-). $6.81

-Two 3/8" 316 stainless steel mini ball valves. Male x Female. Ebay. $30.37 to the door for both.

-Two SST hose clamps from Home Depot. I don't buy clamps from the parts store anymore. The bands are SST, the clamp mechanism is not and most are made in China. HD has better quality, USA made full SST clamps for cheaper. $1.78.

-One 3/8" Brass street 90* Fitting. $6.34 from HD.

-Two 3/8" brass barbs x Male thread. $8.00 from HD.

-High temp flat blk spray paint. $0, had it laying around.

-Thread sealant compound (Permatex). $0. Had it laying around.

 

If I typed the above correctly it's $115.30 total cost.

 

The water is being pumped through the 5/16" factory hose coming off the T-stat housing, into the filter, and then ties back into the OEM hose barb splice in the center of the radiator. Dumping back into the overflow tank. The base comes green. I cleaned it and painted it black with high temp ceramic blk flat paint I had laying around. Make sure you use some kind of thread sealant also. I used the same stuff from my intake manifold bolts project on my Blazer. it's a permatex white cream. Liquid teflon tape basically.

 

Ok, pic time.

post-129895-0-71102700-1459020875_thumb.jpg

post-129895-0-13605700-1459020910_thumb.jpg

post-129895-0-43034800-1459021029_thumb.jpg

post-129895-0-71102700-1459020875_thumb.jpg

post-129895-0-13605700-1459020910_thumb.jpg

post-129895-0-43034800-1459021029_thumb.jpg

post-129895-0-71102700-1459020875_thumb.jpg

post-129895-0-13605700-1459020910_thumb.jpg

post-129895-0-43034800-1459021029_thumb.jpg

post-129895-0-71102700-1459020875_thumb.jpg

post-129895-0-13605700-1459020910_thumb.jpg

post-129895-0-43034800-1459021029_thumb.jpg

  • Replies 38
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Posted

Silver Ice 6.2- I'm not sure how long of an interval. The plan is at every oil change to pull the hose off the overflow tank and run the engine. Should see flow from the hose. I just hold the hose over/into the overflow tank cap opening so I don't loose any fluid and can verify flow. Based on the fact I it's a gas engine and the filter is massive... would not surprise me if this filter was still flowing 60k later. Then again, I could be wrong. I don't really have an interval picked out yet. Watching it and keeping an eye on the fluid cleanliness and flow. All I know is I need 250k + out of my truck. I drive a lot on the hwy. I bought the GM truck b/c it's a simple, reliable, cheap to run power-train. This filter should keep things clean and help extend the water pump life.

Posted

^There are no other connections. I never even touched the connection off the T-stat housing. What you do is disconnect the hose over the radiator. About half way across the radiator from the factory GM put a plastic barb x barb splice there. disconnect the driver side hose. Then cut that hose down to fit the inlet of your filter (barb). Then cut piece of the new fuel line you bought to run from the filter outlet to the factory plastic barb fitting over the radiator. done.

Posted

I guess I'm a little slow... Is there anyway you can take a picture of the passenger side of the engine compartment? I have zero experience with this kind of thing...

Posted

FL335i, thanks for posting all the information a great photos. I just threw everything together and it was very easy!

 

A week ago, I had never even heard of a coolant filter, but how could it hurt if proper, regular maintenance is completed! Like you, I need to get as many miles out of this thing as possible.

Posted

^ Glad to hear you got it on man!!! Yes it's very simple. Just putting a filter inline on the return hose off the T-stat housing. I'm just tired of seeing cooling systems junked up. I'm sure it will help extend the water pump life too. My overflow even when new always had a lot of "stuff", for lack of a better word, in the overflow tank. Not anymore. I can't believe so many people neglect cooling systems. And 1500's are built for "light duty" use in mind. EG- Elmer driving 15k/yr and buying a new one in 7-10yrs when it has 100-150k. I've put almost 42k on my new truck since Aug of '14. Averaging 26,500/yr since I bought the truck. I live in FL where it's hot year round. I'm in the construction business, I pull trailers every now and then and am planning to buy a pretty good size boat in about 1-2yrs. My truck is personal and business. I cannot afford to buy a new truck every 5yrs just b/c it has 150k. Shine a light into your overflow before and about 2 weeks after. I'm convinced the cooling passages of these blocks are not exactly washed very well at the factory. I don't buy the fact that a mass produced product like our trucks don't have any "debris" in the cooling systems from just normal manufacturing and break-in. I'm a believer in flushing fluids, especially when things are new to rid the system. However with the cooling system like ours, adding a monster filter alleviates the need for a flush.

Posted

I agree 100%. As soon as I got home from the dealer, I changed the oil. It was full of metal shavings and looked like chocolate syrup!

 

If possible, I'd really like to keep this truck long after an engine/trans replacement way down the road so I'm open to anything that could make this thing last a while.

 

Regarding the coolant filter, I opted for the slightly larger 24070 filter since I could squeeze it in there. I need to tidy up the bay a little but here's my filter installed. Topped off the coolant with some dexcool and no leaks so far!

post-154054-0-30320700-1459631283_thumb.jpg

post-154054-0-30320700-1459631283_thumb.jpg

post-154054-0-30320700-1459631283_thumb.jpg

post-154054-0-30320700-1459631283_thumb.jpg

Posted

Very nice. And looks like you have a catch can also. One word to the wise, that filter is almost touching Fuse box wire loom. I pulled mine as far away as possible. I have about 1" of air gap. You went with the tall boy filter too. Nothing wrong with that.

Posted

I noticed that too...

 

Its about 3/4" away. I angled the filter slightly to make changing it out a little easier for me but that put it right up on the wires.

 

I'm sure it would be fine but I'll move it over atleast an inch just to be safe.

 

Thanks for mentioning it

post-154054-0-01817600-1459713244_thumb.jpg

post-154054-0-01817600-1459713244_thumb.jpg

post-154054-0-01817600-1459713244_thumb.jpg

post-154054-0-01817600-1459713244_thumb.jpg

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • I had skimmed through that article when you posted the link and honestly I felt rather defeated in a sense and realized that all these years in changing oil that in fact putting in what I was told was a good quality oil was probably not filtered as well as it should be although the filter put on the engine would be what ( as long as it never went into bypass mode ) would be the final filtering of the new oil that the engine components would first see, but then the filtering media itself is not up to par to what is ideal because a full flow filter would be too restrictive to filter fine enough for the engines best outcome in the long run. Only one of our tractors over the years which was a Versatile with a 855 Cummins had a separate bypass filter, some engine manufacturers did spec a partial bypass system within the main oil filter but I don't believe any other trucks or equipment I was servicing used such a filter. No doubt a product like the Amsoil bypass system is of benefit as long as nothing goes sideways with the extra plumbing and filter such as a rupture/leak that could cause the oil to pump out of the engine ( yes that Versatile had a remote canister with hoses routed to it as well ). With the idiot egr system on a diesel and as a result forcing a lot more soot into the oil, that certainly isn't helping the diesel engines cause or as you pointed out the GDI engine issue with creating more soot and aside from having a fancy secondary filtering system, changing the oil more often helping lower the total soot load.     So oil manufacturing and the end product is not something one can control and I wonder if there are specs on what various oil packaging companies produce in particle count or size. As to the filtering, if the OEM is not designing a filter size and spec that is really what it could be, they too are short changing the end user and so what is the answer. Of course as you say the oil side can only do so much if the air side isn't keeping up its end of the picture and air filters are only so efficient and if in a dusty environment such as farm or construction or driving gravel roads there is a lot of dirt to filter out and some of that ends up into the air stream.    Of course the irony in places like where I am where they dump the salt on the highways but also will mix in some calcium or outright pure calcium for problem road area's, or using calcium as dust control on gravel roads, the vehicle that gets used in that environment may rust out before a properly engineered engine and maintenance finally wears out so one has to face that reality in the rust belt. 
    • Has anyone run these on their 2500?
    • have you stuck with dealer oil changes since then? I made the same switch after getting tired of crawling around under the truck, but I’ve found some dealers are way better than others about getting you in quickly. Curious if yours has been good about scheduling or if you’ve had to look elsewhere for quicker turnaround.
    • Thank you.   I am set on a 3.0 Duramax as my previous truck with a Ford Ecoboost had just as many, if not more, "common" issues.  Cam phasers, timing chain issues, 10-speed valve body and CDF drum, emissions issues, etc.  So I figured, why not get 2x the fuel mileage (these things got 27+mpg on every mixed city/highway test drive I put them through) and better towing capability with resale value to boot?   My minimum, shortest trip will be 50 miles 1-way and I regularly go out of state with a travel trailer.  I'm planning on using this for a marketing/event promotion business also, which would require regular towing of trailers for bands, DJs, sound and lighting gear, along with my personal camera gear for filming events.   Looked at other trucks in the $30k+ price range but the issues seem to be everywhere, plus too many with gaudy mods.  I'm literally sticking with RWD trucks because they tend to be actually used as trucks, vs. the 4x4 models I've seen with unsafe lifts, huge tires, and general mods that would affect reliability (I'm wondering if some of them were tuned, hence the aggressive throttle response and hard shifting).   So my goal is to find a stock, 3.0 with 1 or 2 owners, in good physical condition, and decently well maintained.  Can't seem to find that up here, everything in the $27-30k range has had multiple owners, smoke smell, issues, or body damage.  Or the ridiculously modified trucks with 80k miles for under $27k but lots of problems...
    • That’s pretty tough Grumpy. I reread the previous few posts. They all reference oil changes. Much like your last thread. In my humble opinion it keeps things interesting.
  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...