Crap In My Coolant System

[Maximus Gladius]

Most people would say that’s normal and I would be one of them BUT do you just leave that crap/assembly sands in there to wear on your water pump till your maintenance schedule tells you to do a flush OR hit it early and get the crap out?

This is a bitter sweet moment for me. Again, very disappointed in how my dealership handled the install of this second engine last October 2022. The first engine was consuming coolant and FCA engineer, NORM was not concerned at all and was told by service advisor “coolant in the oil is normal”. Long story short, my insurance company replaced the engine but not before FCA decided, months later to investigate by first putting a dye in the coolant to see where the internal leak was happening.

I ran with the dye for short while, then my transmission takes a shit and about 7.5 months later my insurance approves a vandalism claim on my transmission and tosses in a new engine as well. When the engine and transmission was replaced, I picked it up and noticed some dye was still in the reservoir and I asked the service manager about it. He said, ‘oh it’s just some left over dye residue/stain in the bottle, not a problem.’

So race ahead to today and 20k (12,400 miles) kms further, I decided to do a flush yesterday.

The bitter part about this flush was to see the dealership had used my old coolant in the new engine! WTF?! It took 5 flushings to get it all out! The sweet part is “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself” and I did that. Very disappointed but not surprised.

I then poured all the flushed coolant through a rag to discover all the shit racing through the coolant system and glad I did this job.

Sponsored

 

[smlobx]

Wow that certainly doesn’t seem normal or acceptable. I hope your flushing gets out all the contaminants.

 

[Hootbro]

I had about the same sediments when I flushed my 2020 Gladiator's coolant. I would bet a cold beer that just about everybody has like amount of debris floating through their cooling system.

It is probably left over debris from the sand casting process of the block. JK's with the early Pentastar engines had it so bad their heater cores would fill up with the sand.

How is your reservoir tank? Junk likes to accumulate there also.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

I had about the same sediments when I flushed my 2020 Gladiator's coolant. I would bet a cold beer that just about everybody has like amount of debris floating through their cooling system.

It is probably left over debris from the sand casting process of the block. JK's with the early Pentastar engines had it so bad their heater cores would fill up with the sand.

How is your reservoir tank? Junk likes to accumulate there also.

The bottle looks clean. The dye didn’t stain it.

 

[WK2JT]

The WK2 EcoDiesels had a ton of casting sand in them also. I hadn't heard about the 3.6 having this issue... guess I'll go take a look now. Crap

 

[smlobx]

For those of you that have done this did you just drain it out of the bottom of the radiator?
How many times did you run Distilled water through it?

The reason I’m asking is that in my F-350 diesel we had to use a special compound, sold by Ford to mix into the first flush to “loosen up” things and had to flush it 5 times after with DW before putting the correct coolant back in.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

For those of you that have done this did you just drain it out of the bottom of the radiator?
How many times did you run Distilled water through it?

The reason I’m asking is that in my F-350 diesel we had to use a special compound, sold by Ford to mix into the first flush to “loosen up” things and had to flush it 5 times after with DW before putting the correct coolant back in.

Good question and point made!

Years ago when I would do my flushes I use this and distilled water in the first flush then run the engine up to temp till the fan kicks on then turn on the heater fan on high for about 2 more min.

I then flushed 4 more times with just distilled water the same way.

From underneath, you’ll see two large coolant hoses come together in the middle at the base of the rad. I could gain easy access to the engine hose clamp on the right side so that was the one I dropped which empties the bottle too. The rad would eventually flush as soon as the thermostat opens.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

I’ve had that box of Calgon for years which only gets used for rad flushes. We can’t buy it in Canada anymore.

I hear it’s also good to throw into black and grey tanks on trailers to keep sensors clean

 

[GRAN1TE JT]

Dumb question, but what color coolant have you guys added to your gladiator? When I asked the dealership to buy some extra they sold me a concentrated blend that looks purple? I’ve added it here and there but I’ve heard adding the wrong type can seriously mess up the whole system. And what’s strange is the coolant from the factory looks orange-ish…

 

[Maximus Gladius]

Dumb question, but what color coolant have you guys added to your gladiator? When I asked the dealership to buy some extra they sold me a concentrated blend that looks purple? I’ve added it here and there but I’ve heard adding the wrong type can seriously mess up the whole system. And what’s strange is the coolant from the factory looks orange-ish…

The mopar colour is pink. Not sure why you got purple. The OAT coolant is what’s super important and using another type will mess things up I guess. I’ve never tried using something other than OAT to see what will happen.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I had about the same sediments when I flushed my 2020 Gladiator's coolant. I would bet a cold beer that just about everybody has like amount of debris floating through their cooling system.

It is probably left over debris from the sand casting process of the block. JK's with the early Pentastar engines had it so bad their heater cores would fill up with the sand.

How is your reservoir tank? Junk likes to accumulate there also.

Block is high pressure die cast rather than sand cast. Should be no sand from the block at all.

The mopar colour is pink. Not sure why you got purple. The OAT coolant is what’s super important and using another type will mess things up I guess. I’ve never tried using something other than OAT to see what will happen.

Never go by color for coolant. Buy OAT regardless of the color. It may orange, pink or even some other colors these days.
Look at the jug's description, not the color.
The OAT coolant I have is orange.
Never use HOAT, only OAT, regardless of color.

 

[GRAN1TE JT]

Well it looks like it’s OAT like you guys specified. I know it’s a concentrated formula but it’s strange how it looks purple-pinkish. Maybe it would be more pink when diluted? Either way I think a proper coolant flush is going to be on the list of things to do soon!

The mopar colour is pink. Not sure why you got purple. The OAT coolant is what’s super important and using another type will mess things up I guess. I’ve never tried using something other than OAT to see what will happen.

Block is high pressure die cast rather than sand cast. Should be no sand from the block at all.


Never go by color for coolant. Buy OAT regardless of the color. It may orange, pink or even some other colors these days.
Look at the jug's description, not the color.
The OAT coolant I have is orange.
Never use HOAT, only OAT, regardless of color.

 

[Vtur]

Well it looks like it’s OAT like you guys specified. I know it’s a concentrated formula but it’s strange how it looks purple-pinkish. Maybe it would be more pink when diluted? Either way I think a proper coolant flush is going to be on the list of things to do soon!

Mine premixed bottle is the same, neon purple/pinkish

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Mine premixed bottle is the same, neon purple/pinkish

As long as it says it's "OAT" and not HOAT or anything else, it's fine.

HOAT is a hybrid OAT and can do nasty thing in there depending on the hybrid.
Don't want that stuff gellin'. Dr. Scholl's is the only thing that's supposed to do that.

 

[Rusty PW]

Mine premixed bottle is the same, neon purple/pinkish

Same here.

Sponsored