Coolant questions

[notlimah]

So in the recent past, I had coolant spurt out of my radiator cap or overflow bottle. I know this because there were little spots all over the engine bay that were obviously coolant. I can't remember if my radiator cap had come loose allowing it to spray, or if it just came from the overflow bottle. I know at one point my overflow bottle was really high, like above the MAX line so I drained a little bit and then it seemed to be too low. I must've done this when the engine was still hot and just didn't think about it, so it probably would've just drained back down to a normal level had I left it.

 

Well I figured now is as good as time as any to change the thermostat and the radiator cap just so I know when the last time they've been replaced was. I got a new 190* thermostat from napa and a new 16psi radiator cap. Is 16psi right? That's what the guy told me there, but the one on the truck now is 15psi, so which is it? Or does it matter?

 

I'm going to take it to the dealer to have them do the flush, should I have them put any specific coolant in it? It currently has orange looking coolant, and I used some universal coolant so I could just top off the coolant until it's flushed, but is there specific coolant that these engines need?

[leathermaneod]

I am interested in this as well. I was thinking earlier today that I should change my coolant, either flush it myself, or take it somewhere. But I do not have clean enough water to use a garden hose so it looks like I'm taking it somewhere. I figured I'd just ask the shop if they had anything special for diesels. I read somewhere that it's not as critical to has special diesel coolant for our engines because they are not wet sleeved, anyone know if that's true?

[Dieselfuture]

I'd do it myself, chances of you getting it done right way for a lot of money are slim, and a good chance they will use a garden hose as well to flush with city water, and then mix your coolant with it too. So if your sity water is good which you can usually check online for your city under consumer confidence report. And if not sure on how hard your water is call your water department and ask. After you do your own flush, what I do is go buy a bunch of distilled water and fill your truck up and run the engine without a thermostat in it for maybe 5-10 min, than drain it all out and put your desired antifreeze in. I use full strength and mix it myself to about 60/40 60 begin antifreeze. And also I use coolant for heavy duty diesel so I don't  chance it with cavitation of cylinder walls. If you flush your truck with distilled after you flushed it with city water you should be just fine. Right now I'm using Zerex go5, and got some Flletguard for next time.

[dripley]

Plain ole green ethylene glycol here since new. No need for anything special. I just flush mine with with the garden hose. then drive ii around flush some more till the water is clear. Then drain and fill. My last change was with Super Tech from wally world. I am by they way on well water.

[Dieselfuture]

I guess this will come down to personal preference, but bottom line is, not worth the time and money to pay someone you don't know or trust to work on your baby, especially something as simple as changing coolant. 

Also be a good time to take the radiator out and power wash it, and move your oil breather away from radiator if you haven't done it yet, Mikes crank case vent mod. I love mine. Thanks Mike. 

Edited May 26, 2016 by Dieselfuture

[notlimah]

Trust me, I don't like taking my truck in anymore then the rest of you but avoiding a mess, getting rid of the old coolant, buying new stuff, plus the time, I'm right around the same price as taking it to the dealer.

 

Is there anything wrong with using the orange coolant? I'm going to replace the thermostat myself and just top it off with the universal stuff. 

 

Also, what psi radiator cap do you guys use?

[dripley]

16 psi on the cap. As far as I know the orange is fine. Mine had the green when new.

[leathermaneod]

This is a very interesting read, http://www.turbodieselregister.com/tdrarticles/tdrarticle62_antifreeze.html

might answer some of your questions notlimah.

 

I would really like to do it myself using the garden hose and the engine to push everything out the upper rad hose, but I know it's not safe because mineral deposits clog my shower head! No way I'm putting that water in my system lol. I'd almost rather just buy the premixed stuff, then pour it in as I use the engine to flush out the old stuff. 

[Hawkez]

Anti freeze may not be as difficult to get rid of as you think.  Our local county dump will take it for free.  Usually before I do a flush I save up a few milk jugs.  It really is quite simple.  I would HIGHLY recommend pulling your radiator and cleaning that as well.  Once you have the coolant out, the the rest of the removal is simple.  I didn't do this on my first flush and have less than 5,000 miles I was having overheating issues.  In the end I had to dump the coolant AGAIN to pull the radiator and wash it.  Use the green stuff, mix it 50/50, that will be a good time to check your hoses. 

Remember, when opening the drain on the bottom of the radiator, it only turns out a quarter or a half a turn and then you pull it.  That will open the drain.  Don't crank on it thinking it will unscrew all the way.

 

Good luck.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Hawkez

[Mopar1973Man]

Something to consider is checking the fan clutch operation. I wonder if the fan didn't lock up fast enough and coolant temperature rose rapidly increasing pressure and blew off some excessive pressure.

 

As for coolant and flushing... I've been using well water and creek water for the entire life of my truck. Never used distilled. Call me crazy but it's true. As for coolant I use unversial coolant like NAPA or Prestone. Going on 263k miles so far so good. The radiator is still spotless inside including the block too. I'm not sold on the whole Special coolant craze.

 

https://mopar1973man.com/cummins/articles.html/24-valve-2nd-generation_50/51_engine/cooling/cooling-system-flush-r332/

 

Edited May 26, 2016 by Mopar1973Man

[notlimah]

2 hours ago, leathermaneod said:

This is a very interesting read, http://www.turbodieselregister.com/tdrarticles/tdrarticle62_antifreeze.html

might answer some of your questions notlimah.

 

I would really like to do it myself using the garden hose and the engine to push everything out the upper rad hose, but I know it's not safe because mineral deposits clog my shower head! No way I'm putting that water in my system lol. I'd almost rather just buy the premixed stuff, then pour it in as I use the engine to flush out the old stuff. 

 

Thanks for that link. It was sort of confusing though. Haha! It said that mixing the coolants won't cause sludge build up, it will only shorten your flushing intervals based on the shorter life coolant being used. Then it recommends using the factory recommended coolant, which for us is the green stuff, but then at the end it says use the HOAT at the very end since it's backwards comparable. Hmmmm  

 

Theres really no one hard thing about doing the flush, it's more about all of them combined that makes it less appealing. Getting all the fluids, flushing it, trying not to make a mess, collecting all the old stuff, then taking it to the dump and all that. The dealer charges 115 for the flush, which by the times it's all said and done if I were doing it myself, it's pretty close in comparison. 

 

1 hour ago, Hawkez said:

Anti freeze may not be as difficult to get rid of as you think.  Our local county dump will take it for free.  Usually before I do a flush I save up a few milk jugs.  It really is quite simple.  I would HIGHLY recommend pulling your radiator and cleaning that as well.  Once you have the coolant out, the the rest of the removal is simple.  I didn't do this on my first flush and have less than 5,000 miles I was having overheating issues.  In the end I had to dump the coolant AGAIN to pull the radiator and wash it.  Use the green stuff, mix it 50/50, that will be a good time to check your hoses. 

Remember, when opening the drain on the bottom of the radiator, it only turns out a quarter or a half a turn and then you pull it.  That will open the drain.  Don't crank on it thinking it will unscrew all the way.

 

Good luck.

 

Luckily for me the radiator is brand new so it's still pretty clean and I re routed my like tube to help keep it that way.

 

27 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Something to consider is checking the fan clutch operation. I wonder if the fan didn't lock up fast enough and coolant temperature rose rapidly increasing pressure and blew off some excessive pressure.

 

Is this normal if I was out hot shorting around? I think that might've been when the spit up happened. Not 100% sure though. I'd also assume the fan is working correctly, sounds like a turbo prop is under there sometimes! How would I check to make sure it was working properly though?