What coolant is in my truck??

My truck is a 2013 1500 Hemi with a build date of 12/12. My owner's manual states that it has the OAT 10year/150000 mile Purple coolant. Everything I've seen says that 2013+ Rams have the OAT coolant from the factory. Yesterday I put a 190* thermostat in and I was going to do a mini flush but when I poured the 10 year OAT coolant into a cup and put it next to what came out of my truck, it looks completely different. My trucks coolant is pink/orange and the OAT coolant from the gallon I have is purple. So either my OAT coolant has changed color to orange, or my truck got HOAT coolant (which is orange) from the factory because it has such an early build date.



Went to my dealer yesterday to hopefully clear it up and they were little help. I showed the parts guy the pic of the orange/pink coolant from my truck and the purple OAT coolant from the Mopar 10year coolant gallon I have and he didn't have a clue. He asked a tech that took one look at it and said "oh yeah that's the 5 year HOAT coolant". Their computer said that my truck calls for OAT coolant not HOAT. I ended up buying a gallon of the HOAT and poured some out next to the coolant that came out of my truck and they look identical.



So this is when it gets confusing. I brought this up on the Synthetic Oil thread and one member showed pics of his wife's Challenger coolant changing from purple to orange and another posted some links about the early OAT coolant being orange. You can't mix OAT and HOAT coolant because it creates a sludge that can clog everything up.

My dilemma now is do I take a chance and put the purple OAT coolant in and hope that what's in my truck is OAT or do I put the HOAT coolant in because it's the same color? If it is OAT that's in my truck that's changed color and I put HOAT in, it will sludge up. However if my truck is a unicorn and has HOAT and I out OAT coolant in it will sludge as well. Coolant shouldn't be this complicated. Any help or pics would be greatly appreciated!

Here's a video explaining the differences :

Hemi: I read in many places that ram did switch sometime between the 2012 and 2013 model years they switched from HOAT to OAT coolant.

When I had my 2014 ram I got tired of all the BS and just drained it all and switched to Peak global lifetime coolant. Which is the closest chemistry that I found to the purple OAT coolant they are practically identical.

I searched for weeks trying to find who was the Producer of the Mopar coolant and only come up with the CCI company. Which they do not put out any info at all about coolant.

Right now I am in contact with fleetguard in regard to their Red OAT (ELC) coolant to go into my new Ram. She actually come from the factory with the same purple OAT coolant.
I being the person I am what a coolant that is strictly diesel rated.
This purple coolant is not.

I wish I had the perfect correct answer for you. But sad thing is I don’t think anybody truthfully actually knows.
If you’re uncomfortable with what is in your radiator at this time my only advice is to do a complete flush and add whatever coolant you want to add——>to give you that warm fuzzy feeling inside.

I want too also add: Look into adding after your flush & new coolant RMI-25!

Thanks SyN! How did you get all the old coolant out without a flush machine? At this point I may bite the bullet and have my mechanic do a complete flush and refill OAT...

I hate it for you man , this is what I'd do .

1) drain out everything you can from the radiator , overfill tank & block .

2) fill completely with deionized / distilled water

3) start the engine and burped the radiator , adding more water while ensuring the T-stat has opened at least once .

4) drain out everything again & repeat step # 3 . The second water drain should be very clear , if not perform step # 3 again

5) finally drain out all the clear water you can & service up with 10 year Purple O.A.T. concentrate Coolant & burp the radiator very well , now test the coolant level to suit your annual cold temps & then add a bottle of RMI-25 and forget about coolant until 2028 other than checking the overflow tank once in a while & replenishing RMI-25 annually.

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R.L.K. said:

I hate it for you man , this is what I'd do .

1) drain out everything you can from the radiator , overfill tank & block .

2) fill completely with deionized / distilled water

3) start the engine and burped the radiator , adding more water while ensuring the T-stat has opened at least once .

4) drain out everything again & repeat step # 3 . The second water drain should be very clear , if not perform step # 3 again

5) finally service up with 10 year Purple O.A.T. Coolant & burp the radiator very well then add a bottle of RMI-25 and forget about coolant until 2028 other than checking the overflow tank once in a while .

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Thanks! I might give this a shot in the spring when it warms up a bit. I'm assuming there's a drain plug in the block somewhere also?

Somehow I missed what RMI-25 is? Is it like Redline Water Wetter?

RMI -25 Is great stuff imo , I have it in all our vehicles , I believe Syn does as well .


http://www.rmi25.com/





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Hemi395 said:

Thanks SyN! How did you get all the old coolant out without a flush machine? At this point I may bite the bullet and have my mechanic do a complete flush and refill OAT...

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I did not have to do a complete flush since the peak global lifetime coolant was practically identical to the chemistry of the purple Mopar coolant. The GL was a OAT coolant as well.
I just totally drained the radiator all the hoses as well as the reservoir. And refilled with the global lifetime which is also a OAT coolant. I also added a bottle of RMI-25

My personal Opinion [ for only what its worth] and for what all I have read and heard as long as you replace the coolant with another coolant that is the same chemistry you are fine you don’t have to do a complete flush.

Example: as long as you refill your drained system with another HOAT Coolant? A complete flush is not necessary.
But with that said it does not hurt to get all the old coolant out.

I will say about six months after I did this I replaced the coolant reservoir which is black with a clear reservoir so I can see the actual level of my coolant system without having to use the dipstick. I then added about a gallon of fresh global lifetime 40/60 to the system.

It’s all personal preference. Most owners don’t even worry about it a few of us actually do.

I as **** as I am (I) always like to keep a full gallon of coolant in the garage just in case.
Also I despise going to the dealership for any parts or Fluids.

This coolant color stuff is frustrating .

I have a 14 Ram per the owner's manual it's supposed to have the Purple OAT coolant , mine is Orange which looks like the earlier HOAT coolant .. ??
This is what happens when they are mixed !

So DO NOT MIX !!

IF someone is unsure of what Coolant type they have perform a good flush with Deionized/distilled water and service with a known product.

My wife's 16 Challenger's Coolant changed colors from new till now .

These first TWO pics were at 900 total miles while I was installing an OCC



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These pics are at about 9,500 miles.



This was yesterday at 13,500 miles .



Pretty stange how the Purple OAT changes to an Orange color just like an older HOAT type coolant ???

To all do not mix this with the wrong stuff !

^^^Couldn't have said it better!

Pics and links that can help.... or be confusing.. LOL


http://articles.sae.org/11284/


From that link^^^^

“
However, GM DexCool, a purely organic acid type, also has orange dye, and this has been a source of service industry confusion. Fiat’s OAT, although a different formula, also has orange dye and it has been used in early production of the Dodge Dart. The new Chrysler OAT, however, will have a purple dye.“

I'm gonna drive the wife's car today and see if the color changes when it is hot ....wouldn't that suck LOL

The reason I'm gonna do this is because I know it was purple early on and that photo I took while installing the OCC it was hot , I remember it was hot because I had to wear gloves to touch the engine to install the OCC mount ....I believe all other photos I have is of it being cold .?? Not positive but I'll be positive today after a drive [emoji106][emoji106]

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Wow check this related post out from Smiley over on the sny thread .


http://www.ramforum.com/index.php?posts/1666905

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Holy crap, why is this so convoluted?

Purple changing to orange and ****?

My wife's 2015 Patriot is Orange.

Now I don't know WTF it is......

Ha ha Get a load of this **** , as if it's not confusing enough !!!

First pics is of about an hour ago , car hasn't been started since Thursday and it's about 40°f outside .
The coolant is absolutely Orange maybe a hint of pink ..



I go drive it to run a couple errands and as it got hot it changes back to PURPLE ???
UNFREAKINBELIEVABLE ..

The hot picture does it no justice as it looks even more purple in person.



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I had the EVIC screen set to coolant temp and seen the t-stat open 3ea times , it doesn't open until 215-217 normally ...

As far as our trucks go , you can't really tell the color on the dip stick , or looking in the radiator ....you really need to drain a bit out into a clear container and view it from the side .

I'm gonna drain some of the orange coolant out of my 14 and heat it to near boiling point just to see if it changes to Purple ... probably next weekend .

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Some of what that guy said in that video doesn't make sense. He said the new purple oat coolant is formulated for new engines but not old engines. The problem I have with that is ram didn't change anything in the cooling system for the new coolant. It is the same system with a different coolant.

I'm playing chemist. Have 3 samples here, the first is the control of HOAT & OAT plus water, the middle one is the sample from my truck & OAT plus water, and the last is my truck sample & HOAT plus water. @U&A mentioned in the syn thread that mixing OAT and HOAT results in an ammonia smell. Now we wait.

Hemi395 said:

I'm playing chemist. Have 3 samples here, the first is the control of HOAT & OAT plus water, the middle one is the sample from my truck & OAT plus water, and the last is my truck sample & HOAT plus water. @U&A mentioned in the syn thread that mixing OAT and HOAT results in an ammonia smell. Now we wait.

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Wow , now it looks like your truck had THE PURPLE OAT COOLANT [emoji6][emoji6] ?

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R.L.K. said:

Wow , now it looks like your truck had HOAT ?

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I'm actually leaning toward its OAT. I'm going to give it a few hours and smell those cups. To my way of thinking, the control cup should smell like ammonia, the middle cup should smell sweet like coolant, and the right cup should also smell like ammonia. If I'm right about it being OAT.

Can't believe I'm doing all this find out what coolant I have