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Always better to be safe!
Excellent point!! No I completely forgot about this when I made the thread because I have the 6 speed.
Honestly I wouldn't worry about the block drains, just pull the Tstat and do several radiator drain and fills....
That was a great write up, thank you for taking the time. I feel like a real slacker, on my 2013 all I would do is pull the bottom radiator hose once a year at top off.Since I didn't find a writeup on this and it was requested by a couple members here, I decided to make one. I would recommend doing a flush of the cooling system every 5 years if you're planning on keeping the truck for any length of time. The steps I outline in this writeup involve flushing the cooling system with distilled water but if you decide do a radiator drain and fill with the proper coolant every 2-3 years, flushing with water isn't necessary IMO.
**IMPORTANT**
- 2009-2012 trucks use HOAT coolant or the Mopar 5 year/100000 mile (Orange in color) coolant. It is very important to only use a HOAT coolant in these trucks. DO NOT mix it with the newer OAT coolant or a sludge will form and your Hemi will overheat!!
- 2013-2018 trucks use OAT coolant or the Mopar 10 year/150000 mile (Purple in color) coolant. Again, DO NOT mix OAT with HOAT coolant or a sludge will form and your Hemi will overheat! NOTE: this coolant will change color to a pink/orange color after its been in the truck for awhile so don't be alarmed if its not purple like the new coolant.
- If flushing with water, ONLY USE DISTILLED WATER! DO NOT USE TAP WATER! Distilled water is less than a dollar/gallon so there's no excuse not to use it!!!
-5.7 Hemi coolant capacity is 16 quarts (dry fill)
Supplies needed:
-I highly recommend a spill proof funnel for adding coolant and bleeding air out of the system. Makes for very little mess.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A6AS6LY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
-10+ gallons of DISTILLED water (depends on how many times you want to flush the system)
-Thread sealant (I used Permatex)
-3 gallons of Mopar concentrated coolant. I recommend the concentrate because its easier to get a 50/50 coolant mix. Plus its essentially the same price as the premixed Mopar coolant so why pay for water?
-1/4" hose for attaching to the radiator petcock drain. Not necessary, but makes for less mess.
-Rags or shop towels
Tools needed:
-3/8" allen socket
-1/4" allen socket
-Torque wrench that goes as low as 10 ft/lbs
-14mm socket for the block drain plug
-13mm socket for the thermostat housing bolts
-Pliers for the hose clamps
-Antifreeze tester
Start on a cool or better yet cold engine. A hot engines cooling system is under pressure and can burn you!
Drain the radiator: Take the radiator cap off and set it aside. Attach the 1/4" hose to the drain nipple and feed it into a container. Rotate the petcock counterclockwise using the 3/8" allen socket until it opens completely. You will hear coolant start draining into your container. The radiator holds about 2 gallons of coolant so plan your containers accordingly.
Next go to the thermostat housing. This would be a great time to change your thermostat since you will be taking the housing off the water pump. Loosen the bolts on the water pump and remove the housing from the water pump. Remove the bleeder plug next to the thermostat housing using the 1/4" allen socket. Pry the outer gasket off the thermostat and reinstall the housing without the thermostat but with the gasket in place. This will ensure water flushes through the entire block.
Locate the heater core hoses at the bottom of the water pump. Remove both from the water pump noting where they attach to. Be ready with a drain pan under it because all the coolant in the heater core will flow out. At this point I took 12psi of compressed air to one heater core hose to completely blow out any remaining coolant. This isnt really necessary as most of the coolant flows out on its own but it doesn't hurt to do. DO NOT USE MORE THAN 15psi of air! Replacing the heater core is a big job that involves removing the dash and HVAC assembly.
Remove the lower radiator hose and allow anything left to drain into a drain pan.
Next comes the fun part, the block drains. The passengers side block drain is perfectly visible. Remove it slowly and allow it to drain slowly. If the whole plug is removed you will take a shower in coolant. Trust me, not fun. The drivers side block drain is perfectly behind the starter and front diff bracket. I didn't have any tools that would fit in there at that angle so I wasn't able to drain the drivers side of the block. If anyone can figure that out please post what tools you used!
Once you're satisfied that all the old coolant is out (with the exception of the the drivers side of the block) reconnect the heater core hoses, lower radiator hose, and put in the passengers block drain plug. Leave the bleeder plug on the thermostat housing out for now.
Now is the time to attach the spill proof funnel to the radiator. Fill the radiator with distilled water until it comes out of the thermostat bleed plug hole. Its going to take close to 2 gallons of water before that happens. Once it comes out put the bleeder plug back in.
Start the truck and let it run at idle. Make sure the hvac temp is on heat. It will immediately suck the water down inside the radiator. Continue filling the radiator with distilled water until its full. It will bubble and spatter water out of the funnel as the air bleeds out of the system. When I did this my truck never got above 130* because there was no thermostat installed.
Rev the engine to 2000RPMs for a minute or so several times and then shut the truck off.
Begin draining the water out of the radiator just like before as well as the heater core hoses, lower radiator hose, and remove the thermostat housing bleeder plug again. Let everything drain and then move to the passengers side block drain. Allow that to drain just like before and the drivers side as well if you can get it out. Once you're satisfied with how much water is drained out, put the drain plug back, bleeder plug back, and reattach all the hoses. Fill again with distilled water, run the engine like before, and drain again. If the water is clear you're done flushing. If not repeat the drain and fill proceedure until the water is clear.
Once you're satisfied with the flushing process, apply thread sealant to the block drain(s) and install them back into the block. Remove the thermostat housing and remove the gasket you put in earlier. Reinstall it onto the thermostat and reinstall the thermostat. Torque the bolts to 10ft/lbs. Leave the thermostat bleeder plug out for now. Reattach all the hoses. There is still some distilled water in the system so if you only put premixed 50/50 coolant in, it will be diluted to a point and you wont have the
correct freeze protection. I mixed 3 gallons of 50/50, so 1.5 gallons of Mopar concentrated coolant. I used this for the initial fill. Just like before, pour 2 gallons into the radiator until it comes out the thermostat bleeder port. Apply thread sealant to the thermostat bleeder plug and reinstall it.
Start the truck and let it idle. Fill the radiator with coolant until its full. Let the truck heat up to 203* (or less if you have a different thermostat) so the thermostat will open. When it does it will suck all the coolant down. Refill with 50/50 mix until the radiator is full. Check to make sure there's heat in the cab. Once the radiator is full and its mostly done bubbling, remove the spill proof funnel and put the radiator cap on. Check for leaks at all the hoses and drain plugs. Go for a short drive to circulate and mix the coolant. When you get back use the antifreeze tester check the freeze and boil over protection. If you were able to drain the drivers side block you should be pretty close to 50/50. Mine was a little low because I didn't drain the drivers side of the block. I ended up draining 2 quarts out of the radiator and putting 2 quarts of straight concentrate coolant in. Went for another drive and retested my freeze protection and it was at -34* which is a 50/50 mix.
Check the coolant overflow and fill it accordingly with 50/50.
That's it you're done! If I missed anything or anyone has a better procedure please post it up.
Heater core hoses on the water pump
Radiator petcock
Passengers side block drain
View of the passengers side block drain plug from the wheel well
Best view I can get of the driver's side block drain
Removing the thermostat gasket temporarily
I thought the coolant would look worse than that after almost 9 years. How many miles on that coolant?Well, down but not out is what I would call my coolant escapade. Bottom line, I could not get bottom engine block bolts off, just like Corey said drivers side impossible and I could not get the passenger off on my block even going at it with my impact for a minute. I didn't want to break the head of the bolt so I called it. That made me also opt to not go at heater core, why? Because if I am going to have to do a bunch of quick flush procedures anyway, I don't want to have to burp the system as well, which I don't have too. Pics of my day, and btw thanks to Syn for inadvertently lighting a fire under my ass to get on my maintenance due to his rmi25 experience.
So first pic condition of 9 year old HOAT coolant that has a 5 year lifespan. As you can see by the color it is not advisable to put off this item. So the two bottles on the right is what came out of the rad and over flow, and the middle bottle is the exact left over of that and the black bottle behind it which I diluted with distilled water. So if you were a fan of die hard two, that is almost exactly what was taking out, thus you wont need to burp ****, about the only bonus to doing a quick flush.
Bad choice for soda while working, and basically shows up close difference in coolant color aged from new, but this new was 100% not mixed with water yet, but that doesn't change the color.
When you siphon your overflow, make sure you use a longer hose dummy.
I could not get the top engine bolt off which you will need to do with either a full flush or a quick flush if you want to keep the air out. As I was putting back coolant, right near the end, coolant came out of this hole, which is a good thing. Now I will have to convince my wife that piece of random steel is a tool and keep her hands off. Adding length to the allen wrench worked and the bolt came off.
And oh did you know your coolant has a dip stick, lol? Makes the black container less of a **** show, but still would rather have clear over flow. There is a clear max line mark, so as you refill over the next few days, that mark will be your guide, a little at a time I suggest.
Did someone ask for a spill proof container? Worked pretty good, until you were near the same amount you took out, then I had some spill.
Now for the **** show Burla style, this is what happens when your ******* puts the new coolant bottle you didn't use next to the ramps and you pull your truck around while forgetting it was there. Man I heard this blow and I thought I drove over my 1,000 dollar camera, was glad to see it was just a 30 dollar bottle of coolant. You can see how it blew all over the ramp. And I was really trying to keep as much coolant off the ground as possible. I did end up hosing it into the ground, this stuff is dangerous for animals so I made sure there was no coolant that didn't go into the ground.
But not so fast, most guys would have just tossed that bottle, but I'm too country for that. I was able to save almost exactly half, so that bumble I made was only a 15 dollar mistake not 30, I will mix this with 50/50 distilled water and I will have exactly enough to do the same flush procedure I just did today thanks to me saving this much. That what I like to call, mitigating your dumbness.
