2018 Laramie 5.7 Radiator/Coolant changeout

[EdGs]

Got a late start on my Nephew's 2018 Laramie, 140k miles and a cracked radiator. He's had it for the last 25k miles or so.

I made a couple boo-boo's on this. I should have left the old radiator in until we got the coolant pretty well flushed out, but I did not.

Brain fart.

I should've pulled the block drains, but did not.

Anyway, got the old one out and the carquest replacement in. His thermostat was really stuck like chuck in the bore. So much so, that when it finally popped out, the gasket remained on the engine. Once it was peeled out, we cleaned the bore where it sits.

As you all know, a drain and fill does not remove much old coolant, so we had 12 gallons of distilled water on hand.

At 140k miles and no previous coolant service, we drained the reservoir. What little fluid it had left looked pretty crappy.
What came out with the radiator was not any better:

I put my gutless thermostat in and filled her up with distilled water, and when we ran it for 30 seconds or so the clean water turned brownish very fast and developed a white froth quickly.

Several drain and fills later, it was a little lighter, but still crappy. So, finally we took the top hose off the rad and i plugged the hose neck with my hand, filled the radiator with clean water half-full into my coolant funnel and ran the engine for 15-20 seconds with a couple revs to push the dingy coolant from the top hose into our collection pan.

After a few rounds of this, it was getting clearer, but still had the white froth. It smelled like coolant and was not oily as far as I could tell.


It got really late and we were down to the last couple gallons of distilled water, so I filled the rad with a jug of 50/50 coolant I had.

We ran the engine long enough to start pushing out the 50/50 mix, shut her off, reconnected the top hose, and installed my spare 192°Calorstat I just got from RockAuto. Filled the rad with about 3 qts. of OAT concentrate.

I did notice that once I added the first 50/50 coolant, and cycled the engine to push it all the way out the top hose, the amount of froth dininished greatly. Not sure why, but I will take it.

Heater her up until the t-stat opened and added a bit more concentrate 'til she was full. Temps stable so far, got up to 206° or so, and quickly dropped into the mid 190's, even upper 180's. Probably not quite a 50/50 equivalent, but will take it for now.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Calorstat 192° thermostat, thank you again @Ken226.

Here's the progression of very dirty to still a little dirty, but good enough for this go-round.

From dirtiest on right to good enough for now on the left:
It has to be 50 times better than it was before.
Going to recheck it later.

 

[Ken226]

So far, my Calorstat is doing good. Since January of last year, so about 14 months.

Knock on wood.

 

[EdGs]

So far, my Calorstat is doing good. Since January of last year, so about 14 months.

Knock on wood.

I really like them so far, Ken. No lag at all. When it gets above 192°, coolant flows.

I didn't have a chance to check beforehand the one we put in the Laramie, but he called out the temps, and when it hit 194°, it drew my coolant funnel right down.

Really seem to be excellent stats. Far superior to the Motorad garbage I had.

 

[EdGs]

@Wild one

Hey Rick, I got a chance to look at the coolant hose connections on the '18 Laramie, at least the ones at the thermostat and lower radiator hose.

Turns out, there's a short piece of hose at the lower radiator outlet, and then a short pipe with 2 small hose ports, and then another hose going to the water pump inlet.

There's also a hose that taps off the thermostat housing:

I did not get a chance to check out the trans heat exchanger routing, though.

Btw, my nephew thought those ratcheting hose clamp pliers were cool as sh*t.

 

[Wild one]

@Wild one

Hey Rick, I got a chance to look at the coolant hose connections on the '18 Laramie, at least the ones at the thermostat and lower radiator hose.

Turns out, there's a short piece of hose at the lower radiator outlet, and then a short pipe with 2 small hose ports, and then another hose going to the water pump inlet.
View attachment 581300
There's also a hose that taps off the thermostat housing:
View attachment 581301
I did not get a chance to check out the trans heat exchanger routing, though.

Btw, my nephew thought those ratcheting hose clamp pliers were cool as sh*t.

The easiest way to delete them would be a new thermostat housing for an earlier truck,then cut the 1 hose leading to the transmission heater and plug it with a bolt that's in the lower rad hose,you could also cut and plug the hose off the thermostat housing with a bolt,but that'd look totally redneck,lol .Those dedicated hose clamp pliars are a lifesaver when it comes to working with spring clamps,beats the hell out of using normal pliars

 

[EdGs]

Redneck is as redneck does....lol

As long as it works.

I didn't get a chance to see just what went where with those hose routings.

I wonder if you could order a set of heater core hoses like i did for my '15, along with a lower rad hose, and a standard thermostat housing???

I didn't get a chance to see if there's any additional coolers in there somewhere.

 

[Ken226]

Btw, my nephew thought those ratcheting hose clamp pliers were cool as sh*t.

 

[Wild one]

Redneck is as redneck does....lol

As long as it works.

I didn't get a chance to see just what went where with those hose routings.

I wonder if you could order a set of heater core hoses like i did for my '15, along with a lower rad hose, and a standard thermostat housing???

I didn't get a chance to see if there's any additional coolers in there somewhere.

That'd be the proper way to get rid of them Ed.

 

[Burla]

RMI 25 that truck!! Good with the new coolant, no problem. Think of it more as a coolant enhancer then a flush, needed badly once things go south. And that cooling system looks south, hard to imagine that bad on a truck 8 years old, might have some electrolysis, which rmi helps as well.

 

[EdGs]

@Burla, I only got 1 8oz bottle for me! He can buy his own, lol.

I will recommend another coolant service prob at 50k or less from now anyway. I believe he's a little on the low side of a 50/50 mix.

Seriously, he needs a new pcv valve, brake fluid change, trans, and front/rear diff/transfer case service too.

Not sure when those will be done, atm. He's had the truck since 115k, no clue if any of that has been serviced before, my money is on no for previous owner.

Better to assume no, and just do the services anyway.

 

[EdGs]

Just spoke with him a little while ago.

He said coolant temp stayed basically in the 190's for his drive, and when he cold-checked the coolant level, he only had to add a few ounces.

So far, so good.