Radiator coolant - how to tell?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

GTXJosh

Junior Member
Joined
May 22, 2022
Posts
24
Reaction score
30
Location
Redding
Ram Year
2009
Engine
Hemi 5.7
2009 1500 5.7. So looking ahead of time the other day to do an oil change and swap the belt since it is starting a little squeaky sound. Had the truck for about 8 months now. Saw the upper radiator hose was slightly collapsed (engine cold). Check the overflow and nearly nothing in there. I figured it sucks back what is there while cooking as it should, and there just isn’t much left in the overflow now. Pop the cap, radiator is full, can tell if it is a yellow or green color but looks like one of those two.

Reading the manual, says HOAT coolant. And reading enough to no want to mix types.

I know the previous owner said he had the radiator replaced, just never sure if a shop put in what is factory recommended or something else. I’ve sent previous owner a message to see if he knows or at least what shop did his work so I can try and contact them.

So long, but I guess the question is there a way to test what is in the truck right now. Color doesn’t seem to be reliable since all kinda colors are being used nowadays.
 

kurek

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2019
Posts
2,498
Reaction score
3,440
Location
Northwest
Ram Year
2015
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Up to you what you do but I started making it a practice years ago, whenever I get a used vehicle I just service every fluid in it regardless of what the seller said. That includes coolant and if the car's more than a couple years old, brake fluid. Cheap insurance in my book.
So with that in mind if I was you I'd just drain it, run a couple rounds of distilled water through ( let it get up to full operating temp to get it through the block and heater core) and then refill with OE specified coolant. Distilled water is cheap, coolant is cheap compared to replacing a heater core or an engine.
 

turkeybird56

Military Vet 1976-1996 Retired US Army
Military
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Posts
18,753
Reaction score
42,939
Location
Central Texas
Ram Year
2019 Bighorn, 4 X 4, 3.21 rear, Bright Flame Red Pearl Coat, Mopar tonneau cover,Westin Bed rug
Engine
Hemi 5.7
If you get a reply from previous owner be great. If not, flush system and continue till runs clear then put in proper coolant and proper mix for your area. The only other way to know what is in there is send a sample to a private lab, heck of a lot cheaper flush and refill.

ALSO basically post #2 which posted while I was typing.
 
OP
OP
G

GTXJosh

Junior Member
Joined
May 22, 2022
Posts
24
Reaction score
30
Location
Redding
Ram Year
2009
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Thanks for the replies so far. Sucks there isn’t an easy way to tell, and I too hope I get a reply. Doesn’t get too cold here, so I may just put a little distilled water in the overflow for now so there is something. The mix won’t be that far off and better than nearly nothing in there I guess.

The Mopar stuff is orange and zerex brand is light yellow from what I’m reading?
 

Burla

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Apr 28, 2012
Posts
23,108
Reaction score
44,443
Ram Year
2010 Hemi Reg Cab 4x4
Engine
Hemi
Peak Global life is made for this, as long as you didnt use iat green, then you use PGL which is universal base. Read this entire thread. Once the coolant has degraded or switched out that that chain has been broken, as in a truck that was drain filled regularly with oem coolant, don't be afraid of the right universal coolant. The issue is Chrysler oat and hoat can look the same once the purple is gone You can think it is orange so it is hoat, could be right or could be wrong. Once on PBL, you just use that forever.
 
OP
OP
G

GTXJosh

Junior Member
Joined
May 22, 2022
Posts
24
Reaction score
30
Location
Redding
Ram Year
2009
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Once the coolant has degraded or switched out that that chain has been broken, as in a truck that was drain filled regularly with oem coolant, don't be afraid of the right universal coolant.

That is my issue I guess. Just the unknown. I gotta be happy I guess that the previous owner I think was honest and told me the radiator had been changed. I’m still waiting to hear from him where the work was done. He said most of his work was done at one of the two dealerships in town. But oil changed were almost always done at a couple other shops that are local small oil changed places, and carfax info confirms this.

A local radiator shop I’ve used in town goes to a “universal base” when they do a flush and fill. And I think for ease and costs most shops that are not dealers would do this.

If I have oat, I’ll use oat. But if after the radiator it was done at a shop that used HOAT, then I’ll stil with that. For now it’ll be distilled water (off to get a few jugs to keep around for other stuff right now as a just in case stick for the garage) until it is confirmed. This area gets pretty hot during summers (100-115 isn’t uncommon) but rarely below freezing but for a dozen or so cold nights of the year. A little extra water in the mix won’t hurt.

On hot days temp reads right at the line on the dash I think it is 197-199. Lately since it is the cooler season it reads about 194-195. So seems the cooling system is working properly still.

After all this I kinda hope it was changed to oat on the radiator swap. Will make it easier to deal with in the future and I’ll just add a note to the glovebox.
 
Last edited:

Burla

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Apr 28, 2012
Posts
23,108
Reaction score
44,443
Ram Year
2010 Hemi Reg Cab 4x4
Engine
Hemi
If you read the thread you would understand the reason for universal. Hoat has additives to protect metal before the base can populate the metal. Once a radiator has a populated film, those additives are a hinderance to lifespan, thus hoat is only 5 years. Thus why you have seen coolants go to long term or even lifetime fills. Because they use pure base, IE peak global. Now oat is more complicated because of dex and dex clones, of which you want nothing to do with as dex will kill a ram radiator, gm are built for dex ours are not, IE peak global, no dex additive. good luck man, if you want to see the minutia, read the thread and see the ingredients in each coolant, they are posted.
 
OP
OP
G

GTXJosh

Junior Member
Joined
May 22, 2022
Posts
24
Reaction score
30
Location
Redding
Ram Year
2009
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Yeah I read it all. And the chemical data in the links.

Now I should have looked in the radiator a bit more carefully. Now that it is daylight and no evening it is in fact more of a red color. I think. Really hard to tell going on the very little residual that was in the overflow tank. I think I though yellow or green before because the level stick is kinda a dirty white and I just assumed that.

I’m going to wait til it cools down now and then pop the radiator cap and check color. If it is red/orange ish type color I’m going to suspect the previous owner did in fact get this done at a dealer and they filled it with Mopar brand HOAT.

Maybe I’ll call the dealers in town and see if they can lookup records if the previous owner doesn’t get back to me.

I don’t see any external leaks. But there is a little belt squeal. I’ve also asked the previous owner if he ever changed the belt. He owned the truck since about 40k on it and now has 178k. No unheard of to have belts last that long or longer. No printing so it certainly isn’t too new but that is all I know. Doesn’t look cracked but rib’s getting a little rough overall.

That belt squeaks is what prompted me to just see this slightly collapsed hose and not the near nothing in the overflow to begin with.
 
OP
OP
G

GTXJosh

Junior Member
Joined
May 22, 2022
Posts
24
Reaction score
30
Location
Redding
Ram Year
2009
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Another thing I thought was odd is upper hose was hot to the touch but radiator cap was not. I suppose it could be that after the few stops I made the cool distilled water I added to the overflow had been sucked into the system and cooled the cap area a bit ‍♂️
 

kurek

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2019
Posts
2,498
Reaction score
3,440
Location
Northwest
Ram Year
2015
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Maybe I’ll call the dealers in town and see if they can lookup records if the previous owner doesn’t get back to me.

Make an account on mopar.com and you can view your original window sticker for your VIN, look up any recalls and see any dealer-performed service records for your truck as long as you're the current owner of record with the DMV
 
OP
OP
G

GTXJosh

Junior Member
Joined
May 22, 2022
Posts
24
Reaction score
30
Location
Redding
Ram Year
2009
Engine
Hemi 5.7
I tried the account on Mopar.com it still won’t link to my truck, but has my old Dakota and Jeep listed just fine. Even called their help and they said “it could take a bit”.
 

kurek

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2019
Posts
2,498
Reaction score
3,440
Location
Northwest
Ram Year
2015
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Oh yeah it took like 6 months or so with my pretend Jeep, I have no idea what data channel links your registration with their website. Kind of weird anyway for the manufacturer of the car to have access to government records, when you bought the property second hand.
 

EdGs

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2020
Posts
2,477
Reaction score
3,555
Location
FL
Ram Year
2015
Engine
Hemi 5.7L
Your truck, your call. If it were mine, I would drain, fill, and run to temp several times until drained fluid is water clear, then drain and fill with the proper Mopar concentrated coolant. Also, fill the reservoir with a 50/50 mix.

Each drain and fill only gets about half the coolant out, unless you remove the block drains. Easier for me to do several drain, flush, and repeats until clear.

That said, you shouldn't have issues if it has been fully swapped out. For me, avoiding mixing different coolant types would be my worry. That's why I would change unless I knew for sure what was used.
 

GTyankee

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Military
Joined
Nov 2, 2020
Posts
10,059
Reaction score
12,600
Location
El Cajon Calif. 92021
Ram Year
2016
Engine
3.0 ecodiesel
Please forget about antifreeze colors, each antifreeze manufacturer has their own color chart
Anti freeze color in the radiator, may change color outside of the radiator

Your 2009 used HOAT when it left the factory
even Mopar had 2 colors for 2009
Hoat for North America & Hoat for European Chrysler products

Even with OAT, it is the same, 2 colors just for Mopar antifreeze

IF you decide to use anything but Mopar Hoat
Do yourself a favor & use something like a tire lettering paint pen to write the type of antifreeze in a spot under the hood
 
OP
OP
G

GTXJosh

Junior Member
Joined
May 22, 2022
Posts
24
Reaction score
30
Location
Redding
Ram Year
2009
Engine
Hemi 5.7
A little follow up on this if it helps anyone in the future. I swapped idler pulley and no change in sound. That was the quickest. Next break in rain was today, so I swapped the belt and the tensioner. Continental brand tension seems exactly the same as the oem one minus the pentastar logo. Some brand from Canada that starts with an L. Anyhow noise was not idler. Not sure if it was belt only or tensioner was part of it as well. There was a slight bounce to the tensioner but everything spun quiet so think it was just belt noise maybe a little loose too if tensioner was in fact bad. Quiet as can be now.

Added about half gallon of distilled water to overflow, and a tiny little bit, maybe a couple ounces direct to radiator over a few heat cool cycles. I monitored it to make sure it wasn’t going down and looked as much as I could for any leaks but it has been raining so small drip would be harder to see. Temp still heats rock solid to the 195-197 range. The white desk in the digital gauge on my 2009 appears to be at 197 because that is the number show right when no gap shown there.
 

Wild one

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Posts
13,718
Reaction score
23,373
Ram Year
14 Sport
Engine
5.7
A little follow up on this if it helps anyone in the future. I swapped idler pulley and no change in sound. That was the quickest. Next break in rain was today, so I swapped the belt and the tensioner. Continental brand tension seems exactly the same as the oem one minus the pentastar logo. Some brand from Canada that starts with an L. Anyhow noise was not idler. Not sure if it was belt only or tensioner was part of it as well. There was a slight bounce to the tensioner but everything spun quiet so think it was just belt noise maybe a little loose too if tensioner was in fact bad. Quiet as can be now.

Added about half gallon of distilled water to overflow, and a tiny little bit, maybe a couple ounces direct to radiator over a few heat cool cycles. I monitored it to make sure it wasn’t going down and looked as much as I could for any leaks but it has been raining so small drip would be harder to see. Temp still heats rock solid to the 195-197 range. The white desk in the digital gauge on my 2009 appears to be at 197 because that is the number show right when no gap shown there.
It might have a 190 thermostat instead of the factory 203 thermostat,with those coolant temps.If you say it gets to well over a 100F where you live,i wouldn't be surprised if some where along the line the thermostat was swapped to a cooler one.Don't worry about it,as it won't affect anything,except give you a slightly cooler coolant temp.
 
OP
OP
G

GTXJosh

Junior Member
Joined
May 22, 2022
Posts
24
Reaction score
30
Location
Redding
Ram Year
2009
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Yeah, I kinda thought about that. On the 2009 vic I know the data is a little different than some newer models. There is a digital slider, and a number. And there is a line across the slider. As it touches that line, it reads 197. So it is either a mark at 196 or 197, or the slider doesn’t match the resolution of the gauge sensor. In any case, it always runs right there, I’ve seen it read 199 up to around 201 I think but don’t often look over and activate the digital gauge. That temp shows at about the same as just below mid position that always shows on the analog gauge in the panel so honestly just trust that to show any issues, and only clicked into the digital gauge when it was like 114 a couple days this past summer.

Now I’m curious if up til 2012 or so if a lower temp thermostat was used from the factory, as that seems to be the cutoff for a number of revisions in the gen 4 trucks.

Still waiting to hear back from the previous owner. 2 dealers in town, and the one I called only had the truck in there shop one time February of last year, and previous owner did tell me that was when he broke a front axle shaft driving in the woods getting firewood. That dealer wouldn’t give me a copy of the work order, but said previous owner could get a copy for me. Some bs about privacy issues (don’t care about the cost or whatever, just the work they did but whatever). I’m tempted to just walk into the other dealer in town and ask if I can get a copy of all service records for my truck, and just not tell them I am a new owner if they give the same line.
 

Wild one

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Posts
13,718
Reaction score
23,373
Ram Year
14 Sport
Engine
5.7
Yeah, I kinda thought about that. On the 2009 vic I know the data is a little different than some newer models. There is a digital slider, and a number. And there is a line across the slider. As it touches that line, it reads 197. So it is either a mark at 196 or 197, or the slider doesn’t match the resolution of the gauge sensor. In any case, it always runs right there, I’ve seen it read 199 up to around 201 I think but don’t often look over and activate the digital gauge. That temp shows at about the same as just below mid position that always shows on the analog gauge in the panel so honestly just trust that to show any issues, and only clicked into the digital gauge when it was like 114 a couple days this past summer.

Now I’m curious if up til 2012 or so if a lower temp thermostat was used from the factory, as that seems to be the cutoff for a number of revisions in the gen 4 trucks.

Still waiting to hear back from the previous owner. 2 dealers in town, and the one I called only had the truck in there shop one time February of last year, and previous owner did tell me that was when he broke a front axle shaft driving in the woods getting firewood. That dealer wouldn’t give me a copy of the work order, but said previous owner could get a copy for me. Some bs about privacy issues (don’t care about the cost or whatever, just the work they did but whatever). I’m tempted to just walk into the other dealer in town and ask if I can get a copy of all service records for my truck, and just not tell them I am a new owner if they give the same line.
Your 09 would of came with a 203 as the stock thermostat
 

gofishn

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2014
Posts
5,082
Reaction score
10,130
Location
Iowa
Ram Year
2022 Ram 1500 5th Gen, Big Horn, 4X4, Crew Cab, 6'4" Box
Engine
hemi 5.7L, 345 cu in
If it were my truck, I would drain, clear, refill with Peak and call it good, That way, I know whats in it is good and fresh.

Luck to you
 

Dusty

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2013
Posts
1,221
Reaction score
1,262
Location
Rochester, New York
Ram Year
2019
Engine
5.7 Hemi
Thanks for the replies so far. Sucks there isn’t an easy way to tell, and I too hope I get a reply. Doesn’t get too cold here, so I may just put a little distilled water in the overflow for now so there is something. The mix won’t be that far off and better than nearly nothing in there I guess.

The Mopar stuff is orange and zerex brand is light yellow from what I’m reading?
Between 2009 and now they changed from HOAT to OAT. I believe my 2010 was green, but my 2014 was orange (5-year 100,000 mile, MS-9769, 05066386AA).

The new stuff (10-year MS-12106, 68163849AB) looks to be a reddish purple.

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33-gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build date: 3 June 2018. Now at 82990 miles
 
Top