Ram 5.7Hemi Coolant Flush DIY

[Hemi395]

t-stat remains open till it is in the appropriate temp. range, no matter if you start or shutdown the engine. If you flush hot coolant, t-stat will be opened.

This. I'd also consider running it for a bit with the tstat removed. You will get a better flow through the block that way because even when the tstat is open it's pretty restrictive...

 

[Burla]

Our boy mr fix has a great vid on testing coolant

 

[Burla]

Well, this is the kind of thing you will only find right here at Ram Forum and more specifically right here in Corey's DYI coolant thread. From left to right represents a radiator quick flush (just radiator), the goal was trying to get as close to factory orange as possible, the last jug on the left is factory fresh. Note the forth flush is not labeled, but it is the one between fresh and number 3. Even the forth flush didn't look at good as third, that is just because that just came out of a hot truck, once settled it was the best looking of the 4. I would say two flushes does a yoman's job at a flush, by the time you do a third, you are really close. If you are doing the quick flush route instead of the full flush route, I'd order 3 gallons Chrysler HOAT that makes 6 gallons finished when mixed with DISTILLED water. I'd stop at three, unless you see a reason to continue. I don't recommend quick flushes, if you can go back and do the full flush on page 1. But if you don't feel like getting under truck, here is second option. All you need is access to the bolt behind t stat with an allen wrench, radiator pet ****, and open the radiator cap.

The ram 5.7 takes 4 gallons, the first flush which included overflow was 1.75 gallons (maybe 2 with spillage), the other three flushes ranged from a gallon and a quarter to a gallon and a half. It is hard to see in a pic, but in person the first two flushes look dirty, the rest don't. Again, this flush was 4 years past the manufacturers stated lifespan of chrysler HOAT.

 

[MK96]

There exists a sort of a vacuum pump that is able to suck the old coolant and then pour a new one in without creating air pockets/hotspots actually, e.g.: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002SRH5G but you need an air supply.

 

[BWL]

Great write up, but curious to know the whole system capacity. I see 3 gallons of concentrate and that would make 24qt once mixed 50/50. Then i see add 3 gallons to start and them top off so I'm curious what the final total is. I'm planning to drain some coolant and top it off with concentrate to go from 50% to 60% in my truck and the actual capacity would make it easy to figure out how much to drain and replace.

 

[Hemi395]

Great write up, but curious to know the whole system capacity. I see 3 gallons of concentrate and that would make 24qt once mixed 50/50. Then i see add 3 gallons to start and them top off so I'm curious what the final total is. I'm planning to drain some coolant and top it off with concentrate to go from 50% to 60% in my truck and the actual capacity would make it easy to figure out how much to drain and replace.

Thanks! I believe the capacity for a 5.7 is 18 qts...

 

[BWL]

Thanks! I believe the capacity for a 5.7 is 18 qts...

Thanks. That's pretty close to the 20 qt that I thought it had so taking 1 gallon of factory fill, which is 50/50 and putting a gallon of concentrate in would put me between 60-62% in the 18-20 quart range.

 

[BWL]

Well @Hemi395 you nailed it. 18.3 quarts

 

[Hemi395]

Well @Hemi395 you nailed it. 18.3 quartsView attachment 157820

Ha ok cool 18 qts was what stuck in mind[emoji23]

 

[R.L.K.]

Disappointed in you Corey ... .3 qts off man you need to tighten up [emoji16][emoji16]

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Hemi395]

Disappointed in you Corey ... .3 qts off man you need to tighten up [emoji16][emoji16]

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

[VaDimZH]

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 ...

Hemi395

Which tube (black and silver) from water pump is heater IN and OUT?

I think the Black tube from water pump (top hose on the Firewall) is IN,to the Heater Core,

and the bottom hose on the Firewall is OUT from the Heater Core,to the Silver tube on the water pump.

Right?

 

[Hemi395]

TBH I'm not sure but I think you have it right. One way to tell for sure is to crank the heat and see which one is slightly cooler. That would be the return to the water pump....

 

[VaDimZH]

TBH I'm not sure but I think you have it right. One way to tell for sure is to crank the heat and see which one is slightly cooler. That would be the return to the water pump....

Thank you!

 

[Robert VanSickle]

2013 and older Hemis take 5year 100,000 mile coolant. 2014 and up take 10 year.

 

[Robert VanSickle]

2013 and older take the 5 year coolant and 14 and up take 10 year. I'm an FCA tech. I've seen too many gelled up messes from people putting the wrong coolant in there resivour.

 

[Hemi395]

That's why I recommend flushing a 2013 with distilled water before refilling with 10 year OAT. I'm almost positive what came out of my 2013 was 5 year HOAT...

 

[orin]

First a big thank you @Hemi395 for the write up! I was able to follow it quite closely for my 3rd Gen 2009 Ram 2500. Thought it could still be worth sharing my experiences, so here goes.

First, I just bought this Ram with about 105k miles on it. Wasn't sure when the coolant had been done last, but since it's 5 years or 100k miles I figured it's due. When draining the fluid out of the radiator petcock it looked brand new; that's a good sign right?! No rust or funky colors, just nice bright coolant. Based on that I decided to skip the distilled water flush and just do a drain and refill.

After draining the radiator I removed the heater core hoses, then the lower radiator hose (at the water pump), and then went for the block drains. I did not remove the t-stat since I wasn't doing the flush and it didn’t seem removing it would get any more coolant out. Taking a bit of a gamble that the t-stat is in good shape…

Passenger side block drain was easy to get to, but not easy to get off. At first I thought the 14mm socket was a hair too small. But with a good cleaning and some tapping on the socket I got a good fit. Also took a lot of umph to break the plug loose.

On to the driver's side plug. It looked to me like I might be able to get to it with a wobble extension. Not sure how different my 3rd Gen 5.7 (or the layout of a 2500 for that matter) is but I was JUST able to get everything on. Here’s a photo:

Again, quite difficult getting the socket seated on the block plug. With patience and persistence I got the socket fully seated and the wobble extension on. Took a lot (more than the passenger side) to break that one free, probably due to the loss of toque through the extension?

That was it for draining, here are a couple of notes. First, my coolant fill/overflow tank did not drain during the process. This must be a difference with the 3rd Gen or 2500? Looks like the only connection between the tank and the radiator is right at the radiator cap. I believe when fluid level drops in the radiator it "pulls" fluid up out of the expansion tank, so no surprise it didn’t drain. At first I thought I’d just leave it be since there isn't an easy way to get it out of there, but eventually I changed my mind and decided to siphon it out. Second note, with all the draining I only got to 12 quarts (not including the expansion tank), quite a bit shy of the 18 listed in the manual. I’m not too worried, draining good looking HOAT and replacing with new HOAT, hopefully all good.

Speaking of HOAT, where I live it’s pretty damn hard to find!! Guess I should have looked into that BEFORE draining the coolant out. Finally found some Valvoline Zerex G05 that was not pre-mixed, bought 2 gallons of that and 2 gallons of distilled water. Put the no-spill funnel on the radiator and started filling. Got a bit over 2 gallons of 50/50 in the radiator before any came out of the bleeder next to the thermostat on the water pump. Once I had topped off the radiator l I started up the truck. Took a bit of burping and interestingly the fluid in the funnel went up a lot before the t-stat opened and everything drained down. As the funnel level went up I saw that there was definitely still old coolant in the system; my mellow yellow Zerex mixed with the old fluorescent orange coolant made a nice pinkish color.

After all the burping I made sure the radiator was topped off completely. The coolant in the overflow had never moved. Capped the radiator and called it a day with the intention of driving around before a more thorough leak check and also checking the final mix. When I came back (about 36 hours later) I saw that roughly a 1/2 qt had been pulled from the expansion tank into the system while it sat. At this point decided to drain the expansion tank, should have done it the first day. Got almost 2 qt out brining my total drained to 14 qt. Perfectly matched to the 3 1/2 gal I put back in, but still a whole gallon away from 18 qt.

Take aways:

1. Even with all the block draining I still did not get 18 qt out. (Would love to hear thoughts or ideas on why!)
2. Doing a “flush” and fill strictly from the radiator petcock (as mentioned by other posters in this thread) may be a much easier way to go.
3. Make sure you have the coolant you want before you drain!!

 

[Hemi395]

First a big thank you @Hemi395 for the write up! I was able to follow it quite closely for my 3rd Gen 2009 Ram 2500. Thought it could still be worth sharing my experiences, so here goes.

First, I just bought this Ram with about 105k miles on it. Wasn't sure when the coolant had been done last, but since it's 5 years or 100k miles I figured it's due. When draining the fluid out of the radiator petcock it looked brand new; that's a good sign right?! No rust or funky colors, just nice bright coolant. Based on that I decided to skip the distilled water flush and just do a drain and refill.

After draining the radiator I removed the heater core hoses, then the lower radiator hose (at the water pump), and then went for the block drains. I did not remove the t-stat since I wasn't doing the flush and it didn’t seem removing it would get any more coolant out. Taking a bit of a gamble that the t-stat is in good shape…

Passenger side block drain was easy to get to, but not easy to get off. At first I thought the 14mm socket was a hair too small. But with a good cleaning and some tapping on the socket I got a good fit. Also took a lot of umph to break the plug loose.

On to the driver's side plug. It looked to me like I might be able to get to it with a wobble extension. Not sure how different my 3rd Gen 5.7 (or the layout of a 2500 for that matter) is but I was JUST able to get everything on. Here’s a photo:
View attachment 195953
Again, quite difficult getting the socket seated on the block plug. With patience and persistence I got the socket fully seated and the wobble extension on. Took a lot (more than the passenger side) to break that one free, probably due to the loss of toque through the extension?

That was it for draining, here are a couple of notes. First, my coolant fill/overflow tank did not drain during the process. This must be a difference with the 3rd Gen or 2500? Looks like the only connection between the tank and the radiator is right at the radiator cap. I believe when fluid level drops in the radiator it "pulls" fluid up out of the expansion tank, so no surprise it didn’t drain. At first I thought I’d just leave it be since there isn't an easy way to get it out of there, but eventually I changed my mind and decided to siphon it out. Second note, with all the draining I only got to 12 quarts (not including the expansion tank), quite a bit shy of the 18 listed in the manual. I’m not too worried, draining good looking HOAT and replacing with new HOAT, hopefully all good.

Speaking of HOAT, where I live it’s pretty damn hard to find!! Guess I should have looked into that BEFORE draining the coolant out. Finally found some Valvoline Zerex G05 that was not pre-mixed, bought 2 gallons of that and 2 gallons of distilled water. Put the no-spill funnel on the radiator and started filling. Got a bit over 2 gallons of 50/50 in the radiator before any came out of the bleeder next to the thermostat on the water pump. Once I had topped off the radiator l I started up the truck. Took a bit of burping and interestingly the fluid in the funnel went up a lot before the t-stat opened and everything drained down. As the funnel level went up I saw that there was definitely still old coolant in the system; my mellow yellow Zerex mixed with the old fluorescent orange coolant made a nice pinkish color.

After all the burping I made sure the radiator was topped off completely. The coolant in the overflow had never moved. Capped the radiator and called it a day with the intention of driving around before a more thorough leak check and also checking the final mix. When I came back (about 36 hours later) I saw that roughly a 1/2 qt had been pulled from the expansion tank into the system while it sat. At this point decided to drain the expansion tank, should have done it the first day. Got almost 2 qt out brining my total drained to 14 qt. Perfectly matched to the 3 1/2 gal I put back in, but still a whole gallon away from 18 qt.

Take aways:

1. Even with all the block draining I still did not get 18 qt out. (Would love to hear thoughts or ideas on why!)
2. Doing a “flush” and fill strictly from the radiator petcock (as mentioned by other posters in this thread) may be a much easier way to go.
3. Make sure you have the coolant you want before you drain!!

GREAT info, thanks for posting!!!

Yeah I think the 2500s are easier to get to because I definitely don't remember it being that out in the open. It might be the front axle bracket on the 1500s thats in the way which isn't there on a 2500.

Also unless you're not sure on the coolant thats in the system, a couple radiator drain and fills are sufficient. I only did a distilled water flush because I wasn't 100% sure it had OAT from the factory...

 

[madtrucker2016]

Awesome write up thanks Bookmarked in my PC so when I need it.only have 16,000 miles