Stuff in coolant

[moledodge]

Hey just wondering this is normal or if I should be concerned. I bought my truck a fee months ago certified used from a reputable dealer. Since its summer I wanted to replace all my fluids before winter comes. While doing a check over of things I opened the top radiator cap and noticed the residue seen In the pictures. It's a gritty type substance that can be broken down with your fingers. I know the Ram's use a HOAT coolant so I'm not sure if this is normal. It doesn't seem like anything else is floating in the fluid and I checked the over flow reservoir and stuff looks good in there. It only appears to be on the radiator cap(obviously not sure if it somewhere else in the system that I can't see) anyone experience this??

 

[SitKneelBend]

I can't see the pictures but I had a problem with solids forming in the coolant when Meineke mixed antifreeze (green) and dexcool (Orange) after replacing the radiator in my old truck. It looked like Brown/Orange snot floating in the coolant.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[R/T_Fire]

oooo if thats the case that its mixed incorrectly that can be a bad bad thing....
Had a buddy nuke a motor cause he put the wrong coolant in and it mixed and gelled. it was a pain to get it out of the engine to flow coolant again.

Can you fix the image links... it may just be broke down coolant and maybe a little rust or mineral deposits from un-distilled water

 

[Dubstep Shep]

Idk what that is but it doesn't look good.

At the very least I would flush your cooling system ASAP.

 

[sbarron]

Idk what that is but it doesn't look good.

At the very least I would flush your cooling system ASAP.

^^^YES!!!!^^^

That crap will settle in all the less turbulent areas of your cooling system, reducing its effectiveness. You should flush ASAP!!!

 

[Dubstep Shep]

Do a good flush too.

Usually I say drain the system, then stick a hose in the top and pump a BUNCH of water through it. I recommend using a filter on the hose. Then cap it, start it, and let it get to temp. Drain that, then replace it with some distilled water and start it and run it again. Do that a couple times until the water comes out perfectly clean.

 

[R/T_Fire]

Do a good flush too.

Usually I say drain the system, then stick a hose in the top and pump a BUNCH of water through it. I recommend using a filter on the hose. Then cap it, start it, and let it get to temp. Drain that, then replace it with some distilled water and start it and run it again. Do that a couple times until the water comes out perfectly clean.

I think there are some pressurized systems than may help with this too.

But that looks kinda like the geling but also a little like oil in the coolant...

 

[DannyMK2]

Can you fix the image links... it may just be broke down coolant and maybe a little rust or mineral deposits from un-distilled water

bingo. looks like somebody used tap water. not the greatest thing but not the end of the world either. flush the system and fill with proper coolant and distilled water.

 

[Burla]

moledodge trust big bad Burla on this one. First and quickly, get a bottle of RMI 25, 32 ounces. you would be using 1/2 as a flush and the other half with your refill. Run the RMI 25 for 500 to 1000 miles on the current fill. Do not worry, it boosts your additive package and prevents any further rusting. Empty as much as you can. I find it easy to use the pre mix, just get a pre mix HOAT and use the rest of the RMI25 in the new fill. RMI 25 will clean any slime and prevent any further rusting and will add years to your additive package. However, once you have a problem with a radiator, you should be real diligent with the service.

I use the stuff all the time, and in cases when I have a problem, it is no less then a miracle product.

 

[Burla]

This is exactly what it does, will take all the slime and dump it in overflow tank. Read here, this stuff actually does everything it says, hard to believe but I have witnessed it myself. Here is a pic of one of my vehicles overflow tank after using rmi25, then just dump it. Same thing, previous owner mixed coolants and didn't burp the system, let a lot of air in as the coolant level was inches below the cap. Bottom pic is it, this product turns rust into that gel (slime) for easy removal. If you keep the RMI25 in there, this wont happen again either presuming you have the right coolant/water/ and no air in the system. I usually run the Hoat Coolant 6 plus years, use RMI25 at mile zero and at mile 3000. Even though HOAT is 5 year coolant, RMI 25 will easily make it a 6 year coolant if you add it twice.

 

[QwikKota]

I would flush it and try to get the truck up to temp and keep the water flowing with the t-stat open. I would run water for a while to help flush without wasting money on coolant as it's summer.

 

[Dubstep Shep]

I would flush it and try to get the truck up to temp and keep the water flowing with the t-stat open. I would run water for a while to help flush without wasting money on coolant as it's summer.

Uh, pure water will boil without any glycol in it. Unless you're running a REALLY low temp thermostat.

 

[sbarron]

Uh, pure water will boil without any glycol in it. Unless you're running a REALLY low temp thermostat.

Not really. It won't boil in the pressurized cooling system until it reaches a pretty high temp, depending on the pressure in the system (typically 250 at 15psi)

 

[SlowRoller]

Yer cap needs replaced as well.

 

[PNUTLT1]

The deposits in the coolant can form by mixing to different types of antifreeze. If you mix orange with green or OAT with HOAT, the fluid can gel up and it can leave deposits. Do a complete flush and it should be okay.

 

[moledodge]

Image is fixed now

 

[SitKneelBend]

Image is fixed now

That's not good, while it could be a mixture of coolants that picture looks like oil in your coolant to me...whatever it is it definitely requires a flush but I think you should take it in to have it tested/looked at.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[PNUTLT1]

HOAT is for 12 and older. OAT is the new stuff for the 13+. The OAT formula is for 150,000 miles and the older HOAT formula is for 100,000 miles. Stick to the one you originally had in the truck from the dealer.

 

[moledodge]

moledodge trust big bad Burla on this one. First and quickly, get a bottle of RMI 25, 32 ounces. you would be using 1/2 as a flush and the other half with your refill. Run the RMI 25 for 500 to 1000 miles on the current fill. Do not worry, it boosts your additive package and prevents any further rusting. Empty as much as you can. I find it easy to use the pre mix, just get a pre mix HOAT and use the rest of the RMI25 in the new fill. RMI 25 will clean any slime and prevent any further rusting and will add years to your additive package. However, once you have a problem with a radiator, you should be real diligent with the service.

I use the stuff all the time, and in cases when I have a problem, it is no less then a miracle product.

Is this stuff safe with HOAT coolant. I can't find anything about mixing the two together.

 

[moledodge]

That's not good, while it could be a mixture of coolants that picture looks like oil in your coolant to me...whatever it is it definitely requires a flush but I think you should take it in to have it tested/looked at.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

The only way I could think of oil getting in the coolant is if there was a head gasket problem. The truck has 35k on it, could the gasket really go after that short amount of miles. The truck runs fine and I wouldn't have even thought to look at the radiator if I wasn't planning a routine flush.there doesnt appear to be any coolant in the oil. One of the hoses was flat before I removed the cap so I assume there was some air in the system . I went looking for the HOAT but couldn't find any so I'm just going to have to order some and then flush it all out.