Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) First time,Coolant Change

[JJuliano]

This is my first time changing the coolant in my truck. It is difficult

to find Fleetgard or etc. What do you think of using Zerex Extreme heavy duty or Prestone.



Thanks

 

[illflem]

No problem, just flush well if going from a green coolant to an orange one or vice-versa.

 

[Motorhead]

Stay away from the orange Dex-cool. Go with the Fleetguard extended or Delo EC-1. I took off the heater hose at the head (be sure to turn the heater on before you shut down the engine to open the heater core to flush) and flushed the heater core. There is NO block drain on the engine( why I don't know) so you have to remove the bottom hose from the radiator and drain out the coolant. Flush the block well and if you have an air compressor, you can GENTLY blow out the heater core and full force blow most of the water out of the engine. Because there will be some residual water left in the cooling system, If you can, get the concentrate, add 3 gallons of it first and then top it off with bottled water. Don't use water from a salt type water softener. It has residual salt left in it. I put a 180 thermostat in mine at this time.

 

[GarrettPetersen]

Add some DCA additive to it. Cavatition is a bad situation. We use it in all the coolant changes we do.

 

[illflem]

Cavatition isn't a problem with our engines, Cummins doesn't recommend DCA.

 

[Mtngoat]

Is there any special attention needed to flush and refill the system? Or is like any other engine, dump it out and refill aith fresh antifreeze?? And what is a premium antifreeze for these trucks?



Robin

 

[dremelts]

Robin,



There was an excellent article in the TDR mag. a couple of issues ago describing the coolant flush procedure in detail. I would recommend going to Cummins and getting the Fleetguard anti-freeze (it's blue).

 

[JJuliano]

I was able to find fleet-guard es compleat concentrate near my house, I am going to use this. After you drain the coolant from the radiator, should you flush with tap water or distilled water. How much water stays in the engine or does it all come out. Do I need to make sure all the factory coolant is out. Before added the fleet-guard back. If you use air to blow out the coolant should you blow it into the fill hole on the radiator.

 

[socal_rattler]

Here is a link to coolant change instructions on dodgeram.org.



http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/cooling-sys/antifreeze.htm



I also recommend the Fleetguard ES Complet EG... . if you don't have a Cummins near home, order it from Fleetguard direct.



www.fleetguard.com

 

[D6Diesel]

The dodgeram.org article is the one I went with. Check out Steve St. Laurent's note in that article. While you're at it change the thermostat (get a new 190 F thermostat from Cummins). Don't tighten the housing bolts for the thermostat too tight like I did. If you have aluminum bolts then the torque spec is 18 NM (14 ft-lb). Even this spec may be a bit high. The service manual stated 25 NM which will break these aluminum bolts.

 

[D6Diesel]

Forgot to mention that the first step is to start the vehicle and turn the heater dial all the way max so that the coolant will drain out of that part of the system.