ATTENTION: Know Your Jeep JK Wrangler Coolants and Save Your Engine!

JamesWyatt said:
This happened to my 2014 a few months ago at a quick lube place. They topped off the overflow reservoir as I was yelling, "Noooooo..." in my head from inside. I got the usual "this stuff is fine BS". They finally agreed and sucked the overflow tank out clean, rinsing it with water.

It's sad to say but always have your fluid levels where they should be before getting your oil changed anywhere.
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I take mine to the dealership. If they put the wrong fluid in, its on them.
 
JamesWyatt said:
This happened to my 2014 a few months ago at a quick lube place. They topped off the overflow reservoir as I was yelling, "Noooooo..." in my head from inside. I got the usual "this stuff is fine BS". They finally agreed and sucked the overflow tank out clean, rinsing it with water.

It's sad to say but always have your fluid levels where they should be before getting your oil changed anywhere.
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You bring your beloved Jeep to a quick lube place? C'mon dude. My dealership charges $24.99 for an oil change....you can't be saving that much at a quick lube (they use garbage oil btw) and if you really want to save money, do it yourself (although you won't save much.)
 
NFRs2000NYC said:
You bring your beloved Jeep to a quick lube place? C'mon dude. My dealership charges $24.99 for an oil change....you can't be saving that much at a quick lube (they use garbage oil btw) and if you really want to save money, do it yourself (although you won't save much.)
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I'm not cheap, just lazy. The lube place is close. And I always waste money getting Pennzoil full synthetic. From the stories I read it sounds like the dealer is just as likely to screw up (overfill the oil, wrong coolant, etc) as the little guys. Doing it myself was the best advice, but I'd refer that back to the lazy point I made. Hell, if I changed my oil, pretty soon I'd be washing it myself, too ;-P I changed my own oil and washed/vacuumed my own vehicles from age 15 to about my early 30s, and at some point I was like that cartoon of the business guy throwing his papers in the air, with the quote, "And not a single f--- was given."
 
JamesWyatt said:
I'm not cheap, just lazy. The lube place is close. And I always waste money getting Pennzoil full synthetic. From the stories I read it sounds like the dealer is just as likely to screw up (overfill the oil, wrong coolant, etc) as the little guys. Doing it myself was the best advice, but I'd refer that back to the lazy point I made. Hell, if I changed my oil, pretty soon I'd be washing it myself, too ;-P I changed my own oil and washed/vacuumed my own vehicles from age 15 to about my early 30s, and at some point I was like that cartoon of the business guy throwing his papers in the air, with the quote, "And not a single f--- was given."
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But if the dealer screws up, you have recourse with chrysler. If a quick lube place screws up, they'll tell you to pound sand and chrysler to shaft you as well. ;)
 
The only place I will go to change my oil if for some god awful reason I'm unable is oil can Henry's cause those guys actually let me see what they are doing under my rig and under the hood. The ass hats a jiffy lube did their however many point safety inspection and cracked my air box and didn't put the filter back in right.
 
Question: going through this right now with a totally collapsed upper rad hose. It totally rectifies when the engine is hot. So I thought of maybe swapping.

Question being: why can we not just use anything. I mean aluminum block compatible. Dealer quoted for $594 for 12L of this coolant. Why not just prestone long life?
 
So I'm not really sure how this can possible still be happening this far in to the model cycle.

I have used a local dealer for years with excellent results. I actually used to take my Dodge Viper there. Well I took my '13 in for a bunch of stuff and some running-hot funny smell trouble-shooting and it was also due for a coolant flush. So I had them do that.

Today I went to grab some coolant for the trail kit as we are going on a wheeling trip next week. The coolant they handed me? The HOAT. When I pointed out that it was the wrong fluid and gave them the part number I started to wonder, what had they flushed my system with? I had them look it up. Sure enough they flushed it with the wrong shit! :doh: Goes back Tuesday for the right fluid. People should get fired for this kind of thing. All they did was basically say, "Our bad", and that was it. Not even an apology.

Now I have been extremely careful with the coolant I put in it but I'm wondering, with my recent running hot issues, if at some point in the past they already screwed up and I've been adding small amounts of correct fluid here and there to a cooling system full of the INCORRECT fluid?!
 
Jaydoc1 said:
So I'm not really sure how this can possible still be happening this far in to the model cycle.

I have used a local dealer for years with excellent results. I actually used to take my Dodge Viper there. Well I took my '13 in for a bunch of stuff and some running-hot funny smell trouble-shooting and it was also due for a coolant flush. So I had them do that.

Today I went to grab some coolant for the trail kit as we are going on a wheeling trip next week. The coolant they handed me? The HOAT. When I pointed out that it was the wrong fluid and gave them the part number I started to wonder, what had they flushed my system with? I had them look it up. Sure enough they flushed it with the wrong shit! :doh: Goes back Tuesday for the right fluid. People should get fired for this kind of thing. All they did was basically say, "Our bad", and that was it. Not even an apology.

Now I have been extremely careful with the coolant I put in it but I'm wondering, with my recent running hot issues, if at some point in the past they already screwed up and I've been adding small amounts of correct fluid here and there to a cooling system full of the INCORRECT fluid?!
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I just bought my 2015, I noticed fairly quickly the coolant is a purple color, is that not the case on earlier years? Haven't had a Jeep in a few years so coming off 15 years of Chevy Red coolant.
 
Help please... How do we properly flush our coolant???

So I can't seem to find any good data on how to properly flush the JK coolant from the system, entirely? Can anyone point me in the right direction I am taking a 3,000K trip this coming weekend and want to flush prior. Specifically what I can't find is how to get the coolant out of the block. Searching through this forum and reading all the posts in this thread have not revealed anything also searching on other sites I didn't find anything...
 
PapasPuncher said:
So I can't seem to find any good data on how to properly flush the JK coolant from the system, entirely? Can anyone point me in the right direction I am taking a 3,000K trip this coming weekend and want to flush prior. Specifically what I can't find is how to get the coolant out of the block. Searching through this forum and reading all the posts in this thread have not revealed anything also searching on other sites I didn't find anything...
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You have a 2013 10A according to your sig......why are you flushing your coolant?
 
NFRs2000NYC said:
You have a 2013 10A according to your sig......why are you flushing your coolant?
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Because I was a poor sap that had filled the reserve reservoir with HOAT prior to reading this thread about 6 months ago and just want to flush it clean... Also I figured this would be the best place to post up a link or instructions on a full flush due to the importance of the nature of the thread.
 
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thank you so much for taking the time to explain that

NFRs2000NYC said:
Hey guys, I haven't seen a thread like this here, so I would like to post it up...if the higher powers find it useful enough, I think it should be a sticky, as a very innocent move can cause HAVOC on your entire cooling system/motor.....THIS IS BECOMING A VERY COMMON PROBLEM AND WILL ONLY GET WORSE...DEALERS DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND ARE JUST DUMPING IN WHATEVER COOLANT IS ON-HAND.

Ok, first thing is first...there are two types of coolants used on the JK....HOAT (Hybrid Organic Additive Technology,) and OAT (Organic Additive Technology.)

The first thing you need to tattoo in your brain is this.....THESE TWO COOLANTS DO NOT MIX, AND A CHEMICAL REACTION WILL CAUSE IT TO GEL (more on this later.)

JK's 2012 and down use HOAT coolant and 2013+ use OAT coolant. DO NOT COUNT ON THE DEALER KNOWING WHICH COOLANT YOUR RIG TAKES. CHANCES ARE THEY WILL PUT IN THE WRONG ONE, SO IF GETTING SERVICE, MAKE CERTAIN THE CORRECT COOLANT IS USED!

How to tell the difference...For whatever reason, chrysler doesnt label them as HOAT/OAT so you need to know the signs to make sure you are getting the correct one....

View attachment 60695

The first thing you are going to notice is the color....OAT (13+) is purple and HOAT (12-) is orange. The second thing you'll notice is that the HOAT coolant is rated for 5 years and 100K miles while the OAT is rated at 10 years 150K miles. The third thing you need to know is that the cap on the OAT is black while the cap on the HOAT is blue. The fourth thing you will know (not from the pic) is that OAT is priced like gold. It is $50-$60 a gallon (yes you read that right) so unless you have an emergency, buy it online, where it goes from $29 a gallon or so. If you go to the dealer to buy OAT, and the price is too cheap, they gave you the wrong one.

A little background on the color so that the next part makes sense to you guys....As we know, FIAT is with Chrysler now. Fiat has been using orange colored OAT for years. When Chrysler switched to OAT, they didn't want dealers/people getting confused, so to differentiate the new OAT coolant with the chrysler original orange HOAT, they added a purple dye. As a result, due to a weird light refraction, the purple OAT looks weird (even orange) when looked at certain angles. You can even pop open your radiator cap on your 14 and the coolant looks so orange you'd bet me your jeep that it's orange....but it isn't.

You saw the pic above, now compare it to this pic....(same purple OAT)
View attachment 60704

Don't believe me yet? Check this out...open the overflow bottle, and you might see this....
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Orange? You would definitely bet me your PR44 that it's orange right?

Now lets take a pic by moving the lightsource and changing the angle....
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Still think it's orange? ;)

The reason why it looks orange isn't too complicated...the actual coolant is Fiat's orange OAT with chrysler's added purple dye. When it is put into a container that isn't see-through or well lit, the sheen from the original orange coolant comes through which is why it looks orange on the surface. If you
suck a little out using a turkey baster, you will quickly see that it's purple. Think of it as a VERY ANNOYING optical illusion.

Now, why you should care....mixing the two yields to catastrophic results...if you catch it early enough, you may be able to squeak by with a quick and painful flush...however, if you run it for a little while (a month+) you can completely destroy your system by completely clogging it up.

This is what happens when you mix glycol based coolant (HOAT, 99% of coolant in stores, etc) with OAT....

View attachment 60711

The part number for OAT is 68163849AA

Here is a TSB from Chrysler:



To sum up....

If you own a 2012 and DOWN...you can run Chrysler HOAT coolant or any other Chrysler approved HOAT. There aren't many on the market, and the price is basically the same as chrysler's, so for warranty sake, run the OEM stuff. You need to make sure that if you buy from the dealer, you are getting HOAT coolant (blue cap, 100K mile, orange, $14 pricetag) and if the dealer is refilling yours for free, make SURE you tell them to use HOAT....OAT is your only kryptonite.

If you own a 2013 and up, you MUST USE Chrysler OAT coolant. If you are out on the trail, and need to top off, use distilled water to limp you home, do NOT use coolant from your buddy's truck, etc. If you are the kind of wheeler that carries spare fluids, carry a bottle of OAT with you. If you absolutely MUST use glycol based coolant, flush it out ASAP as soon as you get back home, and refill with the correct coolant. When at the dealer purchasing, make sure you are walking home with the correct bottle (black cap, purple, 10 year 150K label and expensive) and if they are topping off, inform them that you want to make sure they use OAT coolant.


I hope this post helps some members along the way!

Dave
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When you posted this, many douchebag mechanics silently wept because there is no telling how many engines and coolant systems you saved from annihilation. Kudos to you man
 
Thaaaaaaank yoooooou!!!!!!!!!!!

You can count mine as one of the engines saved by your post!!! I had a minor coolant issue shortly after buying my 2014 Rubicon in November 2014, and picked up some of what I thought was the correct coolant. Someone in the parts department at my local dealer SOLD ME THE WRONG COOLANT, and I actually added a VERY small amount to my reservoir just to top off what was really unnecessary in the first place. I read your post a couple of weeks ago and the dealer exchanged it for the proper coolant at no extra charge, and realized what could have happened. Fortunately that employee is no longer working there or I would have had a few words for him!!! I have had no issues since, but literally added only an ounce or two of the wrong coolant at best.

Thank you so much for posting this information - you LITERALLY SAVED MY JEEP!!!

RubiDon
Castle Rock, CO
 
thx u

just got my first service done, they topped of coolant and thank to this thread I asked them what they put in it and it was the wrong one they flushed out the system an reinstalled b4 I ever left the dealer ;)
 
Something stupid to help remember... Hall & Oats = HOAT & OAT... Hall came before Oats = HOAT before OAT... 2012 and older comes before 2013 and newer.
 
Shantz said:
Something stupid to help remember... Hall & Oats = HOAT & OAT... Hall came before Oats = HOAT before OAT... 2012 and older comes before 2013 and newer.
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This is awesome. I was trying to remember which was which the other day without looking it up, but now I'll never forget, lol.
 
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