cooling question

[southernwake]

Dropped the KJ off at the dealer to get the coolant system flushed because I didnt have any idea if or when it was ever done and with 119k on it I want to make sure its good to go. They called me and said that they couldnt get the proper flow through the system due to it being gunked up. They guy said it may need new water pump and thermostat etc and the quote was getting up to around $800 for them to fix. I told them to top it off and I would come pick it up.

So my question to you guys is what to do. should i first try to drain the system and fill it up with water and drive it around and drain and repeat a couple times and then see if how it looks. Obviously if it is gunked up I dont want to replace the thermo and water pump and then run the gunk through them.
Then once I do that replace the thermostat and water pump with new ones.

What is the best solution for flushing and cleaning this coolant system??

Currently it doesnt run hot it runs great. It has never gotten above the halfway mark on the dummy gauge. It is always a about the thickness of two of the gauge needles below the halfway mark.


Thanks,
Andrew

 

[TwoBobsKJ]

I'm not sure that a new water pump is going to eliminate any "gunk" that's trapped in the system - however a new thermostat is a good idea. Replacing either one of those components is pretty easy - certainly not $800 worth of parts and time.

Try another dealership. The system most certainly needs flushed out, especially if the first service department says it's "gunked up." That's not normal in any situation and the one thing these engines don't like is overheating. Note that the temp gauge is what's considered a 'dummy' gauge; in other words, the needle may never move from the middle position but the actual temperature can range from about 110 degrees to about 230 degrees. So you many be running a little on the warm side and not know it.

The dealership is the best place for a cooling system flush - maybe this particular dealer is just needing to move a few parts to reach quota for the month :shrug:

Bob

 

[southernwake]

I am going to try another dealership. The one I went to was the highest rated for customer service.

I spoke with the service writer and he said that when they opened the petcock nothing was coming out, which could be just something blocking it, granted I prefer zero foreign object that cause blockage in my coolant system.

What I am going to try is to see if I can clear the blockage and also semi flush with some distilled water and see if I can get it to clear up some of the "gunk".

I am ordering a new radiator, water pump and thermostat. I figure if I am going to replace the thermostat I might as well do the water pump as well and the radiator is most likely the stock unit so after 13 years and "gunk" I figure a new one wont hurt. I would rather just be safe than sorry, but I want to clean up the coolant system first before adding new clean parts to a dirty system and then it causing issues with them.

Just have the wife drive the focus for a few days while I work on this after work the next few days.

Andrew

 

[LibertyTC]

Before install of those parts, I would also want to flush the heater core out too.
HOAT Coolant or Zerex G05 to be used ONLY!!

 

[southernwake]

What would you suggest for cleaning out the heater core?

Any suggestions on a cleanser or agitator that could help remove any crud? I have seen some posts on some diesel forums talking about CLR, lemon juice, store bought cleaners. Just trying to figure out the best one for entire system.

 

[southernwake]

I will post some pictures of what I find. Im hoping it isn't as bad as it was made out to be.

Thanks
Andrew

 

[uss2defiant]

I would try to flush just the radiator from the top and out the bottom.
I'm not sure how you can get nothing out from the pepcock unless the radiator is severely clogged.
You can remove the entire pepcock out and that should give you a large enough opening to drain it.

then use a radiator chemical flush with the thermostat out and drive it around.

then flush it out w/ DI water by running just with DI water.

 

[southernwake]

Quick update:

I have ordered some coolant system cleaner and will pick up some DI water and HOAT coolant this weekend. I have also ordered new rad, water pump, and thermo to replace once I get the system flushed.

Plan is to try and get the radiator to drain some this weekend, depending on how work goes. If not I will be doing it all at one time next weekend when I am off.

I am going to back flush the heater core while doing this to go ahead and have my system completely cleansed and then that way I can replace the coolant every 2 years like it should be done.

Andrew

 

[CactusJacked]

I spoke with the service writer and he said that when they opened the petcock nothing was coming out, which could be just something blocking it...

Could be blockage, or could be that the petcock is effed up and not opening up. Is this what the dealership based the "blockage" on, or did they open up some hoses to take a good look see inside?

 

[southernwake]

From what I took away from the conversation was that they opened up the petcock and nothing came out. Then they opened up the bottle and there was crud on the lid. They couldnt get the right flow through the system, ( i.e the petcock wasnt flowing). There are no signs of removing the hoses at all. Everything looks the way it was when I dropped it off.

There is liquid in the bottle, you can grab it and see that liquid is in it and open it up and see the coolant in there, is the bottle dirty, yes. I just think they went off surface appearance( petcock and cap) and called it a day since it was Friday. Never been a huge fan of dealerships. I prefer to do the work myself. I was going the dealership route due to convenience factor since I was working a 12 days in a row for work and wouldnt have time to get to the jeep until next Saturday. So much for that convenience huh. :emotions34:

Andrew

 

[uss2defiant]

just pull the lower rad hose out and the top rad hose out.
put a garden hose through the top and flush out the rad.

 

[Cpt Marvel]

Just get ready to make a mess! Take the pet **** out of the radiator. Pull the lower hose. Thermostat. Take the rubber gasket off the thermostat. Put that back in the housing. Only way to seal it. Tried sober AND drunk. Refill system IAW instructions with water and prestone flush. Let to run till its hot then let it sit for a day. Drain, refill with water. Run till hot. Drain after cools. Then replace all the parts. I never got that damn air bleed plug out, but a few K and it's still doing fine

 

[southernwake]

I will try to get on this sometime this week, but for sure it will be happening this weekend. Have a busy weekend ahead of me, 3 oils changes, coolant flush ( and possibly replacement of parts if they come in in time) and then diagnose why the fuel injection module on my F250 went out. I see a couple nights ending with a good rink and cigar out by the fire! :gr_grin:

Hopefully flushing out the radiator first will give me some insight into how bad the "gunk" is.

Andrew

 

[M38 Bob]

Most all the "radiator flush" products are a clusterfuc# in the making. Do it all with a water hose and tap water. If you still feel the need, then start with the bottled water before final fill with antifreeze.

Bob


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[southernwake]

question regarding the type of coolant used. I see that HOAT ( Zerex- G05) is to be used in our systems.

Here is the kicker, that was used in the 6.0L powerstroke from Ford and everyone replaced it due to silicate contaminates building up in the oil cooler and the EGR and causing the head gaskets to blow out. Most switch it out for an ELC coolant and they have zero issues afterwards.

The question I have is has anyone had the issue with the coolant gooing up? I suppose I will find out soon enough once I dig into my coolant flush.

The gooing up was happening far before the 5 year/ 150,000 mile mark on the 6.0L. There is also speculation that the oil cooler failure is from getting clogged with casting sand from the block. Of course after a full system flush and changing to an ELC coolant no one has issues but two things have changed ( removal of most sand and the coolant type) I wanted to make sure that we were seeing the goo issue with our engines using the same coolant.



Thanks
Andrew

 

[LibertyTC]

The HOAT /G05 should not goo up. It should be flushed every 5 years.
I don't know where you live, but....after a water flush, lots o water in block,= using a jug 100% full strength Hoat, and then some 50/50 mixed Hoat to get the strength up.
Only use distilled water if doing your own mixing.
The only time I have heard of goo is if major contaminants or if someone mixed "other" coolants with Hoat, then we will recommend a flush and make it right with fresh new Hoat.
I use the dealer flush, tell them at what level protection I want (-50c) and with their recirculating machine, it gets all the old Hoat out & it's clean/ the job done right.

 

[southernwake]

That is what I wanted to find out, was about the gooing up. The 6.0L could be seeing issues due to the coolant being contaminated from the casting sand that wasnt fully removed from the block. Hard to tell since they just flush and replace with and ELC coolant instead of replacing with the G05 again. Was curious about it.

Once I do the flush I will fill it up with HOAT. I am in northeastern PA currently for the next few months.

Thanks for the info LibertyTC

 

[Hockeygoon]

Remove the pet **** and try to poke through the gunk to get it to drain - then flush it out with water. I would definitely flush the heater core - the same gunk in the bottom of your radiator is in the bottom of your heater core. I've seen this a few vehicles - but usually they are 20+ years old.


I wouldn't be surprised if the plastic impellors on the water pump are basically gone - that would explain the low flow report from the shop. Metal impellors on cheap water pumps rust away after years of service (see it a lot on older Ford Taurus) plastic ones probably have a half life of a metal one.

 

[southernwake]

Thats why I went ahead a purchased a water pump, rad, and thermostat. just in case during the flush I find things are really bad I have those parts on hand and not trying to scramble around to get them. Most likely will go ahead and change the water pump since I will already have the system drained, just make sit easier.

I am just not sure how thorough the dealer tech was, the petcock didnt flow but they didnt bother to remove the lower hose to verify that the radiator was clogged and it wasnt the petcock.

 

[southernwake]

Did the coolant flush today. First off I have no idea what the dealership was doing but I turned the petcock 1/4 turn and I had a slow trickle from the drain. Once I turned it more I had a steady flow. So apparently an idiot worked on my Jeep.

Coolant came out clean... and green! I am assuming the coolant was replaced at one time and it was replaced with standard coolant. It didnt look like it was a mixture of two coolants, just solid green.

I flushed the system, radiator and heater core out with a hose. The heater core when reversed flushed did have some dirty water come out but only for a second then it was clear. I ran it both ways twice. When I flushed the radiator it never really looked dirty and I ran water through it for 5-7 minutes. When the system was flushed and the water came out a little dirty but cleared up quickly.

The thermostat was in good shape, so it stayed. The upper and lower radiator hose has some buildup inside them. They were cleaned with soap and water and I ran a rag through them to loosen up the crud and cleaned them. The thermo housing had the same treatment.

I replaced the water pump, when I spun the pulley it didnt feel as smooth as I would have liked and since I had one on hand and a coolant free system I figured it was the right time. The water pump was pretty clean on the inside as well.

Due to the results I had I didnt bother with the chemical flush.

Once I had everything buttoned up I filled her up with G-05 and then ran her for about 30 minutes to get her up to temp and make sure air bubbles were burped out and to make sure the water got into the heater core as well as check for leaks.

So in the end, leak free, and the heat works nicely. I drove it around after it cooled back down and I had a digital thermometer that I stuck in the vent and I was getting 122* coming out of the vent, it would drop to 118* after sitting for about a minute at a stop light. I think everything is like it should be. Anyone have temps from their Jeep to compare?

Pics included of the work.

Thanks
Andrew