OAT + Ethylene Glycol screw up

[harringtondav]

I didn't know about OAT coolants until I read about them in a Merc. Sterndrive post. And after I topped off my OAT sealed reservoir system in my '16 Cherokee 2.4L with the Ethylene Glycol. I had a warranty coolant hose leak. Maybe 12-16 oz. in the car's 6-8 qt (?) OAT system.

Yep, it said OAT on the reservoir cap. So I intend to flush and refill. I understand these two coolants don't like each other, and goo can/will form. Is there a coolant system flush product that will remove any goo that I may have going on in my cooling system?

Thanks, Dave

 

[alldodge]

Not sure you will need a flush product, but if you do want to use one, just pick up any radiator flush product and walmart or other. I would just drain fill, short run, drain and refill with correct stuff

 

[harringtondav]

Not sure you will need a flush product, but if you do want to use one, just pick up any radiator flush product and walmart or other. I would just drain fill, short run, drain and refill with correct stuff

Thanks. I hope I get off that easy.

 

[alldodge]

Will say that Chrysler products use HOAT and not OAT (will be yellow or amber color)

 

[fishrdan]

If the system isn't contaminated yet, I would do as AD said, quick flush to get rid of the green AF and refill with the correct AF.

My Durango was serviced with old green antifreeze before I bought it... So I had to flush the cooling system to get rid of the white coating all over everything, nasty mess. (Hope you don't have to do this....)

I used citric acid ($10/5lb on Ebay) instead of commercially available "canned" products and it worked very well, sparkly clean. It's a royal pain to do the job correctly, since it's time consuming and you need to pull the thermostat and put a "dummy" (center part removed) thermostat in place, so the cooling system is flowing 100% all of the time. Mercedes or BMW recommend citric acid for their vehicles, look up their procedure.

Basically:
- drain old AF
- put in dummy thermostat
- flush system with water
- wash out cooling system to get rid of oils and old AF (simple green or liquid laundry detergent)
- flush system with water 2-3 times to get rid of soap
- boil up citric acid in water and fill cooling system
- drive around with heater on, watch temp gauge (I drove for an hour+-)
- drain acid
- flush system with water, cap off and drive for 4-5 minutes (do this 4-5 times to get the acid and gunk out)
- drain and fill system with distilled water, let run for a couple minutes to dilute raw water (I did this twice)
- replace thermostat
- drain and fill with new antifreeze (Zerex G-05 or whatever is speced for your vehcile)
- DO NOT PUT COLD WATER INTO A HOT ENGINE!!!!!

It's a time consuming procedure as you need to let the engine cool down at each step so the cooling system isn't pressurized or engine "hot". I used a "Safety Lever radiator cap" to make sure the system wasn't pressurized before opening it up. Pop a box fan on top of the engine to help cool it down, engine not running of course.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I have cleaned many OAT/EG and HOAT/EG contamination systems. If you didnt run the system, you may get away with a drain, clean water flush and drain and then fill. If you ran the system and the two coolants formed a sludge.... Use a good radiartor flush, follow up with a fresh water flush, then fill

 

[harringtondav]

Thanks everyone. I did run it before I knew I messed up. Still running it. 6-8% contaminated with the Glycol. Will the goo, "white coating" be visible on the inside of the system's hoses?. This is a pressurized reservoir system. Will the residue be visible in the reservoir tank?

It seems to be cooling OK. I'm going to do the flush and replace. I just want to know how extensive a cleaning I need to do. Residue seems to mean use a flushing solution of some kind. None means go with drain, fill, run, drain, fill w/OAT (my reservoir states that).
Thanks again.

ps. I can purchase Damlier-Chrysler's Mopar ms-12106 at Amazon for $29 + shipping. Prestone Dex-Cool meets the same spec., and Dodge forums say that Dex-Cool is what DCA re-labels. I'm not that cheap for $10+shipping. But I can trot over to my local Advance Auto and pick it up.

Any thoughts?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Prestone has an HOAT coolant. I used to pick it up at advance auto