[Jdtwo]

I am not real up to speed on the Orange Mopar coolant.
I am starting to get a orange slim ( algae like ) bath tub ring around the top o my coolant tank.
Is the coolant going bad? Does it need to be replaced?

It's a 2016 3.6 L 300 C. Quite possibly factory original coolant. 62,000 original miles.

Hot weather and road trips coming up fast. Do not want to boil over.

It is hard to see in the pictures.

 

[CtCarl]

It's probably a good idea to do a passive flush at this point. I personally would take out the coolant reservoir and clean that as well. I'd suggest some automatic dishwashing detergent or other low-sudsing detergent and hot water for the tank. Pour some BBs in there and agitate well (off the car, obviously). The BBs are necessary because there are a number of baffles that make it very difficult to clean the tank by agitation alone.

For the rest of the cooling system, some guys swear by Dawn dish detergent. I'd suggest a commercial cleaning product with phosphates, such as Cascade with Phosphates Professional. Whatever cleaning agent you use, go with distilled water and flush thoroughly.

When you're doing cleaning, drain and replace with a 50/50 (or whatever ratio you prefer) of Mopar Purple Oat coolant concentrate and distilled water.

 

[dhoolwerf]

Coolant overflow bottles are difficult to clean effectively. They’re not that expensive ($30 at rockauto), and they’re easy to remove/replace…you might consider just buying a new one if it bugs you. I got that dirty ring after having the coolant flushed, so I replaced the tank, and no more flushes for me…just drain and refill every 60k miles.

 

[OzKen]

Coolant overflow bottles are difficult to clean effectively. They’re not that expensive ($30 at rockauto), and they’re easy to remove/replace…you might consider just buying a new one if it bugs you. I got that dirty ring after having the coolant flushed, so I replaced the tank, and no more flushes for me…just drain and refill every 60k miles.

Concur. I am about to do mine for the 3rd time (my car older, 2007). I remove my tank and "slosh hot soapy water around" to clean it, or have last couple of times, will depend on how crappy it is this time.

I concur with Carl. It is time to flush/change it.

 

[CtCarl]

Coolant overflow bottles are difficult to clean effectively. They’re not that expensive ($30 at rockauto), and they’re easy to remove/replace…you might consider just buying a new one if it bugs you. I got that dirty ring after having the coolant flushed, so I replaced the tank, and no more flushes for me…just drain and refill every 60k miles.

Cheapest one I could find on RockAuto was $51.88 plus sales tax. I replaced the reservoirs on my first-gen cars because they were around twenty bucks at the time, but for fifty-five, I took ten minutes of my time to agitate it with some detergent and a handful of BBs. The tank of my '14 R/T Blacktop came out like new, and after handling several of the cheap aftermarket bottles, I'm confident that the OEM is higher quality anyway.

 

[Jdtwo]

Sorry about the delay in getting back. Been busy. It has been really hot here lately and I have some road trips coming up. I've decided to go to one of my local stealerships to have them flush, clean, and refill my coolant. This stealership has never done me wrong except for their prices.
So much or 10 year / 150,000 mile coolant.

 

[CtCarl]

Sorry about the delay in getting back. Been busy. It has been really hot here lately and I have some road trips coming up. I've decided to go to one of my local stealerships to have them flush, clean, and refill my coolant. This stealership has never done me wrong except or their prices.
So much or 10 year / 150,000 mile coolant.

For whatever it's worth, I personally would not trust anyone to put the correct coolant in an LX/LD Dodge or Chrysler. This is less common today, but ever since Chrysler switched from HOAT to OAT coolant in 2013, I've found that very few mechanics seem to know the difference, and from what I've seen, it's not unusual for even ASE Master mechanics to mix them up. Since they're not compatible and mixing them can cause sludge to form and clog your cooling system, I do it myself.

If you're going to let the stealership do the work, make sure they give you a detailed invoice with the part number for the coolant, and if possible, make sure the bottle says "10 years/150,000 miles".

 

[OzKen]

For whatever it's worth, I personally would not trust anyone to put the correct coolant in an LX/LD Dodge or Chrysler. This is less common today, but ever since Chrysler switched from HOAT to OAT coolant in 2013, I've found that very few mechanics seem to know the difference, and from what I've seen, it's not unusual for even ASE Master mechanics to mix them up. Since they're not compatible and mixing them can cause sludge to form and clog your cooling system, I do it myself.

If you're going to let the stealership do the work, make sure they give you a detailed invoice with the part number for the coolant, and if possible, make sure the bottle says "10 years/150,000 miles".

View attachment 177504

I am like you mate with the "not trust anyone".

I haven't really dealt with many dealers (enough stories with people from dealers who have), but even if you "make them make a note" - every time I have seen that they ALWAYS ignore it and do "yeah, but we always......." The Hyundai dealer near my Dad are a shocker, untold problems with two of his cars (one a bought from new one) because they have no idea, and just will NOT listen to customer. Granted, most of their customers have no idea; but when they get one who DOES; they actually resent it/argue. Maybe because you will catch them out, as their knowledge is VERY shallow. With two cars they diagnosed a fault, I took it home and fixed it. Not what they said/they were incapable of fixing it.

I know is totally different car, but shows the mentality. I have a Triumph Stag with alloy (aluminium) wheel nuts. They do up tight, but NOT with a rattle gun, by hand only to same as my 300 (100 ft/lbs).

Had for 30 years. First time I got tyres, I took it in and said I would only get them there if they used a wheel brace and NOT a rattle gun. Small town shop, but one of our largest tyre chains, so they did. I explained to him they were alloy, MADE him write "Must use wheel brace, NOT rattle gun" on ticket.

Guy gets ticket, looks at tyre size, throws ticket aside, grabs rattle gun. I said "You can't use that". He says "Oh, I always do". I say read ticket, he does, "Oh, well, we don't have a wheel brace......." I hand him mine "Oh, we can't use customers tools, so....." and starts with the "We do ALL kinds of cars here mate, BMW/Porsche....." in other words, he was adamant he would NOT do it other than rattle gun.

I say take it off the hoist, he's not doing it then. Manager comes out; tells the guy to go and get wheel brace (they had one, he just didn't want to) and NOT use rattle gun. He removes wheel nut - "Gee they are light, aren't they???" He had NEVER seen alloy wheel nuts before, but that didn't stop him trying to strip them. Mate of mine had an MR2, got new Italian wheels. Ordered them in for him, and stripped every wheel nut. He had to put old ones back on/wait for new set of nuts to be ordered in (alloy). Again, he MADE them make a note they were alloy/take care = totally ignored it, did what "they always do/I know how.........

So I take the Stag wheels in now in another car, don't let them touch the fitting to the car. They WILL NOT listen/read the "little note" on the tag.

Hence I am very careful with anything with dealers. They think they are "so professional, don't need to listen/check etc.

If there is a possibility they can stuff it up, chances are..............................

 

[MStancil]

I have a 2006. A "mechanic" used OAT antifreeze instead of HOAT antifreeze. Really gunked up my cooling system. This was a couple of years ago and I am still fighting rust.

My motto is "Trust but verify".