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2013 - Discolored Coolant?

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69K views 427 replies 51 participants last post by  Strokerswild  
#1 ·
Are any of you fellow 2013 owners seeing odd-colored coolant in your Jeeps? The stuff is supposed to be purple, but in my case appears more orange than anything.

A few days ago I did my 10K oil change and was checking levels on the other reservoirs while I was under the hood, and I noticed that the coolant reservoir was a hair low. I popped the cap and took a peek inside with a flashlight, and the coolant inside appeared more orange with a hint of purple and almost looked sort of sludgy. I popped off the radiator cap and everything in there looked orange/rust colored as well. Having seen and read the sand-in-coolant thread (which I’ve posted in as well), panic ensued and I scheduled a visit to the dealer.

Long story short, no issue according to the dealer but at least it’s on record now. I dipped a piece of threaded rod into the reservoir to the bottom and wiped it off (thinking any sediment or crud would stick in the threads), and all residue on a paper towel was clean with no foreign debris and purple in color, despite the odd appearance otherwise.

Again, is anyone else seeing anything that look amiss in the coolant bottle on your ’13, or is yours pure purple???

This one sort of goes hand in hand with the thread http://www.wranglerforum.com/f202/heater-core-no-drivers-heat-and-casting-sand-388066.html but really is a separate thing since there's no sand or crud involved, and it's heating like a blast furnace....
 
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#6 ·
I did the unthinkable the other day and topped up my engine coolant with windsheild washer fluid.

Luckily I noticed right away and first thing I did was pull the overflow hose off the rad. I then pulled the tank and flushed thoroughly with water and refilled with purple coolant (OAT) (2014).

What a stupid thing to do and I learned my lesson to slow down a bit.. :)

I was cursing the Jeep engineers for putting the tanks with same color lids so close to each other at first, then praising them for making the overflow tank so easy to get out :) :) I think this happens quite often..
 
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#7 ·
^^^Don't feel bad! I thought that I was adding distilled water to my battery in my Escalade, and found out that my wife had used the bottle to mix up some windshield glass cleaner. Fortunately, I noticed the foaming in the first cell. And yes, I also felt stupid, but now when we use any bottle, we mark on it, if something else is in it.
Yes, that was called a lack of communications.......:facepalm:

OP , to your question. Yes OAT looks orange in the bottle, but a side view will indicate purple, which it is..........:thumb:
 
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#10 ·
Somehow I suspect that Chrysler is not truthful with respect to this issue. I have both a 2013 with 4K miles and a 2014 with 3K miles. The coolant in the 2013 appears to be something between orange and purple. The 2014 coolant is absolutely purple. No sediment in either, but a definite color difference.
 
#11 ·
I pulled some out of my 2013, build date Feb,2013, and mine is purple!

Why some would have orange, or yellow as Fr8dawg just posted, just doesn't make any sense. They should all be OAT, and purple in color.

If I had one that wasn't purple, then I would take it back to the Dealer and ask why!!!!!!:confused::confused::confused:
 
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#12 ·
Last night I took a turkey baster and sucked out a half cup of coolant from the top of the overflow bottle, pics below. The coolant is a murky pink/brown that you can barely see through in this quantity. If you look at the measuring cup from the bottom while holding it up to a light you can see very fine particulate matter in the coolant.

I'm sort of amazed that there is "no issue" as the dealer states, I've never had murky coolant in a new vehicle. No doubt they popped the cap on the reservoir and radiator and didn't see anything so end of story.
 

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#14 ·
I'm very new to coolant issues - but that doesn't look good to me. As I understand 'murky' is always a bad sign with coolant. If mine looked murky like that, I would be taking it to another dealer for another opinion.

Is the paper under the measuring cup white? The reason I put a white sheet of copier paper under my glass when I took the pic was to give a reference point. I'm guessing it is white and you've taken the photo with a cell phone under incandescent light bulb - if this guess is right, it's difficult to make a judgement about your pic because it has a yellow color overall.
 
#15 ·
You might be right - my Jeep has been in the hands of others exactly two times before I documented my red-pink coolant:

1.) before delivery (there was a theory about dealer prep topping off with the wrong coolant)
2.) first free oil change

Both were by the same dealer (distinct from the dealer in town that looked at my pink recently and told me 'it changes color with heat').

It seems to me that being topped up with the wrong type would produce problems right away, not 'color change that dealer is fine with ignoring'.
 
#16 ·
The paper under the measuring cup is white. Overhead light is actually a CFL, but I'm sure the yellowish hue is because I didn't want the flash to go off. I wish it were sunny out so I could get some better pics outdoors.

But, yeah, I'm thinking a second opinion is in order here. I would think that coolant should be transparent for the most part.
 
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#17 ·
Same Here on Color Change

2013 JKUR here -- coolant looked purple when delivered from the dealer and now after a year and 10K miles it definitely has a redish/orange tint. Mine is pretty clear (not murky), but the color ain't what it was when new. No one has touched the coolant system but me and the only thing that has been added was distilled water to top off the coolant recovery tank. As many of you have experience, my Jeep had that gurgling sound from the heater core area (probably had some air in the system from the factory) when new, but after a couple of months and some good up/down heat cycles, all the air worked itself out and the coolant recovery tank went from full to fill. Thus the distilled water top off.
 
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#18 ·
txtumbleweed said:
2013 JKUR here -- coolant looked purple when delivered from the dealer and now after a year and 10K miles it definitely has a redish/orange tint. Mine is pretty clear (not murky), but the color ain't what it was when new. No one has touched the coolant system but me and the only thing that has been added was distilled water to top off the coolant recovery tank. As many of you have experience, my Jeep had that gurgling sound from the heater core area (probably had some air in the system from the factory) when new, but after a couple of months and some good up/down heat cycles, all the air worked itself out and the coolant recovery tank went from full to fill. Thus the distilled water top off.
Click to expand...
Seems to be a common theme. My 2013 is exactly the same, orange/purple mix. Odds say the numerous dealers all over the USA wouldn't be topping off tanks with wrong fluid. If anyone gets a dealer to confirm a problem, it would be nice to know.
 
#19 ·
A chemical reaction with solder used by certain mfgs of the heater core and oil cooler sounds possible. In which case a flush and refill won't work, and is probably why they are replacing radiators, heater cores, oil coolers, etc. I wonder if a different coolant after a complete flush would work? If they caught it before things started plugging up? I'm just thinking out loud again.
 
#25 ·
After sitting overnight, it was evident that there is sediment in the coolant that I had in my measuring cup. A thin layer of crud on the bottom, with relatively clear pink coolant on top. Something's not right, and I think I'm a member of the Sand-In-Coolant Club.

So this morning I took the coolant in the cup shown above, added some more out of the puke tank to make up a full cup, and dumped it an a small mason jar. Once it settles down again I'll post a pic.

The salesman that sold me my Jeep called me last night to check to see if things were handled to my satisfaction. I told him "not exactly" and to expect some pictures.....and we can start this all over again.
 
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#27 ·
Unless I've misread what you posted, that report appears to be discussing a 2012 (not 2013+) and recommends switching from the HOAT that was factory filled in MY2012s to the new 2013+ purple formulation of OAT. If I'm reading that correctly, I'm not sure what we should take from that to understand what we are seeing in MY2013s.
 
#36 ·
I just posted this in another thread so I am just gonna copy and past my response so if it doesn't fully make sense that's why....

@strokerswild, your photos of the coolant in the jar are an EXACT representation of the fig1 pictures that were on the starcase that I couldn't copy. figure 2 was just a pic of a gunky looking rad cap

I also work for Chrysler as an advisor, used to be a technician for chrysler but now I enjoy keeping my tools in my home shop for my own projects:)....

I haven't seen the gunk in the overflows of the wranglers yet but their was plenty of issues with the 200's and other chrysler vehicles using HOAT or OAT, so it isn't a surprise to me. Chrysler has a "star case" related to this, (like a service bulletin but called star case)

Case Number: S1207000008
Release Date: 12/12/2012
Symptom/Vehicle Issue: Poor Heater System Performance
Note: Sludge may build up and restrict coolant flow in the heater core. The heater core may still be restricted even if sludge is not visible in the overflow bottle.
Diagnosis:
1. Remove radiator cap and inspect coolant overflow bottle for buildup of sludge on. See (FIG1) and (FIG2)
2. Is sludge found in the coolant overflow bottle?
a. Yes >>> Proceed to repair procedure.
b. No >>> Proceed to step 3.
3. Re install the radiator cap and run the engine until operating temperature is reached.
4. Operate the HVAC in full heat panel setting and inspect that heat is produced on both sides of the vehicle.
5. Is heat produced on both sides of the vehicle?
a. Yes >>> This Star Case does not apply.
b. No >>> Proceed to repair procedure.
Repair Procedure: If Sludge is found in the radiator overflow bottle or poor heat is produced by the HVAC system the following repair procedure should be followed
.
1. Flush cooling system with Mopar Cooling System Flush
Note: Repeat flushing until the system produces clear water.
2. Replace the following components
 Radiator
 Heater core
 Radiator cap
 Engine Oil Cooler
3. Refill the cooling system with the appropriate coolant and perform verification.

That's at least a partial copy, I couldn't copy the photo's which were just a picture of coolant gunk in a beaker and another of gunk under the radiator cap. If you have the gunk in the system and are still under warranty I would get something done about it. If your out of warranty I'd have at least a system flush done. really not sure why it builds up if it was due to a bad batch of coolant or due to the solder in the heater core not being compatible with the coolants used, this star case applied to vehicles with HOAT and OAT coolants....I would pay particularly close attention to your heating system performance as it hasn't seemed to cause any problems other than with the heater that I am aware, usually it will start to blow out colder on one side of the vehicle than the other side, for example with engine warm sitting at idle in park/neutral, put the heater on vent mode and high fan speed, if you put one hand by the vent furthest left and the other hand on the vent furthest right and you can tell a noticeable difference in heat output, I have don't it with a thermometer and noticed differences in heat output side to side of up to 30-50 degrees in temperature....which indicates heater core starting to clog, directly flushing the heater core separate from the rest of the system sometimes helps other times it doesn't...worth a shot if not under warranty tho
 
#41 ·
One more pic, taken after my sample settled all weekend. Normal purple on top, weird slime on the bottom. The stuff on the bottom is almost like snot (it's not sand), for lack of a better description. I can't wait to hear from the dealer today.....
 

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