Dealership Massacre!

[JaCeD_X]

Okay...

I recently took my truck in for a coolant flush. It's been overdue and temps have been climbing a bit. It took 1 hour to complete and I was expecting some new coolant.. or at least cleaner looking.

I had a feeling that my rad. might not have been topped up, so I went and checked.. 3" from the top fins low! Not to mention I now have all these black flakes floating at the top. Smells funny too.

Apparently Dodge/Chrysler/JEEP dealers have bought into Prestone CELSIUS antifreeze, which is yellow in color! It's supposed to be compatible with aluminum yada yada yada.. anyone hear of it?

Anyway, I wanted pink or orange, dexcool, basically what I had in the truck. Guess I'm SOL!

To make matters worse, they give me the wrong THERMOSTAT! that I had requested. How hard is it to get those details right??? They gave me an SRT-8 Magnum 203° 63mm T-stat. So what size is ours and can I just order one from any vendors or do I need to get 172? God I am having a bad day. When I take my foot off the gas it seems like it doesn't idle down but stays for a few seconds, than kinda comes down... feels weird. It just did this to me today. And my steering wheel when engine off seems to have a lot of freeplay "wiggle" .. normal? Could it be too much PS fluid? When engine on, feels light on road. Truck is hating on me for some reason... It musta been raped in dodge stealership shop... poor baby!

 

[Chuck B]

Dexcool had a horrible reputation when it first came out. Europeans developed it as it was environmentally friendly. GM was the first major manu to use it as standard fill....they paid through the nose for new engines for quite a few years in the early 90's because of it.

Fast forward to today and Dexcool is commonly used with good results. Best practice is once you use Dexcool you really should continue using it. Dexcool is not compatible with other coolants and if you switch to a different type you MUST make doubly sure all the old Dexcool was flushed out.

Aluminum engines perform better running what many think is too warm. I won't install a 172F in my truck.

 

[JaCeD_X]

I can see if you mix non-OAT with OAT, then yes you will have problems. I'm still skeptical about this yellow extended life a/f (the parts/mechanic guys told me they put these in all the vipers...) He had to clarify for "REAL" vipers... as mine is just a run-of-the-mill dodge half ton with a viper engine. He can go !@#! himself! Anyway, I can't find any more of the MS-9769 or useful information on this Prestone product. Any takers?

Also I want to keep stock 185 t-stat, but I would like to know what the size of it is. Dealer quoted me $94 CAD for it and has to be special ordered. Have to return the 203 they sent me. They better get this one right.

So the best way to do a complete flush by yourself? How many gallons of coolant would I need? Rad. holds 21 Litres? Mix with distilled, also flush with this as well? Flush kit worth buying? Advice please.