300M -Coolant Change?

I have a 1999 Chrysler 300M with 45,000 miles on it - is the coolant in this car a 'lifetime coolant' or should it be changed? Any advice, suggestions most appreciated. thanks.. Ralph Griffith

Reply to
Ralph Griffith
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There is no such a thing as a "lifetime coolant". It should be changed, and you should use *only* the correct coolant formulation. There are lots of different ones out there, many of which are the same color as one another but not compatible. Dex-Cool is NOT OK.

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

The coolant is good for 100k miles according to Chrysler. I believe it also have a time limit too but my owner's manual is in the car in the shop. My

300M has 41k miles on it and is in for another service. When I brought it in I suggested to the service writer who has worked there at least 10 years and whom I've dealt with for at least 5 years, that they change the coolant while the car was in for service. He told me that he would have the tech check the condition of the coolant but it was probably premature to change it and a waste of money. Later he called and said there was no reason to change it. They are changing the brake fluid though.

suggestions

Reply to
Art

Use only type G-05, which is the Chrysler coolant. Only brands of it that I am aware of are the Zerex or Havoline G-05 type.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

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Bill Putney

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

It's been discussed here before - I'm surprised you missed that.

BTW - *STILL* haven't had a chance to get my HIR bulbs installed. Between comuters crashing and remnants of hurricanes rolling thru, am behind on a lot of things.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

Daniel J. Stern wrote:

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Bill Putney

Well, I've got my newsreader's filters locked down TIGHT-TIGHT-TIGHT. I probably see about 1/20th of the total posts, because I've got certain subject and alltext words blacklisted as well as certain posters.

Can't remember whirrbouts you are, relative to the hurricanes.

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

Virginia - lots of rain/flooding/scattered tornados from Gastone & Ivan.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

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Bill Putney

Reply to
mic canic

Question... my dealer has one price for a fluid change and another higher price for a flush with change. I always thought you should do a flush when changing the coolant. Any reason not to?

Reply to
Art

Art - If it's a reverse pressure flush, that would be the best - tends to help remove buildups in areas that trap stuff from flow in one direction (i.e., the end of a tube that sticks out of a header). I've seen credible arguments against pressure flushes in automatic transmissions, but I don't see any downside or credible risk in a pressure flush in the cooling system. Just my opinion. I can't say whether the additional charge would just be piece of mind that you did the best technique and not really buy you anything tangible or not. If you have some start of residue buildup, then there's probably some value in it. If no buildup, then, not knowing that for sure, it's just the extra cost of piece of mind. If it's a chemical flush, then you gotta think it's not something that will remove some protective anti-corrosive layer on the aluminum parts.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

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Bill Putney

Reply to
mic canic

Chrysler calls it 100k or 5 year fluid. Zerex also makes the same stuff (G-05) as the Mopar ext. life fluid, although Zerex is yellow instead of red/orange. I had mine replacd by the dealer last year (at 4.5 yrs) because they had a good price. I wouldn't let it go any longer though. The service writer story is interesting since the factory does list an interval for the coolant but I'm not aware of any for the brake fluid. Not a bad idea to change it though if it's been a while.

Reply to
Greg Houston

Bill, is the Havoline version new? I didn't notice it on their website. I believe Zerex is the OEM for the Mopar fluid; the Zerex branded G-05 is yellow.

Peak's Chrysler/Ford extended life fluid may be the right stuff too; Ford also uses G-05 on some newer models.

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Reply to
Greg Houston

Maybe they were out of coolant but had lots of brake fluid in stock. Just kidding. It is a pretty decent shop overall in my experience. Funny thing is that few people buy cars there because the sales dept sucks. But lots of people bring their cars purchased at other dealers to this shop for warranty service.

Reply to
Art

Oops - I was working from memory, Greg, which is always a dangerous thing to do. Havoline makes DexCool?/Prestone Extended Life, which must've been what I was thinking of, and of course is not the same thing as G-05.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

Is this machine shaving problem showing up in the second generation 3.5 (1998 and later)?

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Art

Reply to
mic canic

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