2011 jeep, wrong coolant ??

[XWrench3]

an old motorcycle riding buddy stopped by yesterday with a problem with his '11 Cherokee (please don't kill this just because it's a Cherokee). anyway, he stopped to ask if i had ever seen coolant that looked line brown jello (once someone knows that you are / were a mechanic, your automatically an expert in every field). so i went out to look, and it wasn't quite jello, but its nothing i would want in any vehicle. i asked him how long it had been that way, he said about 2 weeks. and i eventually got the whole story. he changed his own coolant (flush and fill) but he used Prestone coolant for all vehicles. really he did the whole thing wrong, because his "flush" was using a garden hose from his well. which is also what he used to dilute the coolant as well. anyway, i'm not sure if this is something to do with the coolant itself, or if the main problem is the well water. or both. he wants me to fix this for him, because of the cost of a shops labor rates i'm sure. how big of a job is it to clean this disaster up? is this just a matter of drain, flush a couple of times, drain again and refill? do we need a special kind of product to dissolve what is probably in other places the "sludge" that formed? my idea of a flush is to remove the thermostat, get the car warm, then do a couple of 1/4 mile drag races to really get the coolant pumping thru the system. is this going to be something beyond what we (i am going to make him do the work) can even do at home?

 

[LibertyTC]

I still don't understand why Jeep has not placed an underhood sticker Stating "USE HOAT COOLANT ONLY" (or Zerex G-05)
Prestone & Hoat do not mix well at all.. yup gel or slime city.
The whole system needs to be flushed including back flushed through heater core.
Here are the full listings re flushing: https://www.google.com/search?q=jeepkj.com+coolant+flush&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

Many times in this situation, it is best to have the dealer complete the job using their pressurized coolant flush machine.
Out with all the old & in with the new, inquire to see if the dealer has the proper coolant re-circulating flush machine & price $200? including HOAT. IDK prices have gone up.

It's also a good time to replace the thermostat with a Mopar one & hoses for the correct vehicle.
I don't know much about a 2011 Cherokee, or what would be involved manually, but for sure the dealer flush would be absolutely the best period, as long as they have the correct machine.

 

[XWrench3]

THANK YOU! This information has convinced me to convince him that this is NOT a job that we could not do properly at home. which is good news for me, because that means i can continue working on my Liberty!

 

[Big Al]

I picked up 2 - 1 gallon jugs of MOPAR Coolent and and MOPAR Thermostat from a lady on Craigslist a month ago.
Ask her why she was selling it. Said she took her jeep to her mechanic and 2 weeks later it looked like she had wood chips in her radiator. Engine was toast she said.
She took my $30 and we parted.

 

[XWrench3]

well that has law suit written all over it! its one thing to mess up your own vehicle. but quite another to wreck some one else's ride, ESPECIALLY when you get paid for it!

 

[Big Al]

well that has law suit written all over it! its one thing to mess up your own vehicle. but quite another to wreck some one else's ride, ESPECIALLY when you get paid for it!

Very nice young lady, I didn't want to hear all the drama, but felt for her as she was describing it.