Transmission fluid in radiator

[GBsKJ]

So...saw that daughters 06 blew a upper rad hose. But....there is ****** fluid in the radiator. Pink milk shake on ground and can smell it. So started to pull radiator thinking built in ****** cooler inside radiator cracked. Well, double checked ****** coolant lines and they go to a separate cooler in front of radiator. No entry or exit of ****** lines into coolant radiator. How would ****** fluid be getting in coolant radiator if ****** lines don't even connect to radiator? Thanks guys!!

 

[GBsKJ]

Hmmmmm i guess I should of used transmission fluid instead of t-ra-nn-y fluid. Word got blocked out. So PC

 

[tommudd]

Sounds like a head gasket issue from running it hot
But if it really is transmission fluid , well that is a horse of a different color

 

[GBsKJ]

Its transmission fluid. Can smell it big time. Here's pic. Strawberry color. Oil dip stick is fine. So is transmission dipstick. No weird colors or smells on dipsticks. She had oil changed last Friday. I'm hoping those idiots didn't put transmission fluid in coolant tank. Maybe just flush and refill with coolant. Hmmmm

 

[turblediesel]

Proper HOAT coolant is red, not green.

 

[GBsKJ]

Correct. That pink in the pic is transmission fluid that came out of coolant radiator.

 

[turblediesel]

Maybe some new-guy got told to "use the red stuff". New-guys come up with truly original ways to do things. A roommate in the military did an oil change on his Simca; filled it up, took more than expected, ran badly. He'd filled it to the bottom of the filler cap.

 

[GBsKJ]

Im going to flush and refill. Seems odd she got oil change a week ago and this happens. I just double checked oil and transmission fluid. Looks and smells perfect. Weird.

 

[GBsKJ]

Flushed radiator. Drained and repeated. No more transmission fluid in radiator. Put in orange coolant. Drove around, checked coolant. Clean as can be. I really think she, or someone put transmission fluid in tank last week when she had oil change.

 

[Duster]

Shesh... been through similar-ish situation, so I have to respond.

ORANGE IS THE WRONG COOLANT

The correct coolant is HOAT. So Mopar hoat which is RED, or Zerex G-05 hoat formula (which is what I run now) Kinda yellow.

How I know this is I had similar happen to me at a dang DEALER. They were supposed to change my radiator fluid as part of the 120k service I was having done in order to get them to do my transmission fluid and filter. On my 07 the mopar fluid looks kinda orange in my orangey overflow bottle. What they did was, instead of flushing like they were supposed to, they just dropped the line to the catch bottle. Then refilled it with ORANGE.

Orange coolant is a different formula. Not compatible, and absolutely cannot mix with HOAT. My water pump and seals went pretty quick. When I opened my radiator cap I had what looked like orange oatmeal floating in my red mopar hoat. Had to change everything out and flush everything several times with water to flush it all out of the engine. Then I refilled with ZEREX G-05. Luckily it somehow didn't clog up my heater core, so I was able to salvage that.

I would bet money some dummy saw red in her bottle and added ATF not even knowing what the bottle is.

Anyways, I'm sure you flushed like crazy like I did. The orange dexcool probably hasn't hurt anything and may not if all of the hoat coolant was completely flushed from everywhere? You might ask around and see if anyone else is running orange not mixed and having no issues. I had issues, but I was also unknowingly running a mix.

 

[LibertyTC]

Hoat Coolant or Zerex G-05 only to be used in our Jeeps.
This is the color of Mopar Hoat.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Spazticus]

Dumb question to follow up; is HOAT also preferred for KK Jeeps? I was buying Zerex G-05 this evening for my 2011 but the guy at O'Reilly found another one was recommended. Thought I'd come back here and ask to be sure, planning to flush this weekend.

 

[lfhoward]

HOAT is required for KK’s too. And Zerex G-05 IS HOAT. The auto parts employee is wrong.

 

[Spazticus]

Excellent, thanks! He looked it up, so not trusting their computer reference anymore.

 

[JeepJeepster]

Ive almost got all of the mopar HOAT out of my system and have filled it with the Zerex G05. Hoping the dye doesnt stain the new overflow tank like the mopar stuff did.