resharp001

I have a 2013 JKU. By all accounts, it should have purple OAT coolant in it. The coolant has never been drained so what is in there is original to the best of my knowledge as I bought this new off the lot in early 2013. I picked up a gallon of OAT from the dealer the other week to top off the reservoir. Finally got around to doing it yesterday and then had second thoughts. I’ve removed the radiator cap before and the coolant looked pretty orange, but from reading......the OAT is really orange with purple dye added. So, I thought just for safety, I’d pull some out of the radiator and compare it side by side. I put some new 50/50 OAT in a small gladware container, and pulled a good bit out of the radiator and put it in another gladware container that was the same. Well, side by side they looked to be clearly different…..as in not even remotely close. The new OAT was clearly purple, and regardless of lighting or how I viewed it, I could not detect even a hint of purple in the old coolant.

I probably wouldn’t be as nervous had the change not happened right there with the 2013 models. I only have 57k miles on the jeep, and hate to do an entire coolant flush way before necessary, but I think for peace of mind I might have to do that. At this point I don’t feel comfortable topping it off with anything other than distilled water, but don’t think I feel good doing so for at least another 45k miles or more. Would everyone else just drain, flush, and then add the new OAT as well?

jadmt

this coolant thing with Chrysler is so screwed up. my 2014 jkur also has never been drained or flushed and I bought with 0 miles on it had not even been test driven as it just came off the truck when I picked it up. my coolant is pinkish orange. I wonder if the dye fades after a little bit.

resharp001

I'd feel a lot more comfortable with a '14 at least. I'm extremely skeptical having an early production 2013. I hate to flush it, but I don't feel comfortable putting in OAT at this moment, nor do I feel comfortable saying it's HOAT even if dealer confirmed that is what it looked like.

Just feels like the only thing to do is play it safe....for peace of mind.

Rednroll

I'll try and dig up a post I read before. Going from memory, there was something about the factory OAT being orange, the same as the original OAT but the Mopar refill OAT you can get from the dealerships having the purple dye added.

Like mentioned, this is a debacle to try and figure out on your own. There needs to be some HOAT/OAT type test strips for piece of mind.

Rednroll

Ok, here it is.

Apparently ALL of MY 2013 JKs and later vehicles were filled with OAT. Here is where the confusion came into play where a rumor was started that early 2013's were filled with HOAT instead and then there was a change mid model year.

From the Factory, the OAT on the 2013+ JK's were orange in color. If you got OAT coolant from the dealership service department, then that had the Purple dye added to it. Exactly as Resharp001 is observing.

So I think this explains why your OAT coolant is an orange/pinkish color on your 2013's and 2014's from the factory.

Looking at the diagram, the Service Part HOAT is the exact same color as the Factory OAT. No wonder there's so much damn confusion. If someone looks at a 2013+ which has the original factory coolant in it and judges the type of coolant just by the color, the assumption would be that it's filled with HOAT since the color would match the Service part HOAT (Orange) and not the Service Part OAT (Purple).

resharp001

There are some times that I really hate Mopar/Chrysler. This is one of those times! I really appreciate that post. For all the reading I've done on coolant I had not run across that yet.

Rednroll

Yeah, that definitely would have drove me mad as well. At least that information matches what you are observing. The factory coolant color is orange/pinkish and the stuff you recently picked up from the dealership service is purple but it seems both are actually OAT.

larry0071

I have a 2014, and here is my take on this. Drain the shit, run the garden hose in it for an hour with the engine running, drain that, and go to AutoZone or similar and get some Prestone/Peak/Zerex or similar that is compatible with all, and fill with this.

I have 21,000 miles on my 2014 and this will be happening to mine when it comes out of winter storage this spring. I'm just not interested in screwing with a coolant that if I have a leak or issue on the road or trail that I have to panic over what coolant I can find. I'll use one of the quality aftermarket coolants that are compatible with all cars and materials and be done with it.

Jay2013jk

Reading all the replies .. NO ONE indicated that they had a leak.. READ the Factory info... It came with 5yr / 100,000 mile coolant.. the color is not crucial UNLESS you are putting in GREEN.. which is not 5yr/100K. If you don't have a leak and it is NOT at the ADD mark - What is the Dilemna ???

Mark Doiron

Recommend that if you drive off-road, fill the radiator only a little above the minimum fill line when hot. Don't fill it way above that lest you run the risk of having coolant spill all over the engine compartment when you go off-camber. Honestly, I bet I don't put a pint in every 50,000 miles, so there shouldn't be any need to fill it up to the max fill line.

After doing stuff like this on Fins and Things, and Poison Spider Mesa at Moab a few years ago I really had a mess in my Jeep, and I had just "topped it off" ...