Hi all.

I'm in the process of trying to put together a definitive antifreeze coolant change-out narrative, with pictures, for forum member use, and need to get a few things clarified.

1. The "2005 Chrysler Crossfire Coupe SRT-6/Roadster" (Crossfire Specifications Manual) states that the SRT6 coolant capacity is 11.8 quarts, while the "2005 Crossfire SRT6 Owners Manual" states that the coolant capacity is is 15.3 quarts.

I'm fairly certain that it is 15.3 quarts, but would like to verify the quantity with a member who knows for certain.

2. Does anyone know what the overall IC system coolant capacity is? (ie, X.X quarts of 15.3 quarts total)

3. I would like to speak or PM someone who has personally dropped or removed the IC system charge cooler radiator, since I intend on removing mine and have a few questions that chapter 7 of the service manual doesn't answer.

Best regards -- Bob

 

Did anyone ever get a chance to respond to this. Very interesting information.

 

either way you need 2 gals. m/b coolant which is undiluted. mix 50/50 with distilled water and you have 16 qts enough for the entire job. i have done the flush on 2 cars and use approx 15 qts both times. but i also did a supercooler upgrade and tstat replacement so i was dumping fluid from everywere

easy job a 3 on a scale of 10

 

Steve did the real flush by having the IC system open and drained along with the engine coolant. This is where the Manual falls short in the flush explanation IMHO. It sure would have been nice if they gave us an accessible petcock at the bottom of the heat exchanger/IC system instead of having to open body parts,hoses,etc. Would have made the full flush a much,much easier and quicker job. If you don't open the IC system, it takes many runs, cycles(time) to get it to fully mix and flush all the old coolant from both systems, like when you're going from Blue (factory mix) to yellow (Zerex G-05). It's also difficult to get the exact ratio into both systems. I'll be separating the systems so I can run a leaner coolant in the IC system for better cooling. Does all this sound right, or am I missing something basic?

 

How does one open the IC system for the complete SRT coolant flush? I tried letting the car idle, opening the petcock and flushing through the overflow tank with 20 gals of distilled water a couple weeks ago. Still do not think I flushed the system thoroughly, as the yellow Zerox coolant has a tinge of OEM blue to it. Is there a certain hose I should be unplugging to fully drain the IC in addition to the coolant going through the engine block..

 

Where is all of the fluid going to while doing this complete flush? I can't do this at home unless I let the fluid run down the driveway.

 

To bleed you need to use compressed air to help move the fluid out of passages in the IC, He and such. Woody.

I just drained and flushed and refilled. Remember my posting about the separated He system, limit the antifreeze content to protect from freezing in your area. Too much antifreeze REDUCES the specific heat of the coolant from 1.0 to about 0.6 ( a 40% reduction in cooling capacity of the coolant). You then add rust inhibiter and water pump lubricant for chemical security.


WEEKEND YIPPIE

 

I actually flushed it the first time by draining the fluid into a 5 gal bucket and dumping the bucket into the old coolant barrel at the auto hobby shop on base. Took a bit more work but made me feel environmentally friendly..lol.
Woody, did you shoot the compressed air into the overflow tank? I'm currently running about 30% zerex coolant, 70% distiller water for the TX summer but am worried about corrosion.

 

I've separated the systems, and in the IC circuit I am running only distilled water and (1) bottle of DEI water wetter from Rob. The bottle says it has inhibitors, but do you think it is enough protection, or do I need to add more inhibitors and lubricant? Freezing is not a factor here for me.

 

Water pump lube and rust inhibitor has lots of info on the can, looks like milk. Give it a read and see what it sounds like to you. Wooody Weekend ready.............

 

OK - so I did a multi-flush of my SLK32 coolant system yesterday.
Despite what the 4000+ page service manual says there is some constenation around how much fluid is in these cars.
So - I guess you gotta just get in and do it!

Bought MB coolant (pictured) $15/L
Bought distilled water $25/20L

I had to jack the car a couple of inches on the drain **** side to get my 15L white foot bowl under.
I fabricated a short 12mm garden hose with elbow and it fit snuggly over the drain **** bleed.

Process A
Opened the drain stop
Opened the reservoir cap
Fluid drained - very slowly - about 5mins - still just a trickle, so I broke the engine to radiator hose at the radiator clamp. This seemed to help, although I didnt go through the process without doing it.
The thermo is not a gas seal so I'm guessing it assisted in allowing some vacuum break in the engine. You could hear a slight fiz as air passed through it.
BTW the engine was <87deg each time - so thermostat was closed.
After about 15minutes, the draincock had slowed to a drip.
I slowly poured the foot bowl into a 10L bucket with graduations on the side = 6.9L
I cant see how the engine can hold up any fluids - particularly in the SC, since its a high point and should naturally drain through to the reservior - but others get much more coolant - go figure.
I took a sample and inspected the residue in the bottom of the white foot bowl - minor particulates and flakes.
Filtered the last dregs through some paper towel and allwed to dry - but wifey through it out.
Closed radiator connetcion
Measured 6.9L of distilled water into a delivery container and refilled reservoir
Replaced cap and went for a drive with heater on. Drove until heat came through the cabin heater and the engine temp went above 87deg and the thermo fan was on.

Went through Process A again
This time I got 7Litres
Refilled reservior with 7Litres of distilled water
Replaced cap and went for a drive with heater on. Drove until heat came through the cabin heater.

Went through Process A again
This time I got 6.2Litres
Refilled the reservior with 33:67 mix of coolant and distilled water.
Replaced cap and went for a drive with heater on. Drove until heat came through the cabin heater.

Let the car cool for some time and then went for an engine start - but coolant light cam on - good - confirms the coolant level switch works!
Topped up with about 500mls of 33:67 mix I had left over.

See the photos of the flush colour.
You can tell the first flush got most of the colour out.
But obviously not all. Maybe 10% left in the engine (so its 8L capacity) but not half (15L capacity).
I'm assuming the new mixed with the old - since I took it up to the cabin heater working and the engine temp was circulating.

 

Great detailed write-up. Thanks for taking the time to do that! My car is running roughly the same coolant to water ratio, but I'll be flushing it again soon as I didn't flush all of the old coolant out well enough last time..greenish/ bluish tinge with the new Zerex G-05 coolant.

 

James1549 did a write up a little while back with pictures.
See here.

 

If by "multi-flush" you mean engine coolant and IC / HE coolant circuit, then I would say that you forgot to drain and flush the IC / HE coolant.

 

Dave, not owning an SRT, I can't say for sure, but there must be a few more steps involved to flush out the SC cooling circuit. Maybe, Maybe not.

James

 

True but the basic ideas are there, just a few more wrinkles maybe. I think some of these guys will not be happy until they take the tuning one step too far and find the quickest way to drain the coolant, con rods through the crank case.

 

Thanks for the link--the NA writeup is great. It seems like for the SRT one just has to do 2x as many flushes to clear most of the old coolant/ gunk out of the harder to reach HE and IC areas. Tedious job and also the reason behind the dings I currently have on my driver side door..painful memory

 

yes - I had a look at that write up - lovely pictures - but - I didnt like it (personal thing I guess) for a couple of reasons.....
unless I am mistaken.....

1. because it required/included the removal of the water pump and thermostat = belt and other
stuff....requires resealing...ydadda...yadda.
2. It used tap water or a pump and lots of distilled water. I'm not sure if people really appreciate the difference between tap, demin and distilled water (in decending order of quality).
3. It doesnt clean the SC any more than the technique I provided.*

*I did read that these 2 circuits were seperate (to a degree) and in that context - no I didnt drain the SC.
Although I am suprised it's not designed to drain when the plug is pulled (check valve or similar).

 

I'd like to start by saying that I enjoyed your tutorial w/ great pic.'s James, and learned from it. And you are right about a few more steps w/ the SRT. Although the engine coolant and IC/HE coolant circuit share the same surge/fill reservoir, they are 2 separate systems. You hear about many of us SRT owners separating the 2 systems; but we're merely disconnecting(separating) the overflow line that comes from the IC/HE circuit. Some just cap or valve it off, and others add another small fill/spit tank to run it through. This eliminates the heat transfer between the hotter running engine coolant and the much cooler(after separating) IC circuit. I'm getting off track here; to drain the IC/HE you need to open up that system. When I did this, I was installing a new IC pump and upgrading to a larger HE, so all the lines were open to drain. The stock HE has a drain petcock on it, but it was on the top of mine!? You have to remove the HE from its perch and drop down to open and drain. Or you can remove the coolant lines from both sides of the IC pump to drain. I haven't tried the compressed air method that Woody suggested, but the circuit still needs to be opened to flush out one way or another.

And to Billy22Bob; You are confusing the SC with the IC/HE. If you drained the SC, you would have one major stinking mess on your hands. That though, is also information you could get by using our search engine here.

 

granted...I stand corrected.
Although the WIS from MB even claims it differently as the "Charge Cooler".