Since there are so many other threads relating to coolant, I thought that I would post this separately.
There has been much controversy regarding the color of our coolant and questions as to how many types there are. Reports of pink/orange to purple are to be found in many of the posts here and some speculation, but not solid data, as to the so called chameleon coolant that changes colors. I did see one post with photos, but they were not taken under controlled conditions. Because of that, I have been as confused as most of you are and wanted a believable answer.
Without doing a lab experiment, I wanted to keep the conditions as controlled as possible. I waited for overcast, actually rainy, weather as a control on ambient light color temperature for the following photos. Both were taken at the same time of the day to insure the best possible control over the lighting. One was taken with the engine hot (about 200F) and the other cold (about 50F).
The results show what I was not expecting.. I had attributed the observed color changes, by various posters, to be caused by the difference between transmitted light and reflected light. That the coolant was temperature sensitive was not something that I could get a handle on. As the photos demonstrate, I was wrong. I am fascinated as to why FCA would go to the trouble of adding temperature sensitive dye to the coolant, but perhaps it’s an easy check as to whether or not the user has been running the proper coolant.
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To address the issue of the number of types of coolant there are for our engines, I did a bit of searching on the internet. I found that both material specifications MS-12106 and MS-90032 point to Chrysler Part No. 68163848AA. So, it appears that the material specification has changed, but the actual coolant is the same. I speculated, in another thread, that this could be to keep ahead of the aftermarket coolant manufacturers and sell more MOPAR product or possibly for other yet unknown reasons.
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There are more coolant questions to be answered, but I hope that this answers some of them.
There has been much controversy regarding the color of our coolant and questions as to how many types there are. Reports of pink/orange to purple are to be found in many of the posts here and some speculation, but not solid data, as to the so called chameleon coolant that changes colors. I did see one post with photos, but they were not taken under controlled conditions. Because of that, I have been as confused as most of you are and wanted a believable answer.
Without doing a lab experiment, I wanted to keep the conditions as controlled as possible. I waited for overcast, actually rainy, weather as a control on ambient light color temperature for the following photos. Both were taken at the same time of the day to insure the best possible control over the lighting. One was taken with the engine hot (about 200F) and the other cold (about 50F).
The results show what I was not expecting.. I had attributed the observed color changes, by various posters, to be caused by the difference between transmitted light and reflected light. That the coolant was temperature sensitive was not something that I could get a handle on. As the photos demonstrate, I was wrong. I am fascinated as to why FCA would go to the trouble of adding temperature sensitive dye to the coolant, but perhaps it’s an easy check as to whether or not the user has been running the proper coolant.
To address the issue of the number of types of coolant there are for our engines, I did a bit of searching on the internet. I found that both material specifications MS-12106 and MS-90032 point to Chrysler Part No. 68163848AA. So, it appears that the material specification has changed, but the actual coolant is the same. I speculated, in another thread, that this could be to keep ahead of the aftermarket coolant manufacturers and sell more MOPAR product or possibly for other yet unknown reasons.
There are more coolant questions to be answered, but I hope that this answers some of them.
