rusty water in radiator

99 dodge ram 1500 have taken to dealer several times the freeze out plug are corroding almost all ten have been replaced any ideas where i take the van to get inspected the mechanic there told be that the combustion in the emgine was leaking into the cooling system thereby causing the antifreeze to become acidic causing the freeze plugs to corrode any thoughts?????

possible but what hes trying to charge you for is head gasket replacement. If what hes saying is true, and he has like some ph thing to show you, put baking soda in it.

I can tell you my experience... Dont use long life antifreeze.

I used long life anti freeze and it corroded my freeze plugs within weeks. I replaces the 6 or so that died and never did that again.

Lol Im remembering the bad old days. I flushed my cooling system about 6 times in 2 weeks.

I had the worlds cleanest cooling system, I mean first I was flsuhing my coolant. new long life coolant. then zoom spring a leak, drain replace spray drain replace.... many times.

Ok well check this out. If it was acid enough to burn through the freeze plugs it would burn through the radiator too. Heres whats going on, you got the wrong radiator fluid in your van just like I did. Your block is iron, it cant use long life anti freeze.

I mean check this out, in an aluminum block the freeze plugs are aluminum, same as the radiator.. Id bet 9/10 thats your problem. You had your coolant replaced before this problem?

in my van iron block aluminum radiator. long life coolant eats through the copper or whatever freeze plugs. in my case it did it almost instantly lol like that day it didnt have time to eat them all through because it sprange a leak right away.

I killed about 4-5 of them. oh man quite a bitch job because i literally did it 4 times.

now, If I were to ask you, what is the advantage of putting an aluminum radiator on a car with an iron block what would you say?

I mean, do you think it would last longer than a copper one? In this case?

Well, it surely does not cool as well, it must be larger to cool the same system

And, because it is in contact with rusting iron, it corrodes. Yes, aluminum corrodes if its in contact with iron. so bits of iron from the block cause it to corrode.

And, things like this can happen a person sees an aluminum radiator and they think they can use long life coolant, when of course they cant.

I tell you, its madness. I dont know how many cars were made with this madness, but I know we have one of them

actually this has been the problem ever since we purchased the vehicle the dealer themselves have replaced the anti-freeze not me I've already got a file wlith dodge abt my problem so I give them a call and bitch

actually this has been the problem ever since we purchased the vehicle the dealer themselves have replaced the anti-freeze not me I've already got a file wlith dodge abt my problem so I give them a call and bitch

ok .... um concentrate.

Did the problem start then after the dealer replaced the anti-freeze?

I have a 91 Dodge B150 Conversion that my grandparents bought new. One year after buying it, one of the freeze plugs fell out, I mean just fell out, it wasnt there. Down the road and several thousand miles each one of the freeze plugs slowly failed. I think it was a problem with the plug itself. After replacing them all it was never a problem again.

Blaze

over my experience with cars i have found that the cars that have rusty water flowing in the cooling system will FOUL the THERMOSTAT.

i had a honda prelude which rusted the thermostat shut and overheated blew a headgasket. i have a ford ranger outside right now that just did that on my little brother. my parents van overheated due to a rusted thermostat but i fixed it before they blew their headgasket. thank goodness that engine is hard to get too yet alone to fix!. lets see yes my conclusion. rusty dirty coolant= THERMOSTAT PROBLEMS! watch out

with my 1995 dodge 2500 conversion van we had to have our radiator replaced on our annual trip to orlando from chicago in southern georgia, byron georgia. i was rusted out and they did it in 5 hours at a cost 750 bucks. to this day still have some rust in the coolant.

andy

over my experience with cars i have found that the cars that have rusty water flowing in the cooling system will FOUL the THERMOSTAT.

i had a honda prelude which rusted the thermostat shut and overheated blew a headgasket. i have a ford ranger outside right now that just did that on my little brother. my parents van overheated due to a rusted thermostat but i fixed it before they blew their headgasket. thank goodness that engine is hard to get too yet alone to fix!. lets see yes my conclusion. rusty dirty coolant= THERMOSTAT PROBLEMS! watch out

Ive had my van for like 7 years. I had many of the freeze plugs rot out, and the thermostat seize as well.

Im sorry if I gave the incorrect advice in this persons case in particular. Perhaps they were installed poorly at the factory. Ive never heard of that before but that doesnt mean it doesnt happen.

The problem with corrosion in my van, its an 89 with only 85k miles on it now, deals with actual chemical problems with the set up of, iron block aluminum radiator and head.

Millions and millions of cars were made this way in the day. I dont know if its in the scope of this forum to explain whats going on. However in a short case, aluminum corrodes. aluminum corrodes when it comes in contact with iron. so when the iron corrodes, it takes out the aluminum. aluminum corrodes differently but seriously lol. It does not seem to take on a rust like disease it just disapears.

when the block is cleaned it introduces a chemical reaction that will make holes all around the cooling system. now I had this problem so many years ago I forgot about it. but Im trying to write it out in the case that is helpful to someone else.

Im practically certain all dodge van owners ( i think all american made vans and trucks for a certain year range) have this same terrible designed in problem.

Let me tell you, my other two cars have aluminum blocks. let me tell you they have no such problems. lol. the coolant and water pump and all of it, clean as new.