Dear Scotty,
I have a 94 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0L, 4 door, 2 wheel drive, manual transmission, with 220,000 miles on her. She runs and drives great! I own another one that is similar, except it has an automatic transmission. Anyway, I'm wondering about the coolant system. I want to change from the standard coolant, to a new hoat or oat style coolant. Can I do this without harming my engines or sensors or the like? Do you recommend one that would work best for my old Jeep? I'm a shade tree mechanic, but I'm pretty good at maintaining my Jeeps. I don't normally mess with anything that's not OEM unless I research it first. Meaning I like all original parts, equipment, etc. The only change I have done, is I changed oil type. I use Rotella 10w 30 instead of conventional oil or synthetic. Every other fluid is factory spec. Would you recommend any other fluid upgrades? I.E. transmission fluid, brake fluid, differential fluid, etc. I was thinking about going to synthetic. Would you recommend changing to synthetic? I want to keep these vehicles for as long as possible. My 84 Toyota 4x4 finally gave up! It simply wore out! I definitely got my money from it!! I want to thank you for your service! You're a great man! We need more honest people in the world today!! Keep up all that you do!!
Thanks again,
David B. Jones
Covington, La.
I'm not sure I would bother with a 27yo high mileage vehicle.
*switching fluids, that is
Gotcha. I was just curious if it would help cut down on some of the corrosion I notice when flushing the system. Thanks!👍
how often do you flush it, and what does the corrosion look like?
Stick with the conventional 10/30 and change the rest as needed. You must be doing something right if they have lasted this long.
Stay with the green anti-freeze too. If it has lasted this long, keep using it.
as far as I am concerned, vehicle age is just a number. If older cars were so terrible, you would never see a 57 Chevy or an older Mustang. The reason that you do is because the "Owners take care of them" just like you're doing.
Thanks! I try!
I changed to Rotella due to the lack of zinc additives in the current conventional oil. My 95 Jeep has over 359000 miles. Still has plenty of compression. I really am a stickler on maintenance. I keep a notebook on each vehicle and mark my caladar. I find changing the oil, and all fluids regularly, make a huge difference.
I check my coolant with a tester every year and change it out when it starts to get weak, about every two years with whatever 50/50 mix is on sale. I change the oil, filter and pcv valve at around 3000 miles and use 5w30 in the winter and 10w40 in the summer (high mileage synthetic blend, Castrol) with a half quart of Lucas Oil Stabilizer. Works for me.
