Our 2018 ProMaster based Pleasure-Way Lexor has taken us on 69,000 miles of interesting adventures. In getting ready for another trip, I did a quick under-hood inspection and the coolant tank looked suspicious.
There is some dried anti-freeze on the container. Do you see the crack under MIN? It looks like coolant has been seeping out from there. That's why we are replacing the tank.
Some people have used JB Weld to seal the cracks, but we would feel better getting a new reservoir.
Dorman is the brand several folks recommended as better than the original. It has metal reinforcement around the inside of all the hose connections and appears to be well made. There's a Dorman store on Amazon where it was $99. Here's a link to Dorman's video on replacement reservoirs.
This is the new reservoir, ready for installation.
Here's a summary of the job.
1) Empty the old coolant reservoir.
2) Remove the old coolant reservoir.
3) Remove three hoses and one bolt.
4) Reconnect the three hoses to the new reservoir and reinstall the one bolt.
5) Refill with coolant, screw the cap on, and check for leaks.
Disclaimer: Neither Beth nor I are mechanics. We are just sharing what we've done. Please do your own research and undertake any project at your own risk.
Before we could remove it, we needed to drain the old coolant reservoir. A small, battery powered, pump made it easy. They are readily available on-line.
An aquarium siphon would be another option, if you don't want to mess with a powered pump.
Note: We wore gloves for this project as the coolant is nasty stuff.
We ran the output hose into a big Folgers coffee can. You don't need to drain the whole system, just the reservoir and a little bit of the hose connected to the bottom of the reservoir.
The can was a bit over half full when we were done draining the coolant.
The pump has two DC leads that need a power source. Conveniently, the ProMaster fuse box is under the hood and has hookups.
We lifted the plastic hinged section marked with a + to reveal the positive connection point.
We clipped the red (+) lead to the positive bus bar.
The negative lead clips to the ground bolt above the yellow label on the bright silver bumper.
Next, we opened the cap on the coolant tank. Note: Only do this after the engine has cooled down. Don't try it right after driving as the steam could burn you.
The pump intake hose was inserted into the coolant bottle. We went down an inch or two into the hose attached to the bottom, so it would be less likely to spill coolant when removing the hose from the reservoir.
Here's the pump we used. It is only intended for oil changes, so I wouldn't recommend it for this project, but we had it available. It pulled the antifreeze out fine, but didn't like being flushed with water. Note the warning on the label not to use it for water.
This one might be better as it works for water, as well as oil. We welcome other pump recommendations.
Three hoses and one bolt needed to be removed to release the old reservoir.
Releasing the factory installed hose clamps was the hardest part of the project.
A wrench and a small flat bladed screwdriver were the tools utilized.
These close-ups of the released small clamp might help you visualize what needs to be done.
Squeeze a little with pliers and, if needed, get the screwdriver blade under the clip to pop it open.
Here's a picture of the squeeze that worked for us.
A 13mm long socket fit perfectly.
With the bolt removed, the reservoir lifted up to allow access to the last hose.
This hose clamp was more difficult to release than the first two.
Once released, we made sure to keep the hose upright so it didn't drain coolant onto the engine.
The pointed portion at 7 o'clock is clipped over the bump located a little after 9 o'clock. Getting a flat bladed screwdriver under that triangle while squeezing the clamp worked for us.
Here's another view with the bump at 4 o'clock and the clip at 2 o'clock.
There must be a specific tool designed for these clamps. If you know what it is, please leave a comment at the end of the post.
With the lower hose disconnected we could see hairline cracks had developed in the bottom of the reservoir. That validated our decision to replace it, as just patching the top leak wouldn't have solved the whole problem.
Installing the new reservoir was easier than removing the old one. We bought simple, screw tightened, hose clamps instead of trying to reuse the factory clamps. The clamps available at our local auto parts store were larger than needed, but worked well enough.
The bottom hose was attached first. We slipped the hose clamp onto the hose before sliding the hose onto the bottom hose nib. Note that the hose has a small slit in the top that aligns with a bump-out in the tank. Once the hose was aligned and up against the bottom of the tank, we slid the hose clamp up to where the original had been and tightened it down.
We found that using a socket wrench was easier than a screwdriver because the socket wrench didn't slip off the clamp.
It was easy to place the tank back in the original location as the two legs really only let it go in one way.
Once in place, we reinstalled the 13mm bolt to secure the tank.
Next we slid a hose clamp over the small, rear hose. Sliding the hose over the tank nib, it was then secured with the hose clamp.
The procedure was then repeated for the front hose. Once clamped on, the bottom of the front hose snapped into a clip on the bottom lip of the reservoir.
Finally, we broke out a bottle of 50/50 pre-diluted coolant, after making sure it was compatible with the specs for our van.
From the 2018 Ram ProMaster Manual:
"We recommend you use Mopar Antifreeze/Coolant 10 Year/150,000 Mile Formula OAT (Organic Additive Technology) meeting the requirements of FCA Material Standard MS.90032."
We filled the coolant reservoir to between min and max. It took about half of the gallon bottle.
After putting the new cap on the reservoir, we checked for leaks. We didn't find any, so went ahead and started the engine to circulate the coolant.
We checked again for leaks, then went for a drive. After driving, we checked the coolant level again and didn't need to add fluid. If we had needed to add fluid we would have waited for the engine to cool down before opening the cap on the coolant reservoir.
Thanks for reading through the process. If you have any suggestions for making it easier next time, please leave them in the comments.
We found these videos helpful when researching how to tackle this project:
Ram ProMaster Coolant Leak Issues by ProMaster's Only
How to replace & refill a Ram promaster's coolant reservoir by Nurse and the Nomad
Changing coolant reservoir on the work van by HVACing My Way
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