Coolant drain location

[michaeltk]

Does anyone have a definitive location of the drain plug on the 2019+ cummins? Or your steps to drain/fill?
Theres unbelievably so little information on the 5th gen up cummins coolant change. All I'm able to find is for 4th gens and back and for the 1500 hemi and there's slight variations in each that make it more confusing. It's still freezing where I live and I'm trying to get some solid info before I go crawling underneath of it again blind. Thanks in advance!

 

[AH64ID]

Does anyone have a definitive location of the drain plug on the 2019+ cummins? Or your steps to drain/fill?
Theres unbelievably so little information on the 5th gen up cummins coolant change. All I'm able to find is for 4th gens and back and for the 1500 hemi and there's slight variations in each that make it more confusing. It's still freezing where I live and I'm trying to get some solid info before I go crawling underneath of it again blind. Thanks in advance!

You won’t find any 5th gen info because these HD’s are still 4th gen, even the 2025.

Being a 10 year/150K mile coolant not too many 19+ owners have had to do coolant maintenance yet.

The drain should be on the drivers side under the radiator.

 

[johnmyster]

Most accessible through drivers fender well, above steering box. Alternatively move power steering tank and reach down. This video makes it look easy but fan and shroud are removed.

But at that point, just pull the passenger fender liner and split the lower hose to drain.

10 year coolant. Seems gen 4.5 owners have learned nothing from the gen 4.0 heater core clogging and replacements. History is destined to repeat itself.

 

[HarryN]

Fascinating - I had a bmw at one point, and I think they wanted the coolant replaced every 1 - 3 years type time frame, but it was an aluminum block.

Also needed low silicate coolant.

I can't imagine going 10 year on a coolant fill, but I can see that the cummins engines has some complex coolant loops.

 

[johnmyster]

Fascinating - I had a bmw at one point, and I think they wanted the coolant replaced every 1 - 3 years type time frame, but it was an aluminum block.

Also needed low silicate coolant.

I can't imagine going 10 year on a coolant fill, but I can see that the cummins engines has some complex coolant loops.

I'm pretty sure my BMW listed annual brake fluid changes.

So we've gone from a culture of "maintain to make it last" to "that sounds like work, let's do 10-15 year changes and see if it lasts," or "who cares I'll trade it in every 5 years anyway" mentality.

The ram has lots of different metals in the coolant system. All cars do, so it's not an aluminum vs iron thing. I wouldn't dream of going beyond 5 years on a platform known for heater core clogging and water pump failures. We're talking $55 for three gallons of concentrate, $3 for some distilled water, and $10 for two bottles of prestone citric acid flush. Perhaps $10 to replace the heater core elbow (prone to cracking), $60 for a water pump, plus whatever hoses look suspect if you really want to go down replace before failure PM path.