You should probably change your engine's air filter pretty frequently, too, in those dusty conditions.
A little off-topic, but I keep a complete set of oil and air filters for my vehicles as well as oil and coolant. When a volcano erupts here, the ash in the air makes it required to change all the filters. The problem is that when that happens, the stores rapidly sell out of all the filters and oil. One dealership said that last time a volcano erupted in this area the news stations were all alerting everyone to change their filters to prevent engine damage. One person brought in a 10-year old car with 100,000+ miles on it and it still had the factory oil filter and air filter. Neither had been changed in 10 years.
BIG question: Is there any way to find out what Service (Records) has been done to our Durango, since we didn't buy it brand new? Before us, there were two other owners. First owner had it for two years and the second for a month or so. Apparently the second owner didn't realize just how "computerized" this Durango is. Anyway, the Service Dept. of the dealership we bought it from, only has information of the service we've had done, oil change/tire rotation, since we bought it. That service was done this past May. Any way to find out when/if any service was done to it by the other two owners? Funny, but when I talked to a young lady in Service yesterday over my phone and she had no idea that our Durango has its own required/specialized coolant and that coolant is Organic. Both the coolant "add" cap and the Owners Manual state Mopar (Dodge brand) OAT (Organic Additive Technology). Just looked at a couple of auto parts stores and they sell OAT coolant, so I think the Service and Parts Dept. only want their OAT coolant to be used. Then again, we don't want to put anything into our "new for us" Durango engine, including coolant, that isn't specified as a Dodge brand (Mopar).
The only way to get service records is from the place(s) that did the service, from receipts the prior owner(s) kept, or from what the prior owner(s) tells you. Is the dealer saying: (a) there are no service records for that vehicle on file there, (b) service records are tied to the owner and not the vehicle, so they no longer have them, or (c) they won't share them?
Apparently, the service records they have online are what we've had done to the Durango. Will have to ask them if they have anything dealing with our Durango VIN number. In fact, even though we had service done this past May, a service advisor told us our phone number wasn't even in the computer. Funny, because the mechanic sent us a couple of videos of what he was doing/checking. what I think is going on is the dealership service dept. is very overwhelmed with the number of vehicles to be repaired and/or someone isn't doing their job. When we gave him our last name, he found our service record, but that service record can also be found with a phone number, IF a phone number is put into the computer. Our phone number came up with our last name, but not by using just the phone number. For both our boat and our old Durango (2005) we have all the receipts of all work done to each since we bought each. When we sold our old Durango to the dealer, they didn't even want to receipts we had. Heck, they didn't even want our old 2005 on their property. They immediately sent it over to an auction yard. IOW, they sell used Durangos, but definitely not ones as old as 2005, with 182,000 miles on them.
John, what do you think about that coolant thing? IOW, Mopar/Dodge required coolant to be used and it's organic?
I've seen brand-specific recommendations for coolant and for tranny fluid. I've never had a Mopar car, but I believe that specialty fluids have been a long-term thing with them. If a manufacturer recommended a special brand of expensive gas, I'd complain loudly. But something rare-use like coolant and tranny fluid are best to not take risks with (even if the manufacturer is only doing it to make a few extra bucks.) Perhaps being "organic" makes up for all those squirrels we run over
Thanks, Beth, for the info. I am a member of that forum, so I will ask. To tell the truth, I never thought about asking on that forum, but it is a good idea.