Dodge Durango Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Garage Forums

Erratic overheating issues.

Jump to Latest
1 - 20 of 39 Posts
S

Sikotic

· Registered
Joined
·
98 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 · (Edited)
To start the vehicle is a 2000 Durango R/T 5.9 it has 247k on the odometer.

A few weeks ago the clutch fan gave up and took the water pump with it.... While i was 2 hours from home. I spent the next 5 hours "exit hopping" and filling it with water just to get it close enough to home before getting it towed.

I have since replaced the water pump, fan clutch, thermostat, temp sensor, and radiator. But for whatever reason i can drive it to work and the temp stays steady at its normal operating temp, however the trip home about halfway through it starts going all the way up to 260 for about 10 sec before dropping to normal. It repeatedly does this the remainder of the trip. I've blead the air from the system 3 times now. It's not leaking anywhere i can see, not smoking, or getting coolant in the oil.

I have no clue where the excess air is coming from. It gets bad enough that it's blowing coolant out of the overflow tank.

I'm hoping the engine is stil good and this is some ignorant thing I'm overlooking.


**** It seems either the new lower radiator hose or the 2nd new thermostat solved this issue. Thanks to all who assisted me on this wild goose chase. ****

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk
 
Discussion starter · #3 · (Edited)
The sensor was my first thought but it loses the heater when this happens too. That's when i looked for air in the system.

Possible that the lower radiator hose is collapsing? It wasn't replaced and didn't have an anti collapse spring in it.
Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
So I idled the truck during my lunch at work (about 20 minutes) while running the a/c.
Once it hit normal temp it stayed... While it's not quite the load it would be during the drive home, it wasbapproximately the same length of time.

This has me reven more confused as by about 10 min it should have been fluctuating. The only change i made yesterday was putting the 21 psi radiator cap back on, i had replaced it with an 18 psi that had a pressure relief lever.

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk
 
#7 ·
a small leak will blow out coolant but not do the white-smoke bit.

Get some test strips and see what they say before over-thinking this ;)
 
#9 ·
Discussion starter · #11 ·
I'll have to look into that.

Given i have to try yo keep it on the road and capable of handling 300+ mile trips every other weekend i have started looking at just rebuilding the engine now. Seems a kit with everything but a cam is available for less than a used engine with near 100k miles.

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk
 
#12 ·
The 2003 Durango I bought for my daughter a few months ago was running great until one day it overheated on her. When I looked at it I could see it had dumped a lot of coolant, but after refilling it and idling it for an extended period of time could find no leakage. It wasn't until I took it on a test drive and looked under the hood to see coolant around the cap and fill neck. Sure enough when I brought the RPM up to a high enough level coolant started pouring out of the cap.

So for me it was simply a new cap and all was well again, but since you said you already went with a new cap sounds like you have a bigger issue. Did you rule out the hose collapsing?
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
DurangoRules said:
The 2003 Durango I bought for my daughter a few months ago was running great until one day it overheated on her. When I looked at it I could see it had dumped a lot of coolant, but after refilling it and idling it for an extended period of time could find no leakage. It wasn't until I took it on a test drive and looked under the hood to see coolant around the cap and fill neck. Sure enough when I brought the RPM up to a high enough level coolant started pouring out of the cap.

So for me it was simply a new cap and all was well again, but since you said you already went with a new cap sounds like you have a bigger issue. Did you rule out the hose collapsing?
Click to expand...
Not yet. It did cross my mind though. It will be replaced tomorrow when it should be dry outside.

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk
 
#16 ·
Sikotic said:
3 times actually. Once was even immediately after driving 20 min home from work. The following 45 min was spent getting the radiator cap off and slowly adding coolant as the engine was idling.

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Air in the system got me one time after replacing the radiator on my magnum.

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk
 
#17 ·
I have a gen3, but I replaced my thermostat with a mid-grade unit and had erratic issues too. I would drive on the hwy and it would climb into the red. It always seemed like when I let off the gas it would immediately drop and stabilize. I pulled the thermostat and it opened and closed fine with hot water when it was on the bench, but it was like when it was under pressure from the water pump when it was installed and it wouldn't open. When I let off and lowered RPMs it seemed to open fine.

I read about similar issues from the SRT Jeep boys in some of their threads. Someone over there had the "thermostat too weak to overcome pressure" thought and bought a higher end thermostat with perhaps a stronger spring and it seemed to fix it. I followed suit a month ago and bought a thermostat from HHP (I'm tuned for a 180 thermostat) and haven't had an issue since. No clue if you are having a similar issue or not, but thought I'd share.

https://www.highhorseperformance.com/HHP_180_Degree_Thermostat_Gasket_5_7L_6_1L_p/10183.htm



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
transplant said:
I have a gen3, but I replaced my thermostat with a mid-grade unit and had erratic issues too. I would drive on the hwy and it would climb into the red. It always seemed like when I let off the gas it would immediately drop and stabilize. I pulled the thermostat and it opened and closed fine with hot water when it was on the bench, but it was like when it was under pressure from the water pump when it was installed and it wouldn't open. When I let off and lowered RPMs it seemed to open fine.

I read about similar issues from the SRT Jeep boys in some of their threads. Someone over there had the "thermostat too weak to overcome pressure" thought and bought a higher end thermostat with perhaps a stronger spring and it seemed to fix it. I followed suit a month ago and bought a thermostat from HHP (I'm tuned for a 180 thermostat) and haven't had an issue since. No clue if you are having a similar issue or not, but thought I'd share.

https://www.highhorseperformance.com/HHP_180_Degree_Thermostat_Gasket_5_7L_6_1L_p/10183.htm



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Did it create air pockets in your system too? I noticed yesterday after making a similar trip as the one i take to work, less the 5 mile jaunt on the bypass, it ran like normal. Staying off the bypass let me keep the rpm below 2000 mostly.

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
I'll have to check into a replacement thermostat then. Got a lower radiator hose ordered already probably go ahead and get the new thermostat when i pick it up.

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk
 
1 - 20 of 39 Posts
About this Discussion
38 Replies
9 Participants
Last post:
Chase300
Dodge Durango Forum
posts
509K
members
60K
Since
2004
Welcome to the best Dodge Durango Forum around, where you can find a great Dodge Durango Wiki and discuss the reliability of the different trim levels including the GT and SRT!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Durango Discussions 2014+ Durango Discussions 1998-03 Durango Discussions Dodge Durango 2018+ SRT and Hellcat Durango Purchasing