Oakley:
Don't touch it. Take it back and tell them they need to finish purging the air out of the cooling system.
You paid them for a repair which has not been completed.

Don

 

Yes that’s what I plan to do. I just wanted to make sure that was the likely culprit as the constant movement of needle was giving me anxiety. It has never really moved beforehand, and to see it hover near the H than back down was worrisome. Thank you

 

Another way to verify if you have air in there, crank the heater(s) on high, and see if you get consistent, copious amounts of heat from both ends. If not, you have air.

Don

 

Yes I have put the heat on high and heat feels nice and warm coming out of vents. What else could it possibly be?

 

Did you read this because this is the only thing you need to do.

Oakley:
Don't touch it. Take it back and tell them they need to finish purging the air out of the cooling system.
You paid them for a repair which has not been completed.

Don

 

It’s at the dealership now. I took these photos on the way to the dealership to show the fluctuation in the needle. Acceleration is when it will cause it to rise. Stopped will bring it back to under white line. They checked coolant lines and there is no air and heat is blowing nice and hot. They put in oem 203 thermostat. They cannot find anything wrong, I just know that needle never moved from its spot once engine was at temp and now it’s up and down. Any ideas? Thank you

 

You dealer refuses to believe there is air in the system OR (big OR) the Mopar T-stat they used (I hope that is what they used) is defective. either way it is in their wheel house.

FYI, do not trust dealers to use OEM parts. last year my wife took her Jeep in for an oil change, they asked if she wanted the air cabin filter replaced and she said sure.
I did explain (nicely) to my wife never to say yes to a dealer cause that filter cost us $85 dollars when it is work no more than 20 bucks.
The work order showed a Mopar part number but this year when I went to put in a nice Bosch cabin filter, there was a piece of shit Chinese crap brand in there.
What a way to scam people.

 

Oh my temp never moves from where your first picture shows, whether it's 49 out or 80 out.

 

Right, my needle never moved before once it reached operating temp and now it is all over the place up and down. They cannot find anything and I asked if they would try a different thermostat but since they can’t find anything, they won’t warranty it without a problem.

 

Replace the thermostat with a FAIL SAFE OPEN.!!

 

This is why Mother Mopar is going to die a quick death.

Did you tell your dealer service manager then the general manager (I know dumb question) that the engine approaches over heating EVER since they did the flush.

 

Yes, I showed the same photos of needle reaching near the top. They took it on drive and showed temps of 218-220. Would they be able to re purge the system in case they missed some air? Or does that mean they basically have to do a full flush again.

 

Just bleed the air out yourself. All you need is a bleeding funnel from Harbor Freight and a set of ramps to drive the front of the car up onto.

 

Ok I will certainly do that if they cannot find any faults. So the most likely culprit would be air in the system? Even though the heat is running warm as intended? Thank you

 

The rear heat is helped with an electric pump and that is why you get heat back there even though there is air in the system. Speak softly and carry a big stick (information) when you speak to these bozos.

 

Without raising the car up you won't get the air out. The heaters are just part of the equation.

 

I posted something dippy. sorry

 

I mean the constant up and down of the temp, you think that is what’s causing it? Especially under load. I figured since the heat is working as intended that would mean that air in the system may not be the problem. Thanks for your help.

 

Trust us on the forum on this one, it is air or a bad t-stat. I vote air. Ask them if they used a vacuum purging system or just drained it and filled it and if the front end was up on ramps or the front jacked up?

 

Also you have a V6 which has bleeders are they even trying to bleed the system or they take it for a 2 minute spin with NTF?

 

After doing some more tests, they came back with clogged radiator.

 

Wonder if that would have caused the thermostat to fail in the first place?

 

After doing some more tests, they came back with clogged radiator.
...
Wonder if that would have caused the thermostat to fail in the first place?

In other words after those two sentences, your thermostat was likely never bad. I have a maintenance background originally... some maintainers go to the simplest things first and often fail to look at the clues outside of that, or at the pics of a needle near overheating, and stick to their partial or bad maintenance. The original fault you had, P0128-Thermostat Rationality, was actually a fault for the coolant not coming up to temp within the modeled slowest possible warm-up for a “good” thermostat. But, there are a few potential causes:

So the mechanic (aka Technician) likely checked coolant, which was probably good, then the thermostat... debatable if they actually ran the diagnosis procedure for the P0128 code to check it or just defaulted to changing it. Then calling it good. They definitely hadn't gotten to the last part of the P0128 diagnosis, checking the radiator for restrictions and flow... Even after you still had faults... until you raised a stink, like you should, and they figured out you have the poor flow issue. Which may have been the source issue, the thermostat was just the easy button.

 

And the V6 is the hardest to bleed out.

 

Having new radiator put in, cost will be around $1,300 with 4 1/2 hours of labor. Sound about right as far as dealership price?

 

I give up , whats the joke?

 

Well:
IMO, either the radiator was the issue to start with, OR they threw it under the bus to cover up the air in the system that they should have gotten out to start with.

The trouble I have with their "diagnosis", is that per your description there was no overheating until they serviced it. If the radiator was really clogged to start with, it should have been overheating all along.
One has to wonder if they screwed up the flush, and clogged it instead of removing any crap that was in there to begin with?

Don

 

Always buy the expensive FAIL SAFE OPEN style t stats. The rest may get hung up on their springs. FAIL SAFE builds them with a long sleeve for the valve to move freely

 

It is certainly possible, as the needle never moved from its place beforehand, but unfortunately there is no way for me to know. It is also possible the thermo was never bad to begin with and the radiator was the culprit all along. After taking the car out to see the needle fluctuation, Tech noted both sides of the radiator were cool to the touch

 

A clogged radiator would not cause a low coolant temp code. Nope, no way. But a faulty T-stat would. Take your truck to a local repair shop that has a decent reputation. Explain the situation and see what they say? Speak AIR AIR AIR when talking with the alternate shop. Your dealer has hit the 99 percent ripoff meter and if you do the radiator, you will never know because I will promise you, they will get the air out this time. But then again, your issue most likely will still be present because they are the same boobs who did the job 1st time and are ignoring what you are telling them about the gauge.

Good luck but I fear you are just another victim of a Dodge dealer who can't fix what they sell.

 

You really should have bled the air out yourself just to know if that's all it was. Now they are spending your money again.

 

I understand what you are saying, but wouldn’t the fact the heat is coming out piping hot say that air in the system would not be the issue? If there was air wouldn’t the air be cool? They checked the bleed line and opened up radiator cap and did not find any bubbles. Before I get radiator done I will bring it by reputable mechanic to get a second opinion. Thank you for your help.