My engine has been running hot lately. It's getting over the 210 mark (between 210 and 260) and staying there even on the highway. This is in over 100 degree weather but still it's not right. No leaking or noise from the water pump so I suspect the t-stat.
I saw it mentioned that the 2 bolts that hold the water neck on are small and can easily break. You guys weren't kidding! I used my next to smallest 5/16th wrench to remove them and sprayed them with WD-40 first to make sure I didn't break them off. That worked fine. No breakage.
I got a t-stat from Autzone that was what they had listed for my 4.7L engine but it didn't fit right and leaked. I had to drop my coolant a second time to remove it and try again. Very frustrating. I believe the gasket was too weak and flimsy and I believe the t-stat was a little too big. I couldn't re-use my old gasket so I returned the one from Autozone and bought one from the dealership which was actually cheaper. The Mopar t-stat had a much stronger/better gasket around it. It fit better and didn't leak. Lesson learned.
I put my old t-stat and a new t-stat in boiling water to see how much they opened. Sure enough the old one only opened about half as much as the new one. It was slowly failing rather than a complete instant failure which I guess is a good thing.
I added coolant and drove it around. The temps are staying lower but it still got above 210 in 105 degree outside temps. It goes back down to the left of 210 which it hadn't done before so something has changed for the better.
I've been burping the thing through the coolant bleed hole. I guess it takes a lot of air releases before it goes back to normal operation? I'm hoping to see the temps stay more consistent once all the air is out. I ran it with the heater on as well to get it all flushed out.
I did check with my dealership about replacing the water pump. They want $400 for parts and labor. Since my water pump isn't making any noise or leaking, I'm more inclined to believe the t-stat was the problem or else I have a partially blocked radiator in addition to the bad t-stat. My radiator looks clean from the outside and should be clean on the inside but I don't know for sure. I only have about 72,900 miles on my D.
I saw it mentioned that the 2 bolts that hold the water neck on are small and can easily break. You guys weren't kidding! I used my next to smallest 5/16th wrench to remove them and sprayed them with WD-40 first to make sure I didn't break them off. That worked fine. No breakage.
I got a t-stat from Autzone that was what they had listed for my 4.7L engine but it didn't fit right and leaked. I had to drop my coolant a second time to remove it and try again. Very frustrating. I believe the gasket was too weak and flimsy and I believe the t-stat was a little too big. I couldn't re-use my old gasket so I returned the one from Autozone and bought one from the dealership which was actually cheaper. The Mopar t-stat had a much stronger/better gasket around it. It fit better and didn't leak. Lesson learned.
I put my old t-stat and a new t-stat in boiling water to see how much they opened. Sure enough the old one only opened about half as much as the new one. It was slowly failing rather than a complete instant failure which I guess is a good thing.
I added coolant and drove it around. The temps are staying lower but it still got above 210 in 105 degree outside temps. It goes back down to the left of 210 which it hadn't done before so something has changed for the better.
I've been burping the thing through the coolant bleed hole. I guess it takes a lot of air releases before it goes back to normal operation? I'm hoping to see the temps stay more consistent once all the air is out. I ran it with the heater on as well to get it all flushed out.
I did check with my dealership about replacing the water pump. They want $400 for parts and labor. Since my water pump isn't making any noise or leaking, I'm more inclined to believe the t-stat was the problem or else I have a partially blocked radiator in addition to the bad t-stat. My radiator looks clean from the outside and should be clean on the inside but I don't know for sure. I only have about 72,900 miles on my D.
