myers:
Did you go back in with the oem part?
The aftermarket T stats are very hit or miss. The stock temp is 203 degrees.

Don

 

Yes, while sitting idling with heat off. Temp will get to about 224 when the rad fan kicks on. Then drops to about 210ish before fan kicks off. I turn the heat on and the temp immediately starts dropping to about 170ish. Rad fan stays on while climate control is on.

 

Yeah could be a faulty thermostat. There are supposed to close at 195F.

 

There is a certain way to install the thermostat...did you install it with the toggle switch in the correct orientation? Hemi's require it be pointing up V6 probably the same.

 

FSM does not mention an orientation but looks like the bypass hole (#4) is pointed out in the diagram but not mentioned. This is probably because the housing and thermostat are integrated on the 3.6.

 

Usually the bypass hole should be facing the neck.

 

Nice...all one piece, hard to screw that up.

 

From what I recall from my old v6, i thought the thermostat housing is actually interference based, meaning you can't seat the thermostat in backwards. It sounds like it's bypassing, meaning either it's not seated right or the thermostat is bad. I completely agree with Don Fox's question about it being a no kidding OEM Mopar thermostat. I tried two "performance" thermostats on my old v6, both had the crimped seal on the thermostat pop out and lead to bypassing and not coming up to temp erratically.

 

Thank all of you for your help. I ended up replacing the thermostat with one that has the metal housing. When I pulled the other one off it was just slightly open and not shutting all the way. Hope this provides help to someone.