Sorry I have not given the update to this. After about 3 weeks 2 of which it had to go back and be redone cause they were still leaking, the freeze plugs. Well the other day I was driving home from work and the freeze plugs blew out of the engine. and coolant was every where. I had like 2 seconds to pull over and shut the engine down, but that did not happen as planned as I was boxed in by semi trucks. To make a long story short, I blew the heads, anit-freeze is in the oil, yada yada yada. Now I need a new engine. Called the guy who "fixed" it and he is going to replace the engine at no cost to me cause when he did the plugs, he said it he was not sure the plugs were going to hold as the block was rotting due to rust. He also tells me that I should have signed a waiver knowing this, but its was to late for that now.

I sould have the truck back in about 2 - 3 weeks time. The thing that really pissed me off is that I needed to take my Z28 out of storage and get it one the road as I need a car and so does my wife. I guess we now live in the age of you better have three cars just in case on craps out on you.

 

wow that sucks! sorry to hear you lost the motor. when you say blew the heads... meaning the head gaskets are leaking/ did it overheat? I would think a new set of head gaskets and a resurface on them should fix it right up. the only question would be the deck on the block. as long as its still true you should be fine.

 

I'm only going by what the guy told me. I know nothing about rebuilding motors or such. Yes it overheated. I would say the temp got near 300+ degrees. When I first noticed there was a problem, temp was at 240ish. When I pulled over it still read 240ish. Shut her down, actually she shut down on her own. but when I turned the key to accessory mode. temp gauage kept climbing. 5 minutes later, gauage was way over the 260 mark, and past the fatal red zone. I am pretty sure everything is warped from the heat. Like I said, no biggie, getting it replaced for free.

 

yeah that's pretty damn hot. probably scorched the bearings as well. glad to hear the replacement is a freebie...

 

well all i am totaly convinced that it is my rear freeze plugs. this weekend i am pulling the trans i will take picts all the way so hopefuly it will help someone out..

 

Guys:

I have heard about this freeze plug issue on the Durangos. IIRC, DC used steel plugs instead of the better (and non rusting) brass plugs. When you put the new ones in, look into the brass units. Brass does not rust.


Don

 

I have a 1999 5.2 Durango with 120000 miles on it. I bought it used so I don't know what the previous owner was like with maintenance. It seems that he wasn't too great because the tstat had been rusted through and broke into peices when I pulled it out.
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I can see coolant coming out from my freeze plugs and I think a little bit from the head gasket. I have a question about the heater core though. I have asked people about this because I have a large amount of coolant smoke that is coming through the vents. I was wondering if this was from the heater core or from the coolant leaking out of the plugs? I will look at my manual again but I thought that there were only 3 on each side of the engine.