Monday I had my truck in for what I thought was a bad thermostat. Turns out it was just low on coolant. I noticed the temp would rise to almost overheating at long stop lights bout 2-3 mins. The guy at the dealer pressure tested it and topped off the coolant. After checking other posts with similar issues as I also had a cylinder 3 misfire occasionally at startup for about 15 seconds. I was thinking blown head gasket. Well while it was in for the "thermostat" I also had them do the "Dodge Better Fuel service" which is basically 150 bucks for them to put Seafoam through it. Since then I noticed the idle really smoothed out and the misfire has not returned. I did the sniff test of the exhaust thinking the coolant was getting burned but no odor is noticed. I have noticed for the past couple years a greasy/coolant odor when I hit the defroster. Checked for leaks on both the driver and passenger floorboards all the way up under the dash. Never felt any moisture so I never thought too much about it.

Maybe someone else can confirm my line of thinking.

Seeing as I only in the last week and a half had the defroster/heater on for the first time since the spring, is it possible I lost a somewhat significant amount, quart or so, of the coolant in the heater core that was replaced only when I turned on the defroster causing the low coolant? Or does the coolant cycle in the heater core regardless if the defroster/heater is on or not? If not this could explain some of the recent questions about low coolant and no leaks being found.

 

The coolant is always constantly running through the heater core. It is possible you have a leak and don't know about it. But most likely the leak is under the hood. A pin hole size leak is almost impossible to detect. You can use a UV leak detector kit. This is the simplest way to find it.

 

At approximately 01:30 this AM a 1.5yr old 6 pointer decided to run infront of me on the highway doing ~70. In the process it has probably taken care of the Coolant leak that I didn't have the chance to look for. He didn't feel a thing but the Dak is out of comission for the next couple weeks until the collision center can get it back up and running. Just from the impact and viewing the aftermath of steam and hissing and whatnot that occurs when you hit a 125lb object dead center on the grille at 70mph, I know it already needs a grille, hood, 2 head light assemblies, front fascia, foglights, front bumper, radiator, mechanical and electric fans, tranny cooler and the radiator like thing for the A/C thats in the grille.

Engine, fan or something attached to it made a horrible clicking noise as I was coasting to the shoulder not sure if the engine was still running but all the dash lights went dark and obviously the headlights were out but made it to a safe controlled stop and notified my wife to come get us, the cops to come do a report and the insurance co. to get this thing fixed or totaled all before 0430 when I got home.

Too bad I just spent over 400 bucks on Monday upgrading the headlights to Silverstars, getting a tranny flush and fill and the "Dodge Better Fuel Service"(basically Seafoam) oh and having the dealer check the status of the cooling system as it was a little low as already discussed above.

Not too mention last sunday evening a deer side-swiped the right front quarter panel of my wifes car with me driving causing $600 damage.

Went up to the Scene of the crime this afternoon found the deer stone cold dead and it appears that after impact I sent it flying about 40 feet before it hit the road and slid to a stop ~150 feet later. Scared the hell out of my passenger who was sleeping and awoke to me yelling "F" and seeing antlers followed by hooves tumbling through the air right next to his window.

Will report back on the status tomorrow when the insurance adjuster gets a look at it.

 

Dang! That sucks! Hope it all goes your way.

 

Sorry about the truck. I hope you can bring it back to life.

 

Got the estimate from the repair shop. Almost 4K. Replacing basically everything I mentioned before that looked damaged. Parts supposed to come in today and should have it back for 11/23. I guess it pays to have rental car coverage on your insurance plan.

Also just got my check today from Chrysler for the rental car that was needed due to my truck being in the shop for over 2 months waiting for a gauge cluster. Hopefully the funds are there to cover the it when I deposit it.

Asked the nice service people at the dealer if parts were flowing yet and they said no they are having issues with many parts and even differences in vendors. O

One in particular was a change in upholstery vendors. The stitching changed and one of the old vendors seats was falling apart on a new 2009. The dealer goes to get a replacement and when it came in it had totally different stitching. I think the solution was to reupholster the interior so every thing matched. Yikes.

 

Gotta love PA... never see a deer in the woods but you'll hit 2 in a week goin' down the road, haha. Sorry to hear about your truck man.

I was checking out the post because I have similar issues with the heater core. Over the past 6 months I've smelled coolant whenever I run the blowers/defrost. No leaks to be found anywhere. Now that it's getting cold I turn on the heat ANND no heat! So I'm assuming there's a small leak in the heater core. I've looked into replacing it myself and as many of you know it's a HUGE project. So my question is should I be looking anywhere else first before I tear the whole dash out etc etc to replace the heater core. Thanks for any info.

 

Sorry to hear about your truck and the car too. I hit a really young doe that was not much bigger than your average hound dog a couple years ago. I had a lot of the same parts damaged as you did. I was running about 70 mph too but it happened in broad daylight on the interstate. Deer are some of the dumbest animals on earth. That one did $3,000.00 in damage to my truck but at least it was driveable back to the body shop. And to show how used to my truck I am, I got a speeding ticket in the rental car. But it was a speed trap just outside a small town here in Florida that is famous for running speed traps. They will get you for going 1 mph over. They got me and a lot of others that day, there were 2 cop cars working as a team.

Hope you get your Dakota fixed up and back on the road again soon. Maybe you could turn in the receipts for the Silverstars and the other work you had done and get reimbursed from the insurance company.

Jimmy

 

Well that sucks man. I am thankful to not hit anything and do damage(knock on wood) My 85 power ram has steel tube bumpers on it once hit a deer thankfully it only bent the bumper a little bit I know for a fact if it wasnt for that the front end would of been trashed.