Anyone out there got a heater hose routing diagram for a 2.5? I've put a turbo (89 daytona) motor into my truck and the stupid thing won't heat right - WILD temp swings - Peggs hot, then drops like a stone to 1/8" above C. Climbs steady to mid-point.

Turbo-Mopar common fix is to drill a 1/8" "steam" hole into stat - I had steady temps but barely reading & no heat.

I put the stock non-drilled one back in and temp heats up nice and quick, but you can watch the gauge and see when the stat opens.

I'm thinking its the cold coolant from the radiator coming into the motor the first time - after that the temp fluctuates but not as wildly.

Ideas? Pics? I'm wondering if my coolant plumbing is too turbulant with the extra lines coming out the t-stat housing to the turbo.

 

Here you go.

 

Hey Crazy, I couldn't see the pics but I was able to download the manual and get the flow routing from there.

Mine matches but I get that spike on the first heat cycle. mebbe I'll try a 1/16" steam hole?

 

My acclaim used to do this when the head gasket was bad and it had used up a substantial amount of coolant. It would burp big pockets of air dropping the coolant temp, then when the hot coolant hit it spiked. Honestly, first thing is make sure it is full of coolant and bleed the system. Take the plug out from the head behind the t-stat and fill the rad to till it pours out. Put the plug in, then keep filling. If that doesn't fix it, then maybe the temp sensor is bad.

Now you say it fluctuates wildly the first time, then not as bad? Well, the first time the t-stat opens, you will get fairly rapid drop in temp. From then on, either it will stay just warm enough to keep the t-stat open, or it may fluctuate a little as you drive.

 

everytime you let air in the system from messing with the thermostat you will probly see a high spike then fall like a rock. cause theres air in the system. mine did exact same thing when i changed the thermo. only did it once then the air was out and worked perfect after that. also caused the check engine light to go on because it was reading cold too long. i just unplugged the battery for a few minutes to reset it. everything works like a charm now

if yours is spiking/falling on a regular basis, i dont know what the problem is.

 

I managed to get the air out but MAN none of my other vehicles ever moved this frequently - it still pegs the meter on first warmup and seconds later it falls back to a normal range. It's got to be turbulant flow from the turbo's coolant line - comes out bottom of the Tstat boss into the turbo and back into the block behind # 1 cyl. That or cleaning the temp sender made it hyper sensitive.

 

I would pick up a new sender. They're only like $15 from what I remember. That is NOT good if its pegging the gauge.

 

Seems to be settling down, must've been air up in the heater core? Still moves alot more than I'm used to seeing. Maybe sanding down the exterior of the probe increased it's sensitivity...

Crazy, apparently my filter at work is what kept me from seeing the pic you posted. Thanks.