I second onemore94dak. May have split on the bottom; it's hard to see on a Magnum due to being under the A/C compressor.

RwP

 

Word. Now that it (and I) have cooled down, I was able to look at it better. Oil isn't milkshake style, so my overreaction seems false, thankfully. It seems coolant is pooled on top of the thermostat housing. Clamp on the hose coming from thermostat seems to be up very high. I'll have to take some things apart to figure out what exactly has gone wrong. There's a lot of coolant hoses in that area. Hopefully overheating it didn't hurt anything else.

 

It'll be good. Replace the hoses (be SURE to get that bypass hose now!), top it off, you'll be good.

It's a Dodge, it's hard to kill

RwP

 

Do you have the parts numbers handy? I'm having trouble finding them. Is 71651 the bypass hose? I'm going to just replace them all, the water pump, thermostat, thermo housing. Maybe even the radiator, it looks pretty nasty rusty inside of it.

 

Not knowing the manufacturer for that part number, I can't say. It's a Dodge 53008654 - tossing that to RockAuto turns up Dayco 71651 and Gates 22038 . I'd say you're looking at the Dayco listing there, since that matches.

While ordering, take care of your cousin and mine, Justin Case, and pick up the inlet tube for the water pump ( 55036160 Dodge, DORMAN 56399 ) because, well, if you don't, yours will be bad.

Dodge number for water pump is 53021018 . I'll paste the bolts listed in case you want to buy extras:

Part Num Quan Description
6034279 3 3/8 x 1.75
6027880 1 3/8 x 2.00
6034076 4 3/8 x 4.50
6034004 2 3/8 x 2 3/4
6034005 2 3/8 x 6 1/4
6034003 2 3/8 x 5 1/4

I THINK they're all SAE 3/8-16 bolts, but am not sure.

For the radiator, if you can find the shroud for it, the Extreme Cooling radiator part number for an automatic is 4778386 . Shroud is a 52028021 .

My experience with Spectra Premium says "Oh HELL no!!" ... YMMV, though.

If not, the auto radiator for a 5.2 is 52029112 .

Those numbers should help you cross.

I'm olde skool and an olde phart - I'd opt for an all metal one myself. But it's not my truck I'm spending the money on

Thermostat housing is a 53020115 , aka ... well, here's a listing of some of the replacements, including a Genuine Mopar https://www.rockauto.com/en/partsear...rtnum=53020115

Hope all these help!

BTW - Numbers come from the parts lists I downloaded from the links in the first FAQ in this subforum; they're right nice to have when looking for stuff.

RwP

 

Dude, Ralph, you're the best. Thanks for all that, I'll read through the FAQ again, it's been a while and now I'm asking

stupid questions.

Looks like I've got a lot of parts to order.

 

Alright, so I'm ordering:
Gates water pump
water pump bolt kit
Dorman Heater bypass tube
Dorman Thermostat housing
Stant 195 Thermostat
Radiator flush
Gates 21955 upper rad hose
gates 22038 bypass rad hose
Gates 21956 lower rad hose
gates k070976 serp belt
3gal coolant concentrate

And I guess here is the next question: I don't have a fan shroud on this truck and can't find one to buy. I have a body lift kit to install later and iirc raising the body makes the fan hit the lower rad hose. Is that right? Can I expect overheating in summer without a shroud? I forget what I did to solve that on my last body lifted Dakota, but now I'm kinda leaning towards electric fans since that solves both the shroud and lift issues. With the electrical issues this truck has (everything seems to work or not work randomly), maybe electric fans aren't a good idea. Guess I'll need to do some research on what other guys did with their fans.

 

IDK your experience level with Dodges but mine was minimal and this was news to me. When you remove the timing chain cover the front end of the oil pan is basically open. There is a rubber gasket but pretty much any liquid that flows down from above will get in so plan on an oil change once it is back together. Also so you don't panic if you find coolant in the oil after you finish. And the WP bolts are all different sizes and one or two of those hole goes through the water jacket so it will leak once removed. I use painters tape and label each one unless you have a great memory for these things.

 

I haven't done much for motor work on these yet, but that doesn't surprise me. I have stuff for two oil changes sitting in the shop ready to go. First oil change I did on this it looked like the filter was full of mud, very very dirty and it was chunky slop. I have a feeling PO just topped off the oil and never actually changed it. I was planning on doing a motor flush with 4qts kerosene and 1qt oil in the crankcase, idle for 10 minutes, drain the nasty chunky crap out, fill with cheap oil and new filter, drive 200 miles, change oil again. I did that on my 3.9 around 200k and now it's pushing 300k with all original everything.

 

If you are pulling the water pump, you might just as well remove six more bolts, take the timing cover off, and replace the timing chain and gears. Just be careful pulling that cover, that you don't tear the oil pan gasket at the bottom. It isn't the end of the world if you do, but, NOT doing it is best.