1993 Dodge Dakota LE, 5.2L magnum, A518 auto trans, RWD, 183,000 miles, original owner

I did a complete coolant system flush a few months back. Chemical flush, new hoses, heater core backflush, the full 9 yards. Since then I have noticed a strange behavior that I have never seen before. The engine warms up normally. The gauge needle gets to about 11:30, then within a few seconds it works its way back to the 11:00 position and stays there. I assume that's the thermostat opening up causing the retreat to 11:00. But since I have never seen this on my truck plus it coinciding with a coolant flush I'm curious why this is happening. For the record, I have always been good about changing coolant. I'm not worried about it but I am curious. Wondering if the flush caused some crud to get stuck on the thermostat.

 

Probably relatively normal.... Probably. Coolant temp will change as the engine warms, along with the coolant. Some fairly significant swings as the the engine and coolant warms isn't surprising, but, usually, it'll reach a 'steady state', and the needle will be pretty stable. So long as it isn't overheat/overcooling, it's all good.

 

yeah, nothing that worries me. It settles in nicely. Never gets anywhere close to overheating. Just never saw this before on any vehicle I owned. It itches my curiosity.

Next up I’m going to measure how much oil I’m burning. I replaced the valve cover gaskets a few months ago too. Since then I have zero leaks of any fluid of any kind anywhere. So any oil consumption now is from burning it up. I change my oil every 3,000 miles so I’m waiting to halftime (1,500 miles) to add back what I lost to calculate the rate. Truthfully, I’m not sure how to evaluate it in terms of what is good or bad.

 

It really shouldn't burn much, if any, at all. Of course, that's on a NEW engine..... With high mileage, I expect some burn.... if you are going thru less than a quart between oil changes though, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I think I’m less than 1 quart per 3,000 miles. I haven’t been able to measure it because my valve cover gaskets were leaking. But even with that I don’t recall adding more than 1 qt between oil changes. It should improve. At 29 years old and 183,000 miles I think I’d worry more if it didn’t burn any oil vs 1 qt per change.

I’ll calculate it in the next couple weeks once I hit 1,500 miles. One thing I learned from changing out the valve cover gaskets is it likely isnt due to gasket failure but rather the covers have come loose. They need to be retorqued every once in awhile.

Thx HY.