The wife took the Durango to DQ tonight and she said that while she was in the line waiting to place our order that the idiot light along with Check Gauges light came onand she saw that the water temp was up to the last hash mark before being pegged.

I have to give her credit she pulled out of the line and parked the Durango and shut it off and called me. I guess after 25 years of marriage I found out she really does listen to me when I talk to her about what she needs to do if any of the guages light up.

Ok anyway I took what Anti-freeze I had along with a gallon of water over to where she was at I didn't know what I would find. I ended up putting about 3/4 of a gallon of Anti-freeze/water into the recovery tank that is all it would hold.

I looked every thing over and I could not find a leak anywhere. When I started the truck which maybe had sat for 20 minutes the temp guage indicated the correct temp. It wasn't 2 weeks ago I checked the Anti-freeze and the level was ok. I don't see any leaks up on the head or any hoses leaking anywhere, no Smell of Anti-freeze when I checked the oil tonight either. Had my son Give it a little gas and I can't even smell any anti-freeze smell at the exhaust.

The only think that I think looks a little strange is the upper radiator hose where the radiator cap is located looks like the peice of hose that is close to the engine is bulged some. Has anyone every had a raditor hose plug or collaspe?

Tomorrow in the day light I will be ble to tell more but just wondering what some others have found their problem to be with their engine over heating like this..

Oh, once I got home it started to overheat even with the anti-freeze/water in the recovery tank.

Thanks in advance everyone.

 

I would guess it lost the antifreeze due to overheating, it must have overflowed somewhere before DQ or somewhere around DQ?

If the hose collapsed, it would definitely cause overheating. otherwise, check these other possible factors:

Visual inspection:
1. Condensor coil in front of radiator. If dirty, take it to car wash and wash it good with high pressure water gun.
2. Inspect your clutch fan. With engine off, spin the fan with your hand. If the fan rotates freely more than 1/2 turn, clutch needs replacement.

Cheap recommendation:

1. Replace thermostat.
2. Replace upper and/or lower hose. If you squeeze the hose and the hose is too soft, time to replace.
3. Flush the system really good. If possible, reverse flush your heater core.

 

I am having the same issue. A few weeks ago the temperature started to rise, so I made sure it had enough fluid, put a new thermostat in, new water pump, new top rad. hose, new rad. caps...I pressure tested the system and it holds pressure. Everything was fine for a while, but when I went on a long trip today and when I got home and let it idle in the driveway for less than 5 minutes and the temp gauge really started to climb.

Tonight I bled the system for a while and got a lot of air out of the system and it does not seem to be overheating now. I took it up the road and heated it up pretty good and then brought it back and it didn't overheat here in the driveway.

While I was bleeding the system I did open the radiator cap, would that put air into the system or is that ok?

I am thinking that I should drain the whole system (I have put quite a bit of water into now), bleed it good and then see what happens. I won't really know if bleeding the system really will change anything until I take it on a trip again...this is just getting really annoying.

If anyone has a certain/best way to bleed/drain the system please chime in.

Thanks.

 

Putting 3/4 gallon antifreeze into the recovery tank says to me that it was empty. Therefore it has been a while sense anybody but some in therefore the engine has been lacking for quite some time or something in this catagory......IMHO

You need to put the antifreeze into the cooling system not just the recovery tank dude!

Open the radiator cap and input the mixed antifreeze and distiled water directly into the radiator. The 4.7L needs to burp to get the air out. Next to the inline radiator cap is a bleed screw. Without proper bleeding the system runs hotter than usual. Hotter than usual disapates antifreeze into steam and concitering there is no fluid in the recovery tank the steam can't condense so the steam blows right out the recovery tank lid. So you can say bey, bey antifreeze.

Now to discuss the hose. If bulging is happening then the pressure is there so I wouldn't worry about collapsing. The bulging is from overall ware and heat. Sounds like the truck has been running warmer than usual.....Hint...... You have been low on coolant. This has caused the bulging.....IMHO

Now the steam continues every day to escape and finally one day there isn't enough antifreeze in the system to cool it. You tow, idle, hotter weather, or it has just enough abuse it really heats up that one day and whats left REALLY steams out. No more antifreeze and possibly no more motor.

Replace the hose. Replace the T-stat. And while the wife is lessoning to you, show her how to check all the fluids.

 

Yes,

Bleed it out. Make sure you have enough mixture between antifreeze and water for your altitude.

STANDARD PROCEDURE -REFILLING
COOLING SYSTEM 4.7L ENGINE
(1) Tighten the radiator draincock and the cylinder
block drain plug(s) (if removed).
CAUTION: Failure to purge air from the cooling system
can result in an overheating condition and
severe engine damage.
(2) Remove the cooling system bleed plug from the
radiator upper hose inlet housing. (Fig. 8)Fill system
using a 50/50 mixture of ethylene-glycol antifreeze
and low mineral content water, until coolant begains
coming out of the cooling system bleed hole. Install
the cooling system bleed plug. Fill radiator to top and
install radiator cap. Add sufficient coolant to the
reserve/overflow tank to raise level to FULL mark.
(3) With heater control unit in the HEAT position,
operate engine with radiator cap in place.
(4) After engine has reached normal operating
temperature, shut engine off and allow it to cool.
When engine is cooling down, coolant will be drawn
into the radiator from the reserve/overflow tank.
(5) Add coolant to reserve/overflow tank as necessary.
Only add coolant to the reserve/overflow
tank when the engine is cold. Coolant level in a
warm engine will be higher due to thermal
expansion. To purge the cooling system of all air,
this heat up/cool down cycle (adding coolant to cold
engine) must be performed three times. Add necessary
coolant to raise tank level to the FULL mark
after each cool down period.

STANDARD PROCEDURE -ADDING
ADDITIONAL COOLANT
The use of aluminum cylinder blocks, cylinder
heads and water pumps requires special corrosion
protection. Only Mopar.
Antifreeze/Coolant,
Year/100,000 Mile Formula (glycol base coolant with
corrosion inhibitors called HOAT, for Hybrid Organic
Additive Technology) is recommended. This coolant
offers the best engine cooling without corrosion when
mixed with 50% distilled water to obtain to obtain a
freeze point of -37°C (-35°F). If it loses color or
becomes contaminated, drain, flush, and replace with
fresh properly mixed coolant solution.
CAUTION: Do not use coolant additives that are
claimed to improve engine cooling.