Get your rad back from them and cut it open. $100 bet you see NOTHING. The failure was AIR inside pocketing. Fixed by replacement of the rad? Sure... if you burp and make sure there is no air. Also fixed the same way without replacement of the rad? Yep... if you burp and make sure there is no air. A new set of rad hoses so you know they are simply not collapsing (lower too! Lower hoses get hot and collapse off the water flow over time. This could be the whole deal right there!) and a new stat, properly installed and properly burped... I'm betting...!

I had a 200,000 mile rad in that I dissected and found literally nothing inside. I was certain it was clogged and I expected an inch of silt at the bottom. Nothing. I cut section after section and still... nothing. Nothing on the fins side. Nothing on the bottom of the plastic side. Nothing.

You know how many rad failures on the Durango I have read about over the years? Less than 5. You know how many were proven as the rad? Zero.

You can't trust the dealer and I am betting you could get it fixed without such measures if all the ancillary steps are taken. Too bad you are remote and can't do so yourself. You may simply be stuck in this situation.

I am just saying...

IndyDurango

 

The lower and upper hoses were changed in April and I have the new upper hoses as the onboard spare. I think based on my previous luck I should probably add the lower hose to the onboard spare kit though. The remote part sucks, and not even in good enough shape to ferry it to Indy area (Brownsburg is it? LOL!!!!!) but nothing I can do now, just carry on and hope for the best.

 

Totally agree with Indy!


Get that radiator back and cut into it. Remove the plastics and metal outsides. After your done you can take the radiator fins to the recyclers and get about $20 bucks (depending) for the trip. Make sure they give you clean price and not regular radiator price.

As usual, please post pictures!

 

Bottom of the 9th fellas, I am supposed to pick it up in the morning, Anything besides the obvious stuff that I should look for? With it overheating after highway runs, it will be tough to pin down until I am out of the area. I plan on heading westbound on the OH turnpike and pray for the best. I will do some local running around to hopefully get the bugs worked out but I can only do so much. Any ideas on what to look for on the vehicle itself?

 

I took photos of the radiator, obviously a failure, hard to describe but when you see the photos it will make sense. Departed Toledo with no issues, but minor driving in local area first to verify repair. Toledo-Chicago even in stop-go Chicago traffic no issues. Stayed left of the Thermometer icon on the gauge. 5.5 hours Toledo-Chicago and 2.7 Chicago-MAdison, WI

 

Hope the talk on the phone today helped a little. Good luck. Let us know how it went.

IndyD

 

Prayin for ya!

 

Sorry, internet was weak up here, but I made it. Madison, WI-Minneapolis, MN NO ISSUES. 4.5 hours running pretty solid. Once here I replaced the cap with another 20 lb cap from O'Reillys. For the life of me, I can't seem to find anything lower that will fit. I will monitor for a few days but so far so good, I will hopefully have the photos available of the radiator failure in the next few days too.

 

We need pic's!

 

Pictures courteous of
MAGIC84



Is overview looking back-front.. Split is in middle, bowing at bottom


13 Close up of affected area.


17 Close up of the bowing from bottom, orientate bottom is rt side.


24 Shows split on the bottom and tears of the fins in associated area.




Thanks for the pictures!