Driving in stop and go traffic last night my Check Guages light came on and I noticed that the engine temp was hot. The outside temp was around 20 degrees F, and I had been in stop and go traffic for about 15 minutes. I had the heater running. Putting the engine in neutral did not help the temp. I turned off the heater and the temp went back down to normal and the check guage light went back out. After traffic cleared up I was able to drive with the heater back on without any engine temp problems. My Durango is an '01 R/T with approx. 84,000 miles. Any thoughts on what might be going on? Thanks.

 

Check the obvious. Make sure you have sufficient coolant in your radiator.

 

Low on coolant!


What motor are we talking about?

 

01 r/t arent all r/t's 5.9?

O.K. with that said, check the obvious coolant level, radiator for obstructions. Check fan clutch, water pump area for leaks, etc....

search cooling system in this forum you might find the photos of my radiator damage if not PM me with email address and I will send you. I am not trying to scare you but really inspect the radiator and look for damage, mine had internal failure and basically expanded itself and looks like it was smiling at you......In reality the only one smiling was the Dealer after the $900 credit card swipe got approved. Again not trying to scare you but I had the same symptoms and this was my final diagnosis. PM me your email address and I will send you photos so you have an idea of what to look for.

 

low coolant or a bad clutch fan, checking coolant is easy, to check the clutch fan just open the hood with the ENGINE OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!! and spin the clutch fan, if it goes more than 1/2 a turn replace it, as a reference, my clutch w/ 90k on it and being 7 years old spins LESS THAN 1/4 turn

 

yea thats weird. Having the heater on should help lower the temperature. like hydra said. check the coolant level.

shrpshtr - yea my fans has 87k and barely moves when i try and spin it /

 

yea mine only moves as far as im pushing it . . . which is a good sign for me

 

Thanks for the input. It ended up being my fan clutch.