Greetings,

So I thought I was in for a simple thermostat change (pulled into parking lot near home, went inside store, come out to find coolant all over the parking space. Popped hood, and was only able to see residue from what looked like a leak from radiator filler cap and nowhere else obvious, so figued thermostat closed shut, etc. etc). Tried driving straight home, but temp shot up so fast, had to stop & shut down vehicle two times to avoid overheating, before I make it home. So, I buy new thermostat/gasket and think I'm gonna install this morning, so here's where it gets interesting.

I left truck outside overnight, and pull right into garage. Right away, I notice another pool of coolant on floor, but no obvious leakage from where I saw yesterday. So, I pull truck out of garage (don't want to get pretty white floor all dirty) and look all around for where this leak is coming from. I remove radiator cap, and then I see what you see in the picture.....what does this mean (please tell me it's not what I surmise it to be, as I am a garage mechanic, and in no way prepared, financially or mechanically to undertake an engine overhaul). I am hoping I am over reacting...but....???

Dodge details....well, it's been running fine, as I usually keep up on routing maintenance, use mostly all OEM parts except where recommended by experts, and keep a close eye on my vehicle at all times.

99 Durango 4WD 5.9L V8

Thanks in advance!

 

The freeze plug/casting plug has rusted out. you will need to replace any that are leaking & would be best to replace all of them.

If it didn't oerheat too bad head gaskets should be ok, do replace the t-stat & cap though.

Not the easiest job in the world but should not mean engine rebuild.

 

as long as you didnt let the engine overheat it is most likely still fine so rest easy on that part

now i cant tell exactly what part of the engine bay we are looking at in that picture but it looks to me like either the freeze plugs or radiator are corroding (rusting) on you(im assuming that we are looking into the filler cap on the upper hose coming out of the radiator), when you add anti-freeze in the 50/50 mix have you used distilled water to mix it? if not it causes accelerated corrosion in the system

 

+1 on the freeze plug!

 

pic from drivers side, through wheel well looking at oil filter & freeze plug just ahead of it.

OP fram oil filters suck. just an fyi, I have had two rupture, one cost me a motor the other I got lucky.

 

OK, a couple of hours later, I have now found out, that you can remove & replace a thermostat AND gasket WITHOUT having to remove the alternator (although it is much easier to clean the old gasket area without the alternator there). When removing the old thermo/gasket, I did remove the alternator in order to get the most clearance for cleaning. I put the alternator back on so I could completely flush the cooling system, then figured I would try to remove the thermostat housing without removing the alternator, just to see if it was possible. Indeed it was, much to my delight, and new thermo/gasket was installed with small layer of RTV pretty easily. 1/2 socket with 8" extension was all that was needed to remove the housing and get access(you will still need to move the alternator bracket out of the way, which is very simple with a 14mm socket/wrench). Moving right along, I will now head to the auto parts store and see about those "rubber" freeze plugs someone else said they installed in the same place, fairly easily on another post. I am concerned about the other freeze plugs though, although from the outside, they all look pretty good, with no discoloring of any kind. But, we all know, what lurks behind that little piece of metal could be completely different. Thanks to all who have offered their expertise on this matter.

Also, this picture was taken from the passenger side wheel well (99 5.9L 4WD), and I also rarely use Fram, but when I went for an oil change last time, I was out of town, and took it to a shop & that's all they had....I did think about cropping the oil filter out of the picture to avoid embarassment, but it was more important to get the right perspective of where we were looking.

 

whoop my bad I meant Pass & wrote driver (lowers head in shame).

 

It's ok Dis.......LOL


ANyway, those rubber replacements can fall out and if that happens kiss that cyliner goodbye! I had that same issue. Just call a shop and have them install a new one.

 

Yeah, I'm not gonna mess around with the rubber one...just makes sense to do the job right, and install the brass ones. I'm gonna pick them up this morning, and hopefully get them installed right away. Any job worth doing is worth doing right, right?

 

yup definitely do it right the first time