Since I never knew what tetra......tetris......tetrahydron.....tetra testarossa.... is or that it was in AVGAS in the first place I guess I learned something today......sounds like both of us are reliving our Billy Madison moments hydra.........i see whats going on here penguin...

 

The dealer was Fullerton Dodge in Fullerton California. They blamed the problem on poor quality radiators. But, I think that they did replace the last two free of charge. Nevertheless, the economy got to them and they went out of business. No one now to return to.

 

To IndyDurango who wrote "I'm not buying it. No one has all of their liquid related areas of the vehicle fail over and over. Core and rads and freeze plugs... all at low mileage and over and over, Nope. Just doesn't happen."

With the exception of five radiators in about 56,000 miles and 6 years of driving (the vehicle now has about 94,000 miles), just one freeze plug failed and was leaking, just the rear heater core sprung a leak and the auxilary cooling system electric pump gasket failed only once. So only the radiator is failing over and over (I hope). These other parts have failed only once so far.

But, I do need to find a quality radiator to put in this car. This needing a new radiator every one to two years is getting very frustrating. I priced radiators at Tops Auto Supply in Anaheim, CA. The cheapo made-in-China one is $175 +tax. The so-called better quality made in the USA type is $250. Does anyone know what radiator is best (Brand name, etc.)? For sure, I'm not buying anymore radiators that are Chinese junk and that's not a boat. [This brings back memories of the horrible "Made In Japan" products that were flooding the markets back in the 1950's thru 1970's. You don't see many items made in Japan these days. They must be outsourcing to China.]

 

80% of things these days are made in China. I found out first hand with many things such as belts or plugs, etc. Spectra makes an awesome quality radiator and that's the one that will run you around $250. This is what I have in my rig.

If you were asked to spend $150 for a "China made" radiator, I'd just save a couple bucks and just buy an OE online.

For the OE radiator it should just be around $130 range and make sure you get nothin but aluminum core. I'm not sure what foreign countries use but make absolutely sure it's aluminum.

 

OEM radiators are aluminum core with plastic caps. I haven't seen any that were different in the replacements out there?????

 

Well, I did finally replace the radiator myself. It cost a little over $200 and it took me about 8 hours (in two days) to do the job with a bad back. But, I saved the $230 labor charges. Cleaned and painted some parts to make things look good. Had to buy a top radiator hose (the one with the radiator cap in it) and two gallons of anti-freeze.

But, the freeze plugs at the rear of the engine block finally started leaking. This had to be repaired at a shop because I was not about to attempt pulling the trans. Cost was $546 This included transmission servicing, i.e., new filter and fluid change and as a preventative measure, replaced the front and rear transmission seals (as long as the trans was out).

Just one more major cooling system component on this Durango remains to fail. That is the front heater core. The rear heater core was replaced a few years ago.

So, now nearly the whole cooling system metal parts, with the exception of the heads and block, have been replaced. (The radiator, several times.) The car has 96,000 miles (2001 SLT 4.7L 2WD).

 

If regular water is used it will eat the internal components. Better to use the Prestone 50/50 premixed coolant, or use about 2 gallons coolant and the rest distilled water and only add distilled water or 50/50.