I have a 2001 durango with a 4.7 and I have noticed that once that weather gets warmer the temp guage starts to rise. I had to put the heater on the other day to get the temp to go down. I am guessing it is the thermostat. I also want to replace a few other items like the spark plugs, serp belt, pcv valve. The car has about 95,000 miles on it and I know those items are overdue.

I guess my questions are about the car slightly overheating, is it probably the thermostat? If its not that what else could it be? What other "tune up" changes should I do?

thanks,
Bryan

 

if you are going to replace the thermostat make sure to get a dealer (stocker) t-stat @195 w/ the weep hole in it otherwise you will have problems in a very short time, spark plugs copper core champion plugs ONLY gapped to .040, do NOT trust the pre-gap, check em yourself, serpentine belt is rated for 100k miles, so you are just about due for that one, the favorite on here is goodyear gatorback iirc.


also make sure you dont have dead bugs ect caked into your radiator. and clean it out w/ low pressure hose (garden hose should be fine)

 

owner before me didn't gap the plugs... instead of .040 they were almost .080. which explained the crappy gas mileage. but yeah like sharpshtr said, was off your radiator and also another thing i found helpful for me was to do a radiator flush and get all old fluid out and replace it with brand new 50/50 mix. having brand new fluids never hurts... especially if your throwing in a new tstat..

 

so you cant run a 180 t-stat on the 4.7l

 

if you can find one that is designed just like the stocker im sure that you could, but the 4.7 was actually designed to run at 195* water temp so you are better off just leaving it w/ a 195, besides i have never seen a 180 that has the right design for the 4.7.

 

+1 shrp. I've only been able to get thermostats for the 4.7 from the dealership parts counter. As for the 195* I also agree sticking with it on the 4.7, and I only feel comfortable slapping a 180* in the 5.2 or 5.9 because they've still got that old school type of engine build.