this generally doesnt happen if you maintain your cooling system properly...

couple of things to remember, when your servicing it make sure you flush it real good, then when refilling it, MAKE SURE YOU USE DISTILLED WATER. tap water and the 5 year antifreeze dont like each other much. I had a great example posted in the 2nd gen ram forum about a year ago, sludg was forming after 3 months of "temporarily" filling it up with tap water. I used tap when I fixed a head a few years back on my 2000 ram and the following year, I tore it down to do another fix and looked at the lower rad hose and it had sludge built up in it. did some research and found the distilled water info. flushed it out, re-filled with the prefered mix and was on my way. 1 year later i tore the motor down again to do a head swap. checked the lower hose and it was clean as a wistle.

the durango's use the same motor as the ram so it's not a durango thing, its a maintanance thing.

hope this help someone...

 

It may sound like you have a bad thermostat or a possible clog somewhere. I would do like Steve recommended, do a very good flushing of your cooling system and then see if your temp jumps erradicatically again. Otherwise, you may have a termostat or water pump issue that is causing this random issues.

 

I took the truck into the shop as soon as I got home. He thinks it is the Tstat as well. I hope it is as I do not have the funds for it to be something more serious like a cracked head or something. If it is a Water Pump what kind of money am I looking at?

I will let you guys know what the problem is/was tomorrow (today) when I call him about it.

BTW - thanks for the replies on this. I pretty new to the durango. only had it a since late spring and since I put away my 02 Z28, I'v been driving this more.

 

I originally thought this was a old post but after reading through some of the posts (although I didn't read all of them) I figured I'd throw you guy's some good info.

On the 5.9L and I believe the 5.2L there are two freeze plugs on the back of the motor. One is bigger than the other. The only way to properly fix this is by removal of the transmission.
[sm=hail.gif]steve00ram360. Using DISTILLED WATER is the very best way to go. The problem with tap water is there are minerals inside it that will deteriorate the inside of the motor as well as all the cooling system. Then some of the pieces from the deterioration will make it's way into the smaller ports in the motor and cooling system plugging them all up. Also remembering the freeze plugs. This will eat them alive. Proper maintenance of the cooling system is a HUGE thing. But for some reason it always gets overlooked.[>:] Never use stop leaks or any type of over the counter prevention or additive. IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM THEN FIX IT! You can always use a tooth pick or something and take the pressure cap off to get you home.
DON'T USE ANY OTHER TYPE OF CRAP TO TRY TO FIX YOUR RIDE![sm=rant.gif]

 

here's a great example/pic of what develops in the motor in just a few months... this cap was clean in Nov of '05, this pic was taken in Mar of '06. I had been doing some work to my truck and filled it up with tap water thinking I'd be taking it back out soon, well, soon turned into a few months and this is what I found. previously I had the distlilled water in there.



[IMG]local://upfiles/1508/2BFE1A61821C486C95ECE40EF0A8892C.jpg[/IMG]

 

Out in my area of town, the quality tap water is pretty good, almost as good as distilled water. The water quality here in DFW, the water is not hard. At least where I live. I had been using about 70/30 mix on Antifreeze/tap water here in the northern DFW area. Never had a problem yet and been flushing annually. Before when I was living in West Tx, the tap water is really bad, very very hard and seen the damage hard water can do to a car's cooling system. In west texas, I do use distilled water mix or if no distilled water is available, I run 90/10 or 100 percent antifreeze.

 

Well, I took the truck to the shop on Saturday and they looked at it. they said it is my freeze plugs. actually, freeze plug. The drivers front. they suggested I call the dealer or this other shop that I never heard of as they don't do stuff like that.

So, I call the dealer and he said depending on which freeeze plug, cost is around 1,600.00 95% is all labor. I nearly died. I called the other shop and they were actually going over to the shop that looked at my truck so he would give me an est. I told him I would meet him there. 20 minutes later. he looked at the truck and said 250.00 installed that includes a full flush of the system with new fluids and such. He is replacing all of the freeze plugs that are on the side of the engine.

I looked at the drivers side that they said was the problem, and what I saw I could not believe. There was this Black gooie stuff coming out of the freeze plug area.

 

Just broke down medal. Don't worry about it. $250 for the whole side is a good rate.

 

wow that's not bad... I think he has to yank the e-manifold to get to them, that shouldnt take long at all. actually, it sounds pretty cheep, just the r/r of the manifold itself is about an hours worth of work. how much does he charge per hour?

 

I don't know how much he charges an hour, I have no clue what he is going to do to replace them. He is doing both sides of the engine. The Pass. side is not nearly as bad, just the drivers side, the one in the front is hosed. but since he will be in there, he said he will replace them all. Well four of them at least. the dealer said there are 8 all together.