99 Durango, 5.2L. Vehicle will not reach operating temp. Barely in the margins, Help completely confused.

 

Stuck open thermostat??

 

Air in the system??

 

replaced tstat, should I run for a while with rad cap off, not sure? New t-stat is Fail safe brand 180. has a small hole I figured air would equalize that way, any suggestions?

 

make sure it is in right side up. It can happen. No disrespect but it make a difference with flow. Driving with the cap on will burp it for sure but throw anti freeze all over the place.Just go slow and fillcold and add when thermostat opens and draws more fluid. Slightly raising the throttle will force thepump to flow higher and let you get in a pint more. Then cap and wait.

My next question is 180? I'm assuming for performance. If I;m not mistaken stock is 195, soyou will be 15 degrees cooler which should putyou at the bottomof the normal heat range.

 

So take cap off and allow the air to exit that way? About how long, drove around the block and nothing. I fairly certain I installed properly, coiled wire down? I looked at the Auto Zone dude crazy when he said 180 but I should have checked here for the 195. Live in NC not the Frozen tundra does the 195 make that big of a difference.

 

180 is a good temp for performance but you may lose gas mileage with it. A little word of advice I got a failsafe 180* t-stat as well and withing a week it failed and I couldn't get above 150* so I was runinng rich for a few days until I could replace it. If you want to run a 180* t-stat find a Jet t-stat otherwise go for OEM on that. To burp the system leave the cap off and fill it up then turn on your D and let it reach operating temp. Once it's there the t-stat will open and you can squeeze a little more coolant in. If you have someone gas it a little then you'll get a little more in. Cap it off and if you have an overflow tank then fill that to the recommended level and your good to go.

 

I'm stopping by tonight and getting an oem t-stat. post back later

 

As a rule of thumb that I go buy, when buying a simple yet very important part like a thermostat, I try not to buy from a parts store like Autozone or any other quickie store. You want a high quality part, and good thermostats will usually cost more than $7. They can usually order the good parts but tend not to stock higher end stuf b/c most just want hte cheapest thing they can get their hands on.

 

I agree 100% this Fail safe brand was $11.00. I'm just south of Dodge Dealer. Swing by and get the real deal.