To make a long story short I had work done on my wifes 05 Durango 5.7 Hemi. The water pump, hoses, thermostat and radiator were replaced. The receipt indicates that Dexcool was used to top off the system. Now the truck seems to run hotter than it did prior to all these parts being replaced. The other night after picking it up it got 3/4's hot while idling in 20 degree weather. The temp dropped as soon as I drove it. Could the coolant be causing it to run hotter than it used to? Im just trying to figure this out before calling the mechanic on monday morning.

Last spring I drained the system and replaced with Zerex Hoat 50/50 mix with distilled water. The temp gauge went just a tick over half way while towing my camper in Florida in 95 degree temps. No where near close to 3/4's like the other night.

Somethings wrong. Could it be something as simple as the coolant?

 

Nope, sounds more likely that the mechanic didn't let all of the air out of the cooling system.

http://www.mademan.com/mm/how-bleed-...apped-air.html

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I will give it a try this week and see how it goes. If thats the problem it will save me some more headaches. (this truck has been the casue of many headaches unfortunatly).

 

Gojeep:
+2 on the thought that they may not have gotten all of the air out of the system. I would remove the rad cap and crank both front and rear (if equipped) heat up and let it idle.
During this process, bump the throttle up to 1.5- 2K several times to move any trapped air up and out.

Although not a big issue, If it were mine I would remove the Dexcool which has been a troublesome coolant for GM and put some good Mopar or Peak Global coolant back in there.

What type of T stat did they use? I used the factory piece when I serviced the cooling system on my 04 and had no issues. The factory T stat is set at 203 degrees.
I also replaced the fan clutch with an oem unit as lots of folks have had noise issues with aftermarket clutches.

Don

 

Thanks for the reply. I wanted to follow up on my probelm. I brought the Durango back to the mechanic and had him take a closer look at it. He began to dig into it to make sure he ordered the correct radiator and noticed that the old radiator still had the rubber flaps on it the direct the airflow through the core. they were never transfered to the new unit before it was put in the truck. It was confirmed that it was the correct radiator for the truck, the missing pieces were installed on the new radiator. The truck was then hooked up to the diagnostic machine and run confirming the t-stat was opening when it should. It has been running fine ever since.
Once it starts getting a little warmer outside I will replace the antifreeze with the correct type. Its just to cold to do the work now.