Okay, so I'm getting ready to replace my thermostat. The thermostat recommended earlier in this thread (from hughesengines) was a Hypertech. Looking at OReilly online, they list Murray and Hypertech, so I figured I'd drop by and pick one up. But the store I stopped in didn't have the Hypertech in stock. I bought the Murray's, but before I put it in, I wanted to ask: is one thermostat as good as another? They'll obviously all kick in at the advertised temperature, but how are they as far as reliability? Will a Murray last as long as a Hypertech?

Also, they had a standard Murray, as well as one that had a fail-safe that would fail to open. I initially bought the standard thermostat, but now I'm wondering if I should exchange it for the fail-safe version?

And (last question) since I don't know what coolant is currently in the system, should I flush the system and replace it with HOAT if I can find it (and Prestone if not) or should I just add Prestone, since it claims that it can be added to any coolant?

Thanks again for your suggestions!

 

Thermostats are a crap shoot. I used to buy three at a time for my volkswagen, just to get one that worked..... Hasn't been that much of an issue with the 'american' built cars I owned...... Stick it in there, take it for a drive, verify that it works. You should be ok.

It really wouldn't hurt to flush your cooling system. Some descaler in there is well might not be a bad idea.

 

I've read a lot of questionable things about Murray, so I went to Advance (my 2nd favorite store, 1st is O'Reillys) which carries the Stant Superstat thermostats. I've heard/read lots of good things about these.

 

Okay, so I flushed the coolant and replaced the thermostat last night. However, when putting the coolant back in the radiator, I didn't use anything like as much as I expected, which makes me suspicious about whether I have the right ratio. Here's the process I followed:

1. Drain radiator (Really dirty coolant - the previous owner must never have flushed it. Glad I did, rather than just adding coolant.)
2. Replace thermostat with 180* version
3. Fill with tap water and run until warm (this was according to instructions found online to run water through engine to dilute/drain the rest of the coolant in the engine)
4. Drain radiator
5. Fill with tap water and caustic flush solution, run 10 minutes
6. Drain radiator
7. Fill with distilled water
8. With engine running, open petcock and drain radiator while continually filling with distilled water. This let me run clean water through the system until the radiator started draining almost completely clear. (At this point, I would expect the entire coolant system to be almost completely distilled water.)
9. Turn off engine, and drain remaining water from radiator
10. Open coolant engine plug, and drain from engine as well.
11. Fill radiator with 50/50 HOAT coolant.

The 2001 5.9L engine should hold 20qts of coolant, and since I drained the coolant from the engine as well as radiator, I would have thought that I'd put nearly 20qts back in. But I only ended up putting in 12qts, including probably 1qt in the overflow container. This means that there will be roughly 8qts of water somewhere in the coolant system. Which means I have 6qts coolant to 14qts water, giving me a ratio of 42% rather than the 50% I was aiming for.

So my questions are these:

1. Why, after draining the coolant from the engine, didn't I get to put the full 20qts in?
2. Is 42% close enough, or should I drain some more coolant from the radiator and add 100% coolant until I feel I've reached 50%?

Thanks!

 

I have a 2000 Ram and had the same problem. The dealer changed out the torque converter and nothing changed. My Ram has been sluggish epecially when excellerating onto the highway. It feels like I almost have to punch it to get up to speed. Would these solutions for the 2001 be the same for me?

 

I have a 2000 Ram and had the same problem. The dealer changed out the torque converter and nothing changed. My Ram has been sluggish epecially when excellerating onto the highway. It feels like I almost have to punch it to get up to speed. Would these solutions for the 2001 be the same for me?

 

not sure how the one message appeared here, i was looking under a different thread? sorry

 

I have a 2000 Ram and had the same problem. The dealer changed out the torque converter and nothing changed. My Ram has been sluggish epecially when excellerating onto the highway. It feels like I almost have to punch it to get up to speed. Would these solutions for the 2001 be the same for me?

 

2001 have the death flash, if you have the death flash and a blown plenum thats where your power missing

 

You can run as low as 30% antifreeze or as much as 70%. Each amount has an upside and downside. What climate you live in should dictate what you run.