Hello Everyone, My name is Tim andI'm new to the forum. I have a 94 Dodgeram 250 van with 5.2 (318)engine 125k miles. I've got probblems! I'm unable to work on my own van because i'm in a wheelchair, but anyway I recently dscovered that the water in my radiator was a muddy brown looking, so i had it flushed out with water very good, but after it ran a little it was right back. The parts store told me it was rust in my block and they had some chemical friendly flush that would clear it out and it did a little, but i think that might need to be repeated. Here's my other problem, I had the top radiator hose, the thermostat andgooseneckreplaced and anothr small hose. I also had the water pump replaced (because an idiot told meit was leaking when actually it was the hose and goosenck.:-( I also had the heat sending unit replaced. Now the heat gauge needle goes a little over 2/3's of the way between C and H. Before any of this the heat gauge needle only went about 1/3 of the way berween C an H. Could i have the wrong heat sending unit, or thermostatin there now and it's causing it to get so hot? Sorry this is so long, but I wanted all to be considered, so hopefully i can get my problems "cleared" up.

 

Two things come to my mind on this.
1) The clutch fan may be bad, not locking in and cooling down as it should.
2) You may be correct about the wrong temp sending unit.

I have only owned my van for a little over three weeks so I am not an expert on them, Alloro may have better suggestions here latter, he know quite abit about these vans. Kenny

 

The sending unit could be off, or maybe the old one just read too low. Run the engine up to full temperature with the radiator cap off and put a thermostat into the coolant. This will tell you the tempurature of the coolant and you'll know if you're overheating or if it's just the new sending unit making your gauge go that high.

 

Oh and as far a flushing goes, how was it done? Did you use one of those adapters that connect into the heater hose, or did you stick a garden hose in there when things were apart?

 

Alloro which method of cooling system flushing to you prefer? I have always used the devise that connects to the heater hose.

 

Those suck and do a lousy flush job because you don't get enough concentrated water flow. The water will take the easy flow path and not force out any build up in the restricted ones.

 

I have never gave it any thought before, but that makes sense. I will start using the other method from now on.

 

Those chemical flushes can actually loosen so much crud within your cooling system that your radiator actually becomes more blocked than before you started. Hard to say sight unseen, but I'm thinking you might be needing a new radiator. Don't mess around too much with any overheating sittuation (if one actually exists) or you'll soon be replacing head gaskets, too.

 

Thanks for the replies Mobil Auto Repair & Alloro, I'll try to reply to both of you at once. I went today and flushed it out again with plain water to clear up my water even more and then filled it back up and added about 1 2/3 gallons of antifreeze. (is this about right for a 5.2 (318) engine? The heat gauge stillreads like it's too hot. They just used a garden hose to keep adding water NOT one of those things you can put in the heater hoses. Although I did run my heater when flushing it out. Should I have had them use one of those adapters that hooks to the heater hoses? I'll try and get the water temp checked and I'll post back the results of that. Thanks a bunch for your help everyone. Oh yeah I'm also going to have the heat sending unit replaced too. Thanks again...

 

Hi Everyone, Sorry I'm a little slow getting back on here, but anyway here's what I've done. I replaced the heat sending unit and according to the gauge it's stillrunning a little hot. I did take the over flow pipe out of the plastic container, so if it was pushing any water out I'd see it on the ground when i stopped, but none has came out. The new radiator cap that was put on it is one of those that has a lever to pull up to let the pressure off before opening and i think it has like 16 pound of pressure, or something like that. Is this the right pressure, or should it be more or less? Could this be the fan is just not kicking in and out right and is there any way to check if the fan is working right? Then again you might be right about the radiator Rusty93Van, but i was kinda hoping for something that cost a little less. Thanks for all your help guys...