Well, I had replaced the RAD, water-pump, T-stat, fan-clutch and all hoses this early spring. The RAD was totally shot. The hoses were extremely soft. When the van started to over heat, the hoses just went flat causing the flow to choke off a good deal.

Personally from my perception, replace all the hoses. If the replacement hose doesn't have the OEM wire spring inside, save the one in the old hose, clean it up and place it in the new hose. The new hoses are more universal. It is possible you will need to cut the hoses to length. I advise to cut to length and allow about 1/2-inch extra length with the new hose overall.

Here's my several hour job replacing all of this on a 2001 Magnum V8 engine.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-r...pump-dies.html

Hope the thread above helps in answering many questions.

 

managed to get new radiator installed today and installed the missing therm that has been in my tool box for months since the water pump replace job. dont know which one fixed the problem the most but the van temp gauge stayed in the right spot even with a trip down the interstate at high noon. so it appears that the overheating problem is solved. truthfully i believe the radiator to be the real culprit. this was the first time i was able to get close to capacity on the coolant. when i flushed the radiator months ago i could only get about a gallon in. this time it took the first 1.5 gallons right away and burped the last quart within 10 minutes. must be about 3 qts of corrosion in the old radiator by volume.

on a side note. i bought a cheap radiator from 1800radiator saved 40 bucks. it is a piece of junk, their customer service sucks and i had nothing but hassles dealing with them friday and saturday. and when i installed on sunday i really learned that their product is pure garbage just like their customer service. thank god this van is scheduled to be replaced at the end of this year i only have to worry about this cheap crap part for 6 months. my mistake trying to save a few dollars just hope i dont spend hundreds learning from it. 1800radiator sucks.

 

Engine is overheating i think. My mechanic says that it is normal, but while i am driving the temperature gauge is passing 210 degrees. If i turn the a/c off, the temperature will drop below 210. When i turn the a/c on again, the temperature rises again. New thermastat installed, radiator flushed, new coolant. Any ideas?

 

I think it has been established that flushing a radiator is not going to make it perform like a new radiator in 98% of cases.


Dragonrir, I've shot my radiator hoses with my IR gun after a long highway drive with the engine still running. The top hose was at 158.5f, the bottom was at 129.5f.

The shiny aluminum top tank read 99.5 degrees, and a black sharpied on the top tank spot read 127.

I just passed a smog test with better numbers than my test 2 years ago.