Dodge Durango Forum II

MAJOR OVERHEATING ISSUE- Need info. - kinda long!

Doug Buckler PA 2001 4.7 SLT
doug.buckler@towers.com

I was on a short trip this past weekend when going up a very steep and long hill in Northern PA (Red Rock Park) the temp needle started to rise. I fully expected it to rise a little bit and return to normal after reaching the top of the hill. Once I reached the top of the hill I was concerned but didn't want to stop. I wanted the RPM's to stay up in order to spin the water pump, and wanted to keep air flowing through the grill and radiator. It didn't work. The needle shot through the roof, the D stalled and I pulled over. A few minutes later I was able to start it and limp back to a campsite where it stalled out again. There was coolant fluid everywhere under the hood, but there was never any steam as you would expect from an overheating situation. I tried starting it again and it started. There was no throttle response as the timing was way off. I added 2+ gallons of water and let it sit for about an hour. It then started up and ran good. I drove it 20 minutes to my destination. It sat all night. The next afternoon I started it to find steam coming out of the exhaust for the first 30 seconds or so (it was 75 degrees out). I drove it home and it was fine at highway speeds but began heating up again after exiting the highway.

The dealer is now telling me that the head gaskets are gone, and the heads may need to be replaced. Initially he tried to say it wouldn't be covered under the warrantee (it has 28000 miles) because I shouldn't have driven it after it overheated, but I explained I really had no other choice, and fortunately my wife's Aunt works at the dealership and helped smooth things over.

Now to my real point, what other damage could have been done, and what exactly should I demand be done. I mentioned a new T-stat and a few other things and the Service Advisor said they would replace/fix anything they found to be a problem. Has anyone had this happen? How does this sort of thing happen to a relatively new truck? I baby this thing...

Thu Jul 31