Sorry this is a long explanation. I figure if I give ya'll as much info as I can think off it'll save time and keep me from looking like an idiot. ok, maybe not. So here's the deal. I traded a motorcycle and labor, (to turn it into a flat-tracker style steet bike), for a '91 Dodge Dakota 4x4 with a 5.2L(318) engine. The folks I got it from thought it had a cracked head or blown head gasket. I checked the oil: no chocolate milk so I figured it must be blowing out the exhaust. I took it for a test drive and it ran fine. Sure, it overheated, fast. I got back, left it running, checked the exhaust: no wet or "sweetness". Popped the hood and heard a lot of fluid flowing out from under the front of the engine. Turned out to be a bad water pump. So I replaced it and put in a new thermostat,(which had been cut off). It still was over-heating. I let it idle to temp with the radiator cap off so I could see if it was bubbling. (To check if a head gasket was blown from an exhaust valve into a water jacket and there wasn't any bubbling.) I also found out that to stop it losing coolant, two, maybe three bottles of stop leak had been added. ouch... So I back flushed it and added in Prestone scale and rust remover. If I go ten miles or more it's boiling over. Not as bad as before, but not much better. I know the bottle says 3-6 hrs driving before flushing again, but shouldn't I see some improvement? And how the H%(( can it dissolve the scale if it keeps boiling out? Could the passages in the engine be so clogged that the "stuff" won't clean the stop leak out? Have I overlooked something entirely? I'm at a loss here. This is my only ride 'til I get a new tranny and radiator in my 'Lark.
Replace the thermostat. Also remove both the upper and lower radiator hose and see if tyou can get good flow through the radiator with a garden hose.
ou: Forgot, I did replace the thermostat. UH... Just stick a hose in the upper and see?o No: Also, would that maybe work with the engine too?
I have seen a bunch of bad fan clutches on those. And unfortunately they are kind of a pain to change out, I think they require some special tools to hold the water pump still while you loosen the clutch. -Bob C.
That stop leak stuff could have clogged up the radiator. I would try the removal of the hoses and try to flush out the block as best I could with the hose as suggested. I would also reassemble and open the petcock and run the engine with the garden hose running into the top of the radiator to flush out as much crud as I could while the engine is running. You might even try some of that flush type product to get the gunk out. Is the cap good? What are you running for coolant. I finally broke down and replaced the radiator in my wife's dd. It runs about 20 degrees cooler now. Ended up replacing the wp on the same ordeal as it was leaking out the weephole too.
Hi guys, Sorry it's been so long. I've been working on my property getting it to a point that I can live there again. Anyway.... I'm going to break down and replace the radiator. I hope that'll fix it. It'll take a few days to ship here. I'll post again after that.
