Dodge Spirit 4cyl cooling system troubles

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I am having some cooling system trouble with my 1993 Dodge Spirit 4 cylinder. I changed the thermostat and gasket recently and I was told to bleed any trapped air out of the system by pointing the nose of the car slightly uphill and running the engine with the radiator cap off until the cooling fan kicks in. If I run the car with the rad cap off, the coolant in the radiator will start boiling before the radiator fan turns on. That's not right, is it? If I put the radiator cap on then let the engine run until the cooling fan turns on, I can feel water boiling in the upper radiator hose and at the radiator cap. Any idea what is causing that? The car doesn't overheat while driving normally and the coolant doesn't look dirty.

Second problem. It seems that my cooling system doesn't make or hold any pressure. I can drive the car for a length of time, shut if off and right away open the radiator cap (which at this point is only lukewarm to the touch) and there's no obvious pressure release. I have tried 2 different used radiator caps and 1 new one all with the same lack of pressurization. I don't notice any oil in the coolant, or coolant in the oil or any crusty white buildup on the spark plugs, so I don't think the headgasket is bad, is it? Any ideas what's causing this to happen?
 
These old Chrysler 2.2/2.5 engines are not difficult to bleed, so I doubt the problem is that you have air trapped in the system. Are you sure the coolant is boiling and that you are not looking at exhaust gases in the cooling system from a blown head gasket?
 
It doesn't start boiling/bubbling until about 20 seconds before the cooling fan turns on. Any time before that and there's no bubbles in the coolant
 
Those older chrysler like that would often boil over before the fan cam on. I worked on alot of those back when they were popular and that was always a problem.
 
You let it run with the cap ON untill the thermostat opens. Then shut it off and check and fill it as needed after it has cooled.

The thermostat should open @ 195F and the cooling fan should come on @ 220ish. Theres no way that you can run it till the fan comes on w/o a radiator cap on it!
 
You should always remove the hex headed bleeder plug above the thermostat when filling the system with coolant.This will purge any air behind the thermostat.Screw it back in when coolant is running out (engine off).
My fan comes on way before the system boils over.Temp gauge about 3/4,then comes back to 1/2.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
You let it run with the cap ON untill the thermostat opens. Then shut it off and check and fill it as needed after it has cooled.




Wow....so all these years of owning various 4 cylinder Dodges I've been doing it wrong. Man I feel dumb right now
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NHGUY wins the prize. That's the way you do it.....
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
You should always remove the hex headed bleeder plug above the thermostat when filling the system with coolant.This will purge any air behind the thermostat.Screw it back in when coolant is running out (engine off).
My fan comes on way before the system boils over.Temp gauge about 3/4,then comes back to 1/2.
 
Yep, the hex head bleeder plug is it.
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It's really simple :P Check out allpar.com they have this documented multiple times on their site even as yes.....it is a common "problem" due to the way they designed the cooling system on those old Mopars (I drive an 88 Aries....with the same deal).

One shop put some sort of anti-seize on the bleeder screw when they took it off.....since it is a "weak point" - for example, have heard of the screws stripping/breaking inside the thermostat housing due to corrosion, etc....
 
If you can't get the plug out which can be an issue, I have run into it in mine, you can drill a small hole in the thermostat and they should help get the air out.

I always ran a 180 in all of mine, turbo or N/A. I never had any problems. Let us know how you make out.
 
I had a spirit and shadow etc


Do yourself a big favor, yank the fan off, tow bolts at the top, disconnect the pig tail lift up.


Now look at the bottom section of the radiator down near the core support. what condition are the fins? If they are all rusted, missing, green etc, go buy another radiator, about 100$.

I cant tell you how many of these things had over heating issues because the radiators was shot, people would overheat, blow the head gasket and then infer the engine was junk when in reality the radiators had about5 yr life span. Once you get all the fins as dead metal, they dont conduct heat away.

I still have a couple Daytonas and they run great, just dont cheap out and replace the radiator.
 
Originally Posted By: VNTS
I had a spirit and shadow etc


Do yourself a big favor, yank the fan off, tow bolts at the top, disconnect the pig tail lift up.


Now look at the bottom section of the radiator down near the core support. what condition are the fins? If they are all rusted, missing, green etc, go buy another radiator, about 100$.

I cant tell you how many of these things had over heating issues because the radiators was shot, people would overheat, blow the head gasket and then infer the engine was junk when in reality the radiators had about5 yr life span. Once you get all the fins as dead metal, they dont conduct heat away.

I still have a couple Daytonas and they run great, just dont cheap out and replace the radiator.


I had that happen to my old 92 Spirit. The fins were corroded and almost half were missing, it would boil the coolant in the upper hose, no pressurization...I replaced it with another radiator from a junkyard and never had those problems again, then 4 months later the headgasket blew
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So, I made a video of my cooling system problem. The only time the bubbles pop is right before the cooling fan comes on. Any other time and there are no bubbles. I drilled a hole in the thermostat already. Check the video (bubble action at the 1:05 mark)
 
You're getting clumps of bubbles b/c the rad cap springs open then slams shut.

Even if you get all the "air" out, coolant that was under pressure can suddenly become water vapor in the rubber hose on the zero pressure side of your cap. Then it is up to the "bong water" in the overflow tank to cool it down and recondense it.

I think your troubles should soon be over with the hole in your thermostat. I think you should back down a hill then slam on the brakes, slap it in manual first, and punch the gas. More tilt is better! Massage your top rad hose, wear gloves or whatever, while it's running and see if you can feel the rad cap burping when you give it a good squeeze.

And a +1 for VNTS, my dodge dakota had "fin rot" all on the radiator, wicked. New radiators are silly cheap now thanks to the global economy.
 
Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Coolant SHOULD rise in the puke tank when hot.

I can't see any bubbles in the vid. - maybe a little motion.


That much is understandable, but bubbles can't be good, right? At the 1:05 mark in the video, there's some bubbles popping in the overflow bottle
 
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