The heater not working in some cases may be related to the overheating problem you are also having. This may be due to a faulty heater blower motor or potentially a bad heater core. As you may know, the heater core is a small radiator like unit that circulates the hot coolant from the engine through the heater core which then uses this warm coolant to heat the inside of the car with the help of the blower motor that blows the warm air through the vents inside the car. When the cooling system is not properly circulating coolant through the motor, this results in the warm coolant not being pumped through the heater core properly in order to warm the inside of the vehicle. In some cases there may be air pockets in the heater core which can cause the heating of the inside of the vehicle to fluctuate between warm and cool air erratically.

 

Thanks for the reply. As part of my testing I bypassed the heater core entirely to fully eliminate that as a source of the problem.

 

Dougie:
Welcome to the forum. The 3.6L cooling system is notoriously challenging to get the air removed from it. The fact that your heater is not putting out good heat, is another sign there it likely air in the system. Have you verified that the fans are operating correctly, and at the right temps?

Don

 

Currently it has the standard cooling 3 speed single fan. While testing in the driveway it changed speeds at 220 and again at 230.

 

At 50 mph you don't need fans so it is definitely a radiator issue like air in the system or some water flow obstruction.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

The engine is running a little bit hot for idling. All my cars, 2011 Dodge Charger, 2013 Dodge Charger, and 2015 Chrysler 300 idle at 208F and maximum 212F on South florida weather.

 

Dougie:
Ok on the fan speeds and temps. Please don't take offense, but it's my opinion that you are just throwing parts at the problem, without enough diagnosis. It is a known fact, that the 3.6L cooling system is hard to purge the air out of. Shame on Dodge for making such a system.
If I were in your shoes, I'd be working on being sure that ALL of the air is out of that system. Think about this, if the system worked as designed with the non HD parts, it should be able to get back to that status.
It won't matter how many parts you change, upgrade, or add on, if the culprit is air.

Google Dodge 3.6l cooling system service, and peruse what you get back. Youtube has some decent videos that explain it.

Don

 

Dougie:
Ok on the fan speeds and temps. Please don't take offense, but it's my opinion that you are just throwing parts at the problem, without enough diagnosis. It is a known fact, that the 3.6L cooling system is hard to purge the air out of. Shame on Dodge for making such a system.
If I were in your shoes, I'd be working on being sure that ALL of the air is out of that system. Think about this, if the system worked as designed with the non HD parts, it should be able to get back to that status.
It won't matter how many parts you change, upgrade, or add on, if the culprit is air.

Google Dodge 3.6l cooling system service, and peruse what you get back. Youtube has some decent videos that explain it.

Don

Oh you're not wrong about that. Now I'm afraid it's going to be a blown head gasket. Looking for a shop to do the final diagnosis and fix it for good.

 

 

A different way

 

Appears I am really good at throwing money at problems... Turns out it was a blown head gasket.

 

If you don’t mind answering, what are they charging you to replace the head gasket?
I’m asking because my son’s 19 SXT overheated yesterday right in the middle of the Bay Bridge.🙄

He didn’t give many specifics, he just said that it was definitely streaming and he said the temp needle went so high that it disappeared. I didn’t know that they could do that on our electronic clusters.

He got it to a Dodge dealer, in Vallejo I think, no word back from them yet.

 

Sorry to hear that conclusion. As they say, crap happens. I assume you are having both sides done? Are you going to keep it and drive it?

Don

 

Yeah both sides, no sense in half assing anything at this point. My twins turn 16 in January so having this happen now has been a real blessing. The idea is to get a newer model for me in the next year or so and let the twins have this one. The more reliable, the better.

 

WOW:
The cost of the R and R for both heads, seems reasonable, but the T stat and water pump are a bit much. All of these pieces are right there, and with the top of the engine off, not much of a challenge.

Don

 

The t-stat and pump were done separate when I was trying to avoid having the top end rebuilt. In retrospect I should have had the compression test done before doing anything to it. Lesson learned.