Thanks guys for the updates. Here's what the dealer said yesterday. Anything I should be doing while I haev the car this far apart, short of taking the heads off?
I posted a while back about my Intrepid suddenly overheating. I parked it Fri night, changed the oil and wife drove it sat morn and it starts overheating. Never steamed or boiled, but the temp gauge went all the way to just below red.
So, I farted around with it for a day or two, decided all I knew was not fixing it. It would overheat idling, it would overheat at highway speeds. I have no idea what the problem was. The service manual says if the upper hose is hot, the t-stat is working properly. That is the entire entry in the FSM. Upper hose was hot.
So, I take to dealer. After usual BS of not working on it at scheduled time, as a matter of fact they did not work on it until I called them. After my third call the service manager, he says that the guy working on it thinks it is either the t-stat or the radiator. Then, while we are talking he states "It is clearly the radiator, you need a new one." I'm thinking the car has been running dead nuts in the middle of the temp range forever, no temp creep, no idication of the radiator reducing flow. He says "I will call you back with price."
He calls back. "$750 for radiator, you should change T-stat too, and a fill and flush. That'll be $1100." :shock:
I told him, have it ready to be picked up I cannot afford that. He said "you don't want to fix it?" I said it will get fixed, just not for that much. He said, there is a $100 diagnostic fee. I said no problem, thanks for the help in finding out what is wrong.
So, I call my parts store friend and we talk about the car. We decided that the Tstat will be replaced and the radiator flow checked. Even if I need a radiator, I will have spent 5 hours, and $350 dollars to fix this.
I don't know how people who do not work on cars afford to have them repaired. An $1100 radiator?
Oh and BTW, the clamps on the Intrepid cooling system SUCK. I am replacing them all with properly oriented screw clamps. One cool thing though, is if I go ahead and do the preventative maintenance on the timing belt and change it, it looks fairly easy after you remove the front radiator support/cover. LOTS of room. Unlike in my ram when I did to that.