Foreign. Hello everybody! Good day to you! Welcome back! Glad you're here. This is a 2011 Chrysler Town and Country miniature van with a 3.6 Liter V6 Engine customer states that one not not this one customer state that check engine light was on. Uh, he had a transmission put in it like a year or so ago.

He took it back to the transmission place because he thought it was shifting. weird transmission place said that it needed a thermostat and now it's here because they weren't Uh, they weren't going to warranty the thermostat and I guess it was like some ungodly amount of money. So uh, what we're going to do here is uh, verify that thermostat code. we're going to check the transmission and we're gonna go from there.

So stay tuned because this is gonna be a very good video stopping. Z Engine on side Chrysler Wait 141 747 miles on the odometer tire pressure lights on warning indicator. Uh I Do not see a check engine light? Not here. Hmm, that tire pressure light looks like it's three sensors that are not reading.

I Got a reading out of the left rear and the other three are not reading at all. Okay, let's see what the scan tool has to say about this. Begin scanning. Now let's just go into transmission first.

Make sure there's no latent codes in there hanging out trouble codes please. Thermostat Rationality: p0128 Okay, so that is stored in the TCM so maybe the TCM does not like uh, what the engine coolant temp has been doing. Uh, usually that code sets when, uh, the thermostat is stuck open and the engine cannot reach operating temperature within a certain pre-programmed period of time. Basically because the coolant keeps flowing and flowing and flowing and flowing and flowing and flowing.

and it's over cooling the engine so the engine cannot come up to Temp that affects things like fuel curves and emissions. and uh, Apparently, in the case of this Chrysler it may affect shifting performance. We're in engine data now. let's see if that code is over here in the ECM p0128 Thermostat rationality.

Okay, okay, since our only clue here is involving the engine's cooling system, let's swing this into the shop and take a look at the coolant. make sure it has some. We'll check for leaks and we can go from there moving on in. Oh, look over there.

I Put another light up in the Uh in the new section of the shop. So now there's two lights. Or two lights in that section. Two in this section, Two in that section.

So uh, we're We're nearly. Or perhaps we've exceeded the Uh 200 000 Lumen Mark Fun fact. All right enough. Chit Chat Powering down.

Let's get to work. Let's see what we've got here under our Chrysler bonnet 3.6 Liter V6 All right, and just like that, we have exceeded the 200 000 Lumen threshold. Foreign. Let's check the coolant level and we have coolant.

It's kind of gross or perhaps it's just stuck open. Let's go. Uh, check some service data real quick and see if that's the direction we need to go in here. Okay, so we're in the Chrysler Truck menu right here and we're looking for the P0128 Uh, one, two five, one Two eight.

There we go. What do we got here? Thermostat Rationality p0128 brought me well. it brought me up a graph. I didn't really need a graph I Want theory of operation? Okay, set condition with the engine running ambient temperature between 17 degrees and 122 Fahrenheit Uh, the vehicle reaches an average speed.

blah blah blah. Yep. PCM detects that the actual engine coolant Falls too far below the predicted engine coolant temperature and the predicted coolant temperature reaches the predicted Target value before the actual coolant temperature releases. Actual coolant.

Targeted value: two trip fault. It means it's not getting hot enough. A lot A lot of jargon to say it's not getting hot enough. Now over here we can see our possible causes.

Uh Chrysler Was kind enough to uh to give us these lists of potential potential causes here. so we've got one local level. We've verified that's not it. thermostat operation.

We have not verified that that's not it. Signal Short Voltage Attempt Sensor Open Circuit Open Ground circuit which is the same as open so well that signal. This is ground. so an open circuit on the sensor, one of the two, or the circuit is shorted on the power side or the ground side.

Or potentially the PCM has failed now. I I Highly doubt that the PCM has failed on this. I Highly doubt that it's got a short or an open. We know it's not low coolant and that leaves us to take a look at what we cannot verify thermostat operation.

We can't go in there and see if it's opening or closing unless we take it out and then put it in some water and then watch it open. It's a good idea. Maybe I'll do that later. Uh, anyway.

uh, based on the laws of probability and process of elimination I'm like to conclude that the thermostat is potentially sticking open and or internally leaking causing this trouble. Code to set. Now just to make sure we're not blindly guessing, because there are those circuit codes that we found or potential circuit faults that could cause that. we're going to go back into the scan tool real quick and we're just going to look at the data.

if the data is showing that it is reading coolant temp. then we can conclude with more confidence that thermostat is simply stuck open and or leaking internally or it could have been removed once. That's also a possibility. So what we're gonna do.

We're gonna get out of here. We're gonna go into engine data and we want yeah, Engine There we go. Dude waiting waiting waiting wait there we go. All right.

let's scroll down through our list of Pids here and look for coolant temp. I Read very fast. Oh, there it is. We passed it.

Engine coolant temperature in degrees Fahrenheit 134 degrees currently. So what I'm going to do is we're just gonna sit here and I'm gonna give it some throttle. We're gonna heat the engine up some and we should watch this value. What? 138 That's changing All right.

Okay, that's enough I've seen enough. What I was doing. it was checking to make sure that the circuits were not opened or shorted. If they were open, it may read like negative 40.

If it was a short in the circuit somewhere, it might read, you know? Uh, four. there are 300 or 290 degrees or something crazy like that. Off the scale. but since we have a coolant temp that is in line with what would be the accurate engine coolant temperature because we only drove it in I had a look for a little while I am left to conclude that the circuitry is functioning that PCM is functioning.

Therefore I Believe that this vehicle needs a replacement thermostat. All right. Roll cart cam. Let's head on over to the workspace.

We're going to get started, we have approval, we're going to replace the thermostat, and I'm also going to do an oil change on this because it's I think like 2 000 miles overdue. All right. since we're getting into this cooling system I Want to go ahead and drain it. We're gonna drain all the old coolant out and replace it with new coolant because this stuff looks like it's the original.

Now there is a there is a drain down here under this thing. It's gonna be way. hang on bear with me. It's way up here.

You see that little red guy right there, that uh, that's our drain. Those things are pretty tight and I already know I can't get that off of my fingers so we'll go in here some needle noses. You can't get that thing to open up there we go I haven't pulled the cap off yet I don't want to get full Flowage until I'm out of here and ah, there it is. there's some Flowage back.

put that right there and I can reach in there and open that up a little bit more. Now when I pull the cap off the radiator and Eric can enter the system, all that coolant's gonna drain into our bucket right here and hopefully that's the only place it goes there. There we go. Full snow.

Edge What we got. Very good, Nice and clean and organized. not making a mess. All right.

Okay going back up top. let's go ahead and pull this up. power steering reservoir off and get the air intake and filter box out of here. And that gives us some room down here to get access to that thermostat housing.

Real easy. Operation Foreign. Let's unclamp this from the intake manifold. then the whole assembly will will come free.

See, there's a PCV hose disconnect that. put that over here. There we go. Air Filter: You're coming with me.

Pretty good shape. Foreign. Okay, we need to disconnect this piece of wiring harness from this air box right here and we're going to do that without breaking it. Let's get under that little clip.

It's a little push pin type of clip pushes in and then the little fingers that stick out kind of grip the other surface. sometimes they get stuck in tear. Now this box right here. This thing is secured with a series of uh like metal pegs and a uh and a grommet.

See that grommet down there next to the leaves. There's two or three of those that secure this unit, so all we need to do to remove it is just get a hold and pull it up. Out of those grommets. there's one two there we go and we got one left behind.

So I'm gonna put this one back in the intake box right here. Yeah, that goes right here and put that back. We can't put this back together if the grommet is over the peg because it won't be able to smash down small enough for the box to fit. Over The Grommet So you got to put it in after you remove the part and we'll put some towels in there because I Need to get rid of these leaves that I dumped everywhere.

Goodbye Leaves Shiny! Okay, now that all that stuff's out of the way, we got a clear shot at our thermostat. We can't see, there's no light. We have a clear shot in our thermostat housing down there. That's that guy right there.

Okay, what I'm gonna do. We're gonna go in with some hose clamp pliers and remove this clamp from the housing. The thermostat and the housing is one unit. so this plastic piece is going to be replaced so we'll just slide our clamp back about there.

dude. and I'm going to come in behind the hose with the little pick right here and just run that around the hose and break the bond between the hose and the plastic neck of the housing. That way I can slide the hose off. Now we want to avoid pulling on the hose with the pick because that can make the pick go through the hose and then break the hose and that would be bad.

We just don't want to do that. Here it comes. Hopefully it's drained enough or it's not gonna dump coolant everywhere. I Think it is and survey says well, not everywhere, but it did dump some.

No worries. pull this hose out of the way and elevate it some so it can drain the rest of the way. Looks good. Okay So we've got a 10 millimeter here and I think there's one more right there and then those two bolts get removed and this housing will come free from the inside housing now.

I Choose 10 millimeter ratcheting wobblies I'll get the bottom one first since I can't see it. Set that aside and then our little top bolt right here. There's the gasket, all right. And while we're uh, waiting on parts to show up, let's take this little thermostat apart and see if we can't see if there's a visual failure to this unit.

The concrete guys are going pretty hard today next door. so if you hear some grinding and Drilling and sawing and buzzing and stuff like that, uh, it's them making some countertops. Not really seen anything abnormal here. Foreign examination: I think I have figured out what's happened here.

See all that play? See how much movement there is there? Oh, this thermostat. When it opens, it's going to open like so and it's going to allow the coolant to flow through. Okay, as it heats up, the spring is going to become a little weaker. I Think this is a bi-metal spring and when it heats up, that spring pressure is supposed to reduce and that valve is then allowed to be pushed open.

But you can see how it's kind of canted, see how it's a little sideways as you can also see here how it's closed on that side and we've got a gap on this side so that would let the coolant bypass see how that moves around. I think that's a little excessive and I think that because if we take this back out, we hold this thing sideways. like pretend that the spring is putting uneven pressure on it. It can hold it sideways Now it doesn't want to come out.

see that just from some sideways, just a little bit of side load gravity. Now there's possibility that when it's in the open position like so if it's not sitting straight, they won't be able to close as easily as it normally would. Additionally, I'm wondering if all this extra motion right here is just allowing coolant to uh to bypass the seal. Perhaps this is actually normal and the seal has compressed, which changed the clearance between the valve and the housing, allowing that staking condition to occur.

I'm speculating because I can't prove it, but that's what I see. Anyway, we've got a new unit on the way, so we're going to toss this one in, fill the coolant system back up, stocking's the engine, and then we're gonna go drive it. and then we're gonna watch and see what the coolant temperature does on the scan tool and on the gauge. All right.

So I have a replacement thermostat housing assembly right here and I see very clearly now. Uh, what the issue is? See right here. there's an O-ring or there was an O-ring or there is. no o-ring This one.

The new unit has a rubber o-ring right here. See that right there. It's going around the metal plate on the thermostat. This one is missing.

It has deteriorated, come apart, falling off. who knows what. But this one does not have the seal on it so it's always bypassing. and this one right here does have the seal on it.

so that's a confirmed, uh, confirmed fault. Discovery Let's go get this thing put back on and uh, we'll refill this cooling system and hit the road. Yeah, that was odd I Just thought that that one small little o-ring gasket thing was the one responsible for ceiling. Turns out there's more.

See you see? That's how I know that I know nothing because I learned something new every day I learned something new every day. Therefore, you know nothing. We don't know what we don't know and I know that we don't know quite a bit. All right.

Got the two bolts in hand, thermostat in hand. Let's get this thing threaded up and we'll slap that hose back in. Come here a second bolt. Get in there.

It's hard to line it up when you can't really see you. just gotta gonna feel around that's in slow motion clips. There we go. Yeah, where'd that hose run off to I Lost it Then oh it's over here.

way off to the side where it would not be in the way. I will take this guy and bring it down under Hill place that hose over our new housing right? There is a little stop line thing sticking out so we want to try to run that hose all the way up to that little Mark Foreign. Now to me, it is very important that this clamp goes back in the same place where it came off. There's little witness marks on the hose to show where the clamp used to be and I want to put it back right there.

A couple reasons: Uh, Number one, that's where the pressure points are uh, or the memory you could say is built into the into the rubber from the previous hose clamping for us. And number two, it looks better. So you can't tell I was ever here except for this is shiny and this is not. But if I had left this clamp, you know over here or over here or turned it you'd be able to see those witness marks and then go.

haha. someone was here and I think a good repair is a repair that's hard to identify. Hard to find. Anyway, let's back up some and get our air box back into position next.

Go ahead and get the Box in. I Just had two grommets and pegs. one here and one here. So what I'll do is I'll I'll get this thing started and I'll reach back and feel where that grommet is and get it lined up.

Push them in one at a time. just kind of rock it in harness. power steering our One Singular nut click, engine error filtration element. Let's get those out of here.

We don't want to ingest, uh, shop towels into our engine. That is bad. It happens too. Yeah, Red shop towels, Blue towels, Paper towels.

Your mom's towels. Do Not put towels inside of an intake manifold. Or don't lose your towels in the intake manifold. That's better.

Tighten our little clamp down right here. clamp clickage PCV hose that goes back in, it's all in position. looking good here. Let's go ahead and back up one more time and refill our engine coolant.

Oh wait wait wait wait wait wait wait. We forgot to close the drain plug down here. That would be unfortunate to start pouring coolant into this and it starts pouring itself back out onto the floor you do not want to do. There's a little red guy pliers I can't actually see this.

so I'm I'm looking through the camera to see what I'm doing here. This thing is an invaluable tool that looks good. How's that? Okay, that's closed all the way. We're in good shape.

All right. All right, let's get out of here. Time to add some, uh, some anti-freeze to the equation. Coming in with some not sponsored engine coolant.

Yes, it is green in color. No, it is not going to be a problem with the red colored. It's the same chemical compound. this is propylene glycol.

The difference is is the dye. This is a very light tinted green and they call it Universal It does meet the specs for the Chrysler coolant. The color won't be a problem. It won't turn to gel.

It won't cause a nuclear explosion. It won't spin the bearings. It won't overheat. Everything's gonna be just fine I promise.

Bubbles All right. we're sort of full here. Time to starting the engine. foreign looking before the parts got here I did the oil change on this already Okie dokes I need to let this thing run idle come up to Temp a little bit.

Keep continue to Top This radiator off and then uh, once the bubbles stop coming out, we'll go ahead and hit the road cover. that and I'll squeeze the Overflow tube and it should send some of the air down the vent tube into the Overflow slash surge container squeezing again. All right, foreign. Okay, let's see here.

engine cover. All right that goes in there. Good to go. Let's back this thing out.

Now we've already. uh, reached operating temperature. That happened very quickly. Actually, we've only been running for uh, a couple minutes.

This is good. That tells me that that thing is not bypassing coolant and it came up to Temp very fast. Uh-oh look at that. Now it's starting to overheat.

There's an air bubble in the system I knew a gallon and a half wasn't enough. Cooling it's not hot yet. No worries. Oh yeah, yeah.

I Can hear the air running into the Overflow feel it coming out. See the bubbles? they're squirting everywhere. All right. We purge this one more time.

we'll add some more to it. Foreign? Yeah, that was all the all. the air that ended up getting its way into the engine, kind of sloshing around in there. Let's get some more coolant.

Oh you said? Oh yeah. it's taking this whole gallon now. That puts us right at uh, we're almost two and a half gallons. This is good.

Foreign. Nice. not nice. Spillage: What Are you starting the engine? cool? That's back to normal.

That was fast. Oh you say again. Refill complete. Throw that guy back on I Have to drive it and we'll check it again.

So after I drive it I'll uh I'll let it cool off and then check it again. But for right now we need to worry about nice and shiny. Full flat. Center Jet: I Like yeah, there we go.

Get rid of all of our dribits and droplings. Okay thermostat, recheck, temperature recheck, that's looking good Nice. Let's pull everything back up on the scan tool and then uh, we'll go out and hit the road real quick. like collecting data.

Rapid scrolling again. Oh there it is I missed it. Engine coolant temp sensor. where are you got it? 195 degrees 195.8 That happened fast.

All right. One quick trip around the block and uh, this thing should be good to go. so let's go hit the road. All right guys, we're looking really good so far.

uh my battery is at uh one percent and it could die at any second on said GoPro and uh I hate to redo scenes So I'm gonna go ahead and just take this opportunity right now to thank you guys for watching this video. Hope you enjoyed this video. It was, uh, short and sweet. Pretty simple.

If you did enjoy this video, please feel free to let me know about that by tap that like button down below. If you do not enjoy this video then uh let me know about that in the comments section down below. So again and as always, thank you for watching and most importantly, do not forget to have yourselves a great day! See you guys later in the Chrysler into GoPro battery until I run out of battery. but I'm back for now.

Bonus: Oh yeah. I Also reset the oil life monitor too. Real simple operation. Coolant temps looking good.

it's a shade under the middle Mark And the PID on our ECM tells me that we are at 203 degrees which is perfect right where we need to be. I Like it, that was loud. Damn. More Steam Actually no we don't want steam.

we just did a cooling system repair less Steam and I got his hose is dragging the ground. see that I Don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but yeah yeah, he's messing up right now. It's not okay bro. you're dragging, pull over pressure washer man.

I Want to tell you yeah? Looks like he's gonna need to have his hose fixed. uh-oh trash pile on the road. Get out of here. Why?.