Dodge Dart Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Doubts about my new dart -- Solved/Answered

9K views 31 replies 20 participants last post by  suzq044 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello family!

I bought my Dart 1 month ago, brand new model. 2.4 engine.

Now I have just 720 miles, driving carefully (brake-in process) but since 1 week ago I noticed a weird behavior.

I drove home- work 9.3 miles. When I go from home to work I noticed the temp gauge a little bit more than the normal range between middle and 3/4 and then 2 or 3 mins later the fan stars and get back to the normal range. Is it something wrong? Never came any warning light. With my other cars always the gauge is in the middlebut Im worried tonsee this in this car ... Thank you.
 
#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
thank you!!

Sounds pretty normal... These cars are known to run quite hot! So what you were seeing was the car heating up and then the cooling fan kicking on to cool the system. These cars run a little on the hotter side to allow for better fuel economy! Unless you start to get to an overheat range on your gauge you shouldnt have anything to worry about!
thank you!! I just uploaded a pic but With your comments Im less worried lol
 
#3 ·
Sounds pretty normal... These cars are known to run quite hot! So what you were seeing was the car heating up and then the cooling fan kicking on to cool the system. These cars run a little on the hotter side to allow for better fuel economy! Unless you start to get to an overheat range on your gauge you shouldnt have anything to worry about!
 
#7 ·
it's completely normal, nothing to worry about what so ever. As 04 and @BEMEUP has stated before, the Dart platform is meant to run hotter to provide better more efficient fuel economy. It's nothing bad, and nothing is hurting the engine with it running hotter. Mine does it in South Central PA when I throw it in Neutral while sitting in the McDonald's drive thru for my kids happy meals. With that being said it's completely normal. Nothing to worry about at all.
 
#6 ·
Totally 100% Normal behavior for all cars.
 
#20 ·
100%, and ALL ? That's pretty comprehensive. Unless you're saying that it's happening even when you don't see the indicator rise at all, nor hear a fan come on . Like high bloodpressure in humans. Happens but no indication.
Ah, gasmileage. Thou art a heartless _ _ _ _ _ .
 
#13 ·
Nah... its brand new! the coolant hasnt been used much and isnt worn out! You should be just fine!
 
#17 ·
Hey man,

Try not to freak out to much. Mine does the exact same thing, only I live in Virginia. I can't pinpoint exactly a set temp this happens at, but usually once the fan kicks back on and drops the needle back below a half everything should be fine. The 2.4 does run really hot and from what I gather it's aimed at getting better fuel economy. I am averaging 26 so no complaints here.
 
#24 ·
What youre seeing was pretty normal in the SXT that i had so it should be fine. Pretty much if the fans work, they cool the engine, and the coolant flushes through its fine.

On the GTs you get an actual temperature. My 2016 ran stock at 200 on the freeway, but idling for an extended period of time (45 minute parking lot on highway one going home daily!!!!) it will shoot up to 230. Ambient temps here are mostly 65 so it seems strange though im told this is normal.

With the Injen CAI i just put in those numbers dropped significantly - 192 while cruising and 220 in my parking lot though i do feel like i lost gas mileage.
 
#25 ·
I guess ALL cars use a cooling fan, seperate from the regular operating fan. Or maybe I am wrong . I can't seem to google anything definitive about the difference between my Pentastar and other engines I've had, including the 1.4 turbo Dart. I used to hear the fan come on with the Dart, but I honestly don't recall any distinct and frequent rises in temp on the needle (not the digital model) even though I'd occasionally hear the cooling fan come on during situations of high demand like sitting still on a really hot day. Normal and even frisky driving? Not that I remember. And I'm pretty noise sensitive about cars.
I don't know for sure what method the Pentastar uses, but, I don't believe I've ever heard a fan come on to cool off the engine even after a brisk romp on the freeway and then letting it rum 5 minutes on a parking lot to let the oil cooler do a little work. But usually the cars I've had that heavily relied on the aux. fan cooling fan would tend to come on every time I'd get home to the garage and shut off the engine. Then, the cooling fan would run a bit. Cobalt, Cruze, Ion and some before modern times.
 
#26 ·
As far as I know one is for the AC compressor and only kicks on if the AC is running and the other is for the motor and only kicks on after a certain temperature is reached.
If you run the AC 24/7 or in some cars even so much as have the dash light up without the blowers running withour the compressor it'll engage. The second was a nice trick I used when my old grand ams fan sensor went out and when I had the car I lived in Vegas with a blown head gasket so running the AC wasn't going to happen due to overheating but tricking that fan into going helped a ton since I couldn't do the repair myself or afford to have it done.

In a normal situation where the fan kicks in, the coolant flushes through the thermostat and it actually cools it - trust me that's a good thing. When all this happens and the temp continues to rise - really really bad and you have a dire problem.
 
#28 ·
Glad to have a new Mopar fan. :)
Normal as the sun rises and sets every day. If a warning light comes on in your dash, that's when something is wrong with the cooling system. As your engine and transmission break in, friction should drop a bit, everything gets lubricated real well, thus you might find in time it occurs less frequently. Mine only does it sitting idle for some time, e.g. a long red light or slow drive-thru. Fortunately these cars have electric fans which don't destroy HP and fuel economy like the old clutched belt-driven fans did. I could feel the loss of power when the radiator fan was running on my 2004 4.7L V8 Ram 1500. Never overheated even pulling over factory-rated towing capacity up and down the hills of central Missouri and Ozark country.
 
#29 ·
Thanx for your words!! ?
Glad to have a new Mopar fan. :) Normal as the sun rises and sets every day. If a warning light comes on in your dash, that's when something is wrong with the cooling system. As your engine and transmission break in, friction should drop a bit, everything gets lubricated real well, thus you might find in time it occurs less frequently. Mine only does it sitting idle for some time, e.g. a long red light or slow drive-thru. Fortunately these cars have electric fans which don't destroy HP and fuel economy like the old clutched belt-driven fans did. I could feel the loss of power when the radiator fan was running on my 2004 4.7L V8 Ram 1500. Never overheated even pulling over factory-rated towing capacity up and down the hills of central Missouri and Ozark country.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top