The shop manual for my '89 Dodge D50 Ram (Mitsubishi) states: in MOST vehicles the spring side of the thermostat goes toward the engine (in my case it faces down).
Has anyone replaced a thermostat in this engine?
And if you care to read on, this is why I ask. In the last year I've had three thermostats in the truck. Originally a local garage replaced it. Since then I replaced it myself and installed the thermostat exactly the same way the garage installed the last one. Then just today I replaced it again this time with a Mitsubishi brand thermostat, again installing it spring down.
The truck runs cold all the time. Even in the summer the heat gauge rarely goes beyond 1/3 into the gauge. In winter when it's below -25 Celsius, I have to snug the grill and rad up tight to get the gauge up towards the 1/3 mark.
The worst part is, the heater barely throws enough heat to keep the windows clear. Even at times when the heat gauge DOES show in the normal operating range, it does not give me any more heat into the cab. This has been going on for three winters now.
Originally the problem started after I had an engine coolant leak in the cab, coming from the heater area. I took it to the garage and they were able to "fit" an o-ring in somewhere. That's when my heat trouble started. I took the truck back for them to check out but they claim they can't find the trouble and they aren't responsible. I REALLY don't want to have any garage explore the heater problem until I've exhausted what I can do. The garage charged by the book (6 hours) to take apart the dash. So before I go to the next step of taking apart the dash myself and looking at the heater core, I want to rule out some obvious things such as thermostat positioning.
Any experienced suggestions out there?
Ivan