Hello,

This issue was covered in minimal detail on another forum, but I want to provide you with some info. On my 01 Concorde with 59K miles, I recently had a coolant leak at the water outlet box (where the vent is) on top of the engine. The seam split. No possible way to repair the existing one; it was done. The dealer sold me part number 05017183AB ($129) which included a change where the vent was moved from the top of the box to the pipe. This piecehad new pipes including the one that runs through the intake manifolds back to the heater. Well, I tried everything to get that heater pipe out. I took off both the upper intake plenum and lower intake plenum. There is no way possible to take that pipe out without removing either the heads or the entire front fascia.BTW, you have to at least loosen the upper intake plenum to get to the back bolts of the water box.

I contacted NAPA andthey gave me a direct replacement part foronly the water box (with the vent on top). This part (number 600-3245) only cost $40 and you reuse the existing pipes. The woman at NAPA said "We sell alot of those". If I knew this going in I could have saved myself about 6 hours removing the lower intake plenum, fuel injectors and the heater hose connection.

I would really like to meet the shining star at Chrysler who designed this mess. I wonder if they sit around and say "Let's put in something prone to fail and make it impossible to replace."

If anyone wants more details on this repair, just let me know....

Bill

 

FYI the new design is to take care of it so it wont leak again so expect to be replacing the one U just did again.

 

The problem is that you can't install the upgraded design.

So while it was nice that Chrysler recognized the problem, their fix falls short because it is not easily implemented.

Now that I know what to do, I could probably replace this part start to finish in under 4 hours.

 

it can be done I have done about 40 of them the new design. Yes the whole upper intake has to come off the connector for that tube is at the back of the intake going to the heater core line. There fix is just fine I have has the new one for over 2 years with no issue.

 

Well for the interest of everyone who reads this forum, what is the trick to getting the old one out and the new one in without removing the heads or the entire front fascia?

I have not seen a post that covers this aspect of the repair...

Bill

 

The heads dont need to come off nor does the front cover.
The pipe lays down in between the heads not below them and the pipe will slide right out. here is the Chrysler manual way of doing it. This is the housing only but the same procedure has to be done for the whole pipe part.

z0100505.htmWATER OUTLET CONNECTOR - 2.7L REMOVAL WARNING: DO NOT REMOVE PRESSURE CAP WITH THE SYSTEM HOT AND UNDER PRESSURE BECAUSE SERIOUS BURNS FROM COOLANT CAN OCCUR. [*]Drain cooling system. Refer to procedure in this section.[*]Remove upper intake manifold. Refer toEngine for procedure.[*]Remove screws attaching heater tube to outlet connector.[*]Disengage tube from outlet connector - only enough for connector removal.[*]Remove bolts attaching water outlet connector Water Outlet Connector - Removal and Installation[*]Remove outlet connector. [/ol] INSTALLATION[*]Clean sealing surfaces. Inspect gasket for tears and cuts. Replace as necessary[*]Install outlet connector and tighten bolts to 12 N·m (105 in. lbs.) Water Outlet Connector - Removal and Installation[*]Inspect and replace heater supply tube O-ring as necessary.[*]Lubricate O-ring and insert heater tube assembly into outlet connector. Tighten screws to 3 N·m (30 in. lbs.)[*]Install upper intake manifold. Refer toEngine for procedure.[*]Fill cooling system. Refer to Cooling System Filling in this section[/ol]

 

Update, what is not covered in the attached post is that the front (top) crossmember has to be removed or at least moved to allow removal of the coolant piping. Apparently, Chrysler believes that this is no big deal since you would have to loosen it to change a headlight bulb. This was the one step that I did not attempt. I lost my motivation and went the easier (less long term?) Napa fix....

Bill

 

I had this issue on my 2002 Concorde LX with 2.7 L engine. Dealer wanted $400 plus to fix it. I looked at the situation, saw that the upper intake would have to come off, priced the assembly which was around $120 and decided to do the obvious. I pried the top containing the vent off by inserting a thin blade knife into the seam at the leak and gently worked it around the entire seam until the upper lid seperated from the bottom body. I cleaned the rim of the lower box and put silicon caulk around the rim then reinstalled the cap and drilled five holes thru the rim of the cap into the rim of the box. I then installed 1/2" long #6 stainless steel screws anchoring the top to the housing. I made sure to put silicon on the screw threads as well. Let the whole thing cure for 24 hours and after 40,000 plus miles no leaks and the screws are still tight. The fix took 30 minutes and cost two bucks for screws. The stainless scres also look pretty good around the cap.

 

I like your fix and if I knew of it before spending 20 plus hours on this, I would have tried it. If the new one fails, that's what I'll do...

Thanks,
Bill

 

hello i'm looking for answer about my car can you help my
my question is i have 2006 300c with 2.7 engine i took the to the dealer and they replace the thermostat housing but still leaking i check my self and i can see the leak is leaking from one small hole is below of the thermostat housing but the thing is that leak star only when the car on i mean when you star the car what could be the problem