Hi everybody. My name is Kevin and I'm from the Netherlands. I have bought a Chrysler Voyager 3.0 V6 automatic from 1990. I am entering a race for a good cause in Europe. Currently I'm having some troubles, and I was hoping somebody could help me out.

Some details about the car:

Chrysler Voyager
3.0 V6 automatic
built in 1990
400.000 km
Overall: Relative good condition.

The problem is the cooling. The engine gets too hot too fast, and it loses over 5 liters of water each time I drive for 30-40 min around town. The temp gauge shows halfway, not indicating boiling point, but the expansion container next to the radiator is boiling and spitting the water out. The fan didn't seem to switch on in time, and the thermostat seemed to open too slow (tested in a pot of near boiling water) it started to open up at 94 degrees Celsius)

(note: this car will be used in a race through Europe and only has to drive 7000-8000km in normal weather conditions. After the run it will be given to charity and left in a third world country. So, practical solutions for 7000-8000km are very welcome.

So I removed the thermostat, in the hope that this would cool the engine down, but it's still bowling after 40 min driving. Next I hooked the fan to the battery, to let it run constant at full speed (thermostat still removed). It took my engine a bit longer to start boiling, but it had practically no effect in the end.2

Each time I fill up the waterlevel in the radiator, and the engine is running, I can see a little bit of flow. This would indicate that the water pump is actually pumping the water around the engine, right?

Can somebody please help me figure this mystery out? I'm not a total nitwit, but I'm no professional neither. So where to start looking from now on? Head gasket? The engine is running very smooth, transmission is perfect, no smoke from the exhaust, no weird smells or very low miles to the gallon. It starts immediately, has no problem running stationary... and is very nice to drive overall...

What could it be and how can I test the different possible causes? Any suggestions?

Thank you very very very much, when we can sort this problem out together, I will put the Chrysler Forum URL on my car as a thank you! People in a dozen countries will see it

 

I have an 05 T&C and I seem to have the same issue. Water spews from the expansion bottle, but I cant find cracks, etc in it.