Van died on the road. It wants to turn over, but it won't start. I had it towed to Firestone. They're telling me that it needs a whole list of stuff. I ask them, quot;What does it need to just get it running?They say, quot;A new timing belt, water pump, thermostat, and coolant flush.quot;If the timing belt is indeed broken, I know that it will need to be replaced. And, probably the water pump, too. But, what is the importance of the thermostat and coolant flush? Will the car not run if I don't have a thermostat? Can't I just put Engine Coolant in and not have to quot;flushwhatever is supposed to be flushed?Thank you in advance for your help.
they are trying to upsell ya,car with x amount of miles needs this $$$.
you are talking of many hundreds if not 1000 dollars of work,,,dont worry about the 8 dollar thermostate and 20 dollar flush...in fact the valves may be bent up or head gasget blown....if that engine has 100.000 to 150K miles a bebuilt is the way to go...
Yes as the water pump moves the coolant. They could have collected and reused the old coolant and added a bit of water to get the level up. Get it checked at a local garage(or buy a tester yourself) to see how strong the mixture is so you know how low you can go.
when replacing the water pump yes you do have to drain the coolant and fill again (might as well get a flush) but replacing the thermostat could be optional unless of course its faulty and/or you never replaced the coolant when you're supposed to. ask your fellow technician if the thermostat can be still used. what mileage does the van have? if you're exceeding the limit of 100K w/o proper maintenance then you'll due to replace all and service all.
It sounds to me like the water pump broke apart, and destroyed the timing belt. The thermostat has wax inside it to control when it opens and closes, so if it overheated there's a good chance the wax leaked out, and the thermostat will no longer open when it should, causing further overheating. As for the flush, they probably want to make sure there are no broken pieces of water pump in there that will cause further damage. As for having your vehicle serviced by Firestone. Ugh:-( I too would be worried about valve to piston contact when the belt broke, but I'm not sure offhand if that's an interference engine or not. I do however know (slightly off topic), from my time as a Dodge tech, that they had a silent recall on the 3.0L heads: If they happened to have them off for any reason, they would cut a small groove in the top of the valve guides with a special tool, and install a snap ring to prevent the guides from sliding down into the runners.
