'02 Dakota - Overheating

bryanlglaser

I have an 02 Dakota, yester day the heater core went out shooting hot water all over my feet. I bypassed it with a piece of pipe just for now, started driving and it mediatly overheated. I wasn't over heating before the core popped, my question is, is it the thermostat?

Mr_Shiftright

Well if the heater core rotted out, one has to wonder about the rest of the cooling system. But sure, a very fast overheat could be a stuck thermostat--or a seriously clogged up radiator. You might also have trapped lots of air in the cooling system when you did your refill.