Durango 5.2L V8

• Automatic transmission
• 109,000 miles

-- GO DOWN TO PROBLEM #3 --
1999 DURANGO ENGINE GOES DEAD - PCM - it is the same problem, summer approaching, warm weather, the PCM gets hot, and the engine goes dead. It is incredibly inconvenient, under the sweltering sun. I learned about the solution from reading all the posts. I feel sorry for people, and I, being under the Dodge dealership's mercy, or rather, financial torture.
#1 The problem is the faulty PCM design and/or soldering and/or inferior circuit board component. I found the best price on a remanufactured PCM at a website before or during the winter months, but I misplaced it. Now that the heat is here, I have to find it. The cost is about $250, with you mailing back the core PCM. When I find the website, I will post again, with it's web address. Until then, or to find out what I have found out, for the site's address for getting the Durango's PCM, I will post to http://www.jumpsquid.com/durango-pcm
or this might look better, http://www.jumpsquid.com/durango-pcm
The other problem with the Durango is the a/c cooling, and in concert with that, the engine cooling. The exterior a/c radiator is rather large, completely covering and in front of the engine's radiator.
When the a/c radiator gets clogged with junk, bugs, dirt, etc. and with it completely covering the area of the engine's coolant radiator, the air flow, hence cooling is always compromised; bad design, in my opinion.
I have heard of, read of, Durango owners burning up their engine's oil with the constant hot temperatures, then the engine freeze. That is bad.
As one AutoZone long-time employee, advised me against buying a thermostat with too low of a temperature rating, 160 F, I think,,, he said, '... those V-8s like to run hot, ... if you keep it too cool, it will mess with your fuel efficiency, ...' .
I don't think so, with the huge potential disaster of possible burning-up and freezing an oil eating hot engine, I prefer and recommend to go cool. There are obvious heating design flaws with this engine and I think that no engine should be fooling around with coolant temperatures near 200F. Any engine causing the coolant to boil in the cooling system, is headed for disaster.
As it is, right now, out in my driveway, I cannot let the Durango sit there and idle, with or without the a/c, on. It will eventually burn off all the coolant, then the oil, and then freeze.
#2 So, I guess it is sort of good that the Durango does stall from the faulty PCM. Maybe this is telling me that I need to conquer the engine coolant problem first.
....la la la, this is getting long,,,
so, back then, last year, I removed/disabled the engine thermostat. I cut-out the center of the thermostat, and replaced the clear-for-coolant-flow metal thermostat mounting ring.
A high speed electric cooling fan should be put in front of the sandwiched? radiators. A meticulous cleaning of the radiators, would be very important to do (taking care not to damage the a/c or engine radiator fins (leakage-then disaster)).
I plan to do this, cleaning.
#3 The third main problem that I can think of is: the weak a/c performance.
I read somewhere that there is or might be a valve to stop the coolant flow to the heating coil/a/c air-cooling radiator,,, aka-evaporator, area. Supposedly the coolant flow to this compartment is not really blocked when you want it cool in the cabin. I haven't researched this yet; I don't know if a simple turn valve exists. I do think that halting the flow of coolant to the heater core would be a great help with cooling the cabin.