About three weeks ago my 2012 Dodge Journey AWD SXT overheated while driving home. As I still had about 50 miles to go, I stopped at a service station to see if they could determine if anything was wrong. The garage removed the thermostat as a precautionary measure until I could take it into the dealer.
Once I took it to the dealer they found a hole in the thermostat housing (they told me someone drilled a hole in the housing. Looking at the housing, it was not a drilled hole, rather looks like excessive heat caused a blowout. Once they replaced the thermostat housing and the thermostat, they told me they tested the vehicle extensively and it was all okay. Sounds great, $225 for a thermostat housing and thermostat notwithstanding.
As I drove the vehicle home, I noticed it wasn't quite overheating, but was still running hotter than normal. As I looked at the service record, their extensive testing involved driving the car for a total of 6 miles. Glad they were thorough! I have now been driving it a couple of weeks, including a 1,000 mile trip last week. The temp gauge never went to the halfway mark before, but is now routinely slightly above the halfway point. If I am doing stop and go in rush hour the temps get above 212, highway driving is between 195 and 205. I didn't check it all that often before, but if I recall it was typically between 185 and 195.
My concern at this point is in addition to it running slightly hotter than normal, my gas mileage has decreased as well. Where I used to get 24mpg on the highway, I am not at 20 and am at 16-17 in the city. Any ideas on what may be happening? I called the dealer and they told me the temperature ranges are normal, but didn't have any explanation for the gas mileage other than to say that is typical for the DJ.