Freeze plugs

There are a total of fifteen expansion plugs. Six of them are 1 5/8" diameter for the cooling system. Three of them are on each side of the engine block. There are two more like that at the rear of the block. The transmission has to be removed to replace those. There are seven real small 5/8" diameter plugs to close up passages that were drilled through the outside of the block. Those are mostly in the oiling system, and they are mostly at the front and rear of the block.

All the lines run from the engine. What does it connect to on the other end?

Does your van have a rear heater? If it does, do you see a puddle by the right rear tire?

I am referring to a puddle right at the right rear tire. The rear heater core is behind that tire. The pipes going to it have plastic right-angle push-on connectors that have rubber o-rings in them. In cold weather, those o-rings shrink and leak, leaving the puddle by the tire. Chrysler developed "superceded" parts that had two rubber o-rings, ... That shrank in cold weather and leaked. When a vehicle is under warranty, the only acceptable repairs involve using factory-supplied parts.

When these were out of warranty, the better repair was to remove both pipes, then replace them with pieces of standard rubber heater hose from a bulk roll. The nipples at the heater core have a barb on them to keep the hoses from sliding off, but the hose clamps should not be right over those barbs so they do not cut into the hoses.

At the front, right behind the engine, there are aluminum bands crimped on that can be cut off with an air cut-off tool. Remove the hoses, then that leaves metal pipes that also have barbs already. Attach the hoses with clamps, like normal. This is a much more permanent repair. If you leave the old pipes on the van, you can attach the new hoses to them with nylon tie straps.

Because the pipes for the rear heater core are on the bottom, burping the air can take weeks of driving. Until that occurs, you will not get heated air in the back. The easiest way I found to bleed them was to use a cooling system pressure tester to pump the system up to five to ten pounds of pressure, then loosen the hose clamps at the heater core, one at a time until coolant flowed out. That gets the air out of the hoses. Now use a hose pinch-off pliers to clamp one hose. Pump the system pressure back up if necessary. Now open the hose clamp, at the heater core, on the hose you have clamped with the pliers. The pressure will force coolant through the heater core, then to the loose hose. The air cannot go past the pinch-off pliers, so it will come out by the loose clamp.