93 dakota overheating?

[crazy52]

hello all newbie here,,heres my question..i have a 93 dakota 3.9 a/t 4x4 club cab and after recently having a upper radiator hose blow i've noticed the temp guage has been running hotter than before ,,i did replace the sending unit after i found it was falty and have also replaced both upper and lower radiator hoses ,,the thermostat ,flushed and backflushed the radiator,,and changed the radiator cap,,after none of these helped with the overheating i removed the thermostat and still seems to be running hot,,i checked the water temp with a thermometer and the reading is 215 degrees after running and driving and the guage is reading just about 3/4 ,,i have excellent heat from the heater even without the thermostat and it doesn't seem to be boiling over when shut off,,also water is circulating in the radiator when the cap is removed and more so when idle is increased ,,so i'm guessing the water pump is functional and working properly,,the only item i haven't replaced is the clutch fan and waterpump,,the thermostat i got from the parts store is a 195 degree model,,the temp does seem to climb higher and faster at highway speeds above 55 than below 50,,bellow 50 the guage will read between 1/4 and 1/2... any ideas would be appreicated
curt

[rhandwor]

I've gotten bad thermostats get an old coffee cup full of water heat it up in the microwave. Use pliers and drop the thermostat in watch it open. The bad ones I've had didn't open properly. A good heater hose will have a spring inside to keep it from collapsing. Check these items first, I also have had to get a new radiator. Watch the fan clutch that its turning at slower speed. If leaking oil replace.

[ryobiguy]

I have a 99 that did the same thing, only I repaced the water pump checked the catalitic converter, belt,timing. nothing worked until I replaced the radiator. Using a lazer type thermometer at different areas of the radiator did I find where the plug areas were, they were cooler than the open areas. Oh yeah! I also had flushed the radiator a couple of times. Good luck.