Radiator or coolant leak on the 2006 Dodge Charger
2 injuries 2 of the 7 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
Only 7 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When radiator or coolant leak gets reported
There are 7 reports of radiator or coolant leak on the 2006 Dodge Charger, 7 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 30th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 72,300 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 an injury is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $350–$1,900 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2011, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2007 carries the most reports, with 40; the 2006 has 7. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Car purchased april 06 defective motor replaced within 6 months, car has been running hot, taken to dealership, jan. 07 and was told as long as the dial returned back to cool vehicle ok, took back to dealer again at 34,000 miles before warranty expired could not find anything wrong, after warranty expired dealer replaced thermostat july 07, drove 3 weeks after repair made, car had 55,490 miles, car still running hot, per dealer need radiator, had radiator replaced within 3 weeks of thermostat replacement, picked up car and drove down road when car ran hot again, hot water ran inside vehicle on driver, now took back to dealership advised need heating coil, called chrysler said dealer was misdiagnosing, dealer said car is faulty, car had been cutting off on hwy. Also. Have print out of numerous time vehicle has been to the service dept. Since purchase. *tr
Radiator cooling fan motors quit working & vehicle immediately pegged the temp gauge. The motors were hot when checking as soon as it happened. This has now happened in sept. 2008, nov. 2008 & april 2009. Replacing both of the motors solved the problem the 1st 2 times. Vehicle has not yet been fixed on the 3rd failure. The mileage on the vehicle has been about 40,000 on 1st incident, 42,000 on 2nd incident & 45,000 on 3rd incident. *tr (three related voqs from same complainant: 10272632,10267070, 10269939)
I have a 2006 dodge charger. I had my oil changed and all fluids checked at a dodge dealership on a wednesday. That following sunday while traveling through town, the engine overheated. After much investigation, it was determined that the radiator fan motors have locked up. This happened quite suddenly and I am now without a vehicle. There were no warning symbols other than the overheating. I found a service bulletin on line that pertains to the replacement of the radiator fans on 2006 dodge chargers. I called chrysler and was told that my car was not manufactured in the factory that has the service bulletin pertained to. I then called my dodge dealership and my service writer stated that service bulletins do not mean the expenses are paid for and I have no recalls on my VIN number. Therefore, dodge can not help me and my out of pocket could range anywhere from $500 to over $1,000. The service writer further stated to have the car towed into the dealership immediately and they will diagnose the problem for an additional $100. I bought my car new and the manufacturers refuse to help. Is there anything I can do? *tr
Also reported on the 2006 Dodge Charger
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other engine problem
Other fuel system problem
Other powertrain problem
Stalling while driving
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 7 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 7 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does radiator or coolant leak happen on the 2006 Dodge Charger?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is radiator or coolant leak on the 2006 Dodge Charger?
7 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed