Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Dodge engine overheating, Colorado mountains

[Snow man]

95 is nothing,I've held 116-118 for 12 miles,about 5 minutes straight. It is at 3500 the whole time,95 mph is only about 2800-2900with 285 tires. I never even rtun my truck below 2500 or so,if drop below 2300,I drop to the next gear. I like how it sounds when the turbo's screaming

 

[jwdeeming]

Me too!

Heat Problem Solved! Contrary to my post above, I discovered on closer examination that my brief hosing of the front of the cooling elements was in No Way cleaning them out.



I towed an empty horse trailer in the mountains this weekend and the heat problem seemed to be worsening. Unless I ran the heater full blast, I was having a hard time keeping below redline on any kind of hill. I got around to looking BETWEEN the cooling elements and found what others have discussed above. The front part of the radiator was completely plugged dirt and weeds. It seemed to be in a circle corresponding to the fan diameter.



For a temporary fix, I went to a car wash and was able to spray out all of the visible crud. There's not a lot of good angles to spray from, but the stuff I got out didn't seem too stubborn and appeared to come right out. For the remainder of the drive home, I was almost always at 180 deg (have a 180 t-stat), some hill climbs brought it to 190, and on one deliberately severe test (big hill climb, WOT, with comp at 5x5 to pass a string of SUVs) I saw it go to almost 200.



I'm sure this hurried job was in no way an adequate cleaning, but now I know where the problem lies. What a relief. I drive an average of 200 miles of dirt road a month - I think this will become part of my routine maintenance from now on.

 

[Mingoglia]

Thanks for the heads up... I'm sure 80% of us are going to check our radiator's for crud after work this evening... I know I am.

 

[M Barnett]

Heat Problem Solved! Contrary to my post above, I discovered on closer examination that my brief hosing of the front of the cooling elements was in No Way cleaning them out.

Glad you found the problem. I have been preaching this for a while now as I have run into several trucks with the same problem. I would like to repeat one thing. I kept trying to clean with water and I didn't have any luck. I think the worse they are packed, the harder they are to clean with water. I discovered air pressure is the way to get all the stuff out. If you think about what all goes in there, and then get it wet, it just turns into a gooey mess. Use a peice of 5/16 copper tubing connected to your blowgun and with the right bends you can get every place you need to and you will be surprised what comes out.

Michael

 

[Mingoglia]

M Barnet: Have you found that too much air pressure will bend the fins? If so, how much air pressure do you use and at how close of a range?



Thanks,



Mike

 

[M Barnett]

I haven't bent any yet, I would suggest around 80 psi and as close as you want. Important thing is to keep air blast straight on into the fins and not at an angle.

Michael

 

[thepitts]

Screen wire

Is anyone else running screen wire in front of the radiator? I just brush off the screen wire when it gets dirty. Not that a good cleaning would not help monthly or so.

 

[M Barnett]

Screen wire

Is anyone else running screen wire in front of the radiator? I just brush off the screen wire when it gets dirty. Not that a good cleaning would not help monthly or so.



I have been working the last three weeks on something. It all started when I noticed somebody had mashed about 30 percent of my condenser fins flat with their knees on top of my bumper while working on my truck. 4 x 4's are high and hard to reach. After spending a couple hours straightening the fins and realizing this could happen again and you can only bend them a couple times as then they break, I decided to build a guard to cover everything to keep mechanics from doing this again. A lot easier said than done. After making three guards, I got one I can be proud of. Then I thought, why not build a bug screen to go on top of the guard. Another problem with finding heavy duty stuff to build this with. Screen frames made for your house were just too flimsy for my taste so started a search for some heavy duty frames. Finally found some and ordered that. Then found some heavy duty screen. Finally got it done and looks good. Then I thought, my water temperature has been fluctuating for the last 8 years as the thermostat opens and closes like a lot of other trucks. So I decided to make a winter front to go over the screen. Another search and end up with marine vinyl for a heavy duty winter front. Finally got it done except for painting. The screen is sure catching a lot of bugs and the used to be exposed parts are now protected. Just need some cold weather here in Az to test the winter front.

Michael

 

[Dave MacArthur]

groser-



How did the dealer check your fan clutch? I would be skeptical. In order to do it right, they would have drilled a small hole in the top of your fan shroud in order to put a thermometer in there. Is there a hole in the top of your fan shroud? This fan clutch problem seems very common. My truck got hot yesterday for the second time (4 years old). I was sitting in traffic (something I don't usually do) and my guage started moving up past 190 (to about 205-215 or so). Also, the A/C got warmer. It was 103 degrees outside at the time. I never heard the fan kick in. The guage started moving up faster but luckily I didn't sit for very long. I have only heard the fan once and that was a long time ago. It seems that you don't really need your fan except when towing or sitting in traffic when the outside temp is high. I could get my fan clutch replaced under my extended warranty but I don't trust them after reading all the posts about failed fan clutches. I am going to go with the Horton. By the way, the only other time my temps got high was when I was off road and climbing a long very steep trail and the trans was not locked up. About 3/4 up the hill my temp guage was high and the "O/D off" light came on (indicating high trans temp. ). It was fairly cool out. The trans can add lots and lots of heat to your cooling system. I think that if my fan clutch was working, I wouldn't have overheated either time. Also, check your intercooler hose clamps. A lot of people have found these to be loose causing a loss of boost pressure. That could account for some loss of power and higher EGT's. Neither one of which will help your temperature readings.



Dave.

 

[BLee]

So, did Groser solve his problem? If so, how?

 

[groser]

did groser solve overheat problem?

Don't know. ATS in Denver installed a new torque convertor and valve body plus some gages so I can tell what's going on. Will try and test it next week and let everyone know but everything did seem to point to a slipping AT TC. I spent close to $3,000 so if it doesn't work I'm going to be pis... d.



Regards, George

 

[Tomscreek]

Had my truck in to the dealer for some other warranty work yesterday and they found the fan clutch to be bad and replaced it. 35,900 miles. It's pretty cool here most of the time and I haven't towed anything real heavy so I didn't even notice it was bad. Glad they caught it but I have to wonder why it went bad so soon??

 

[Pit Bull]

Originally posted by Tomscreek

Had my truck in to the dealer for some other warranty work yesterday and they found the fan clutch to be bad and replaced it. 35,900 miles. It's pretty cool here most of the time and I haven't towed anything real heavy so I didn't even notice it was bad. Glad they caught it but I have to wonder why it went bad so soon??

I am sure it was just a fluke thing. You can tell when that fan kicks on when your driving, kinda roars Good luck with the new one. Sounds like you have a good dealer. My wifes Dad was born in Helena Mt. and her Mom was born in Billing, and her sister lives near Cook City. I have been through there beautiful country.

 

[Brandon]

pull the radiator and clean it before anything... ... ..... thanks mike



Danelle is happy with her eth again