Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Engine temp and no a/c?

[RGardner]

HELP! Engine temp

Today I was pulling a pretty good load with my 2001 3500 5sp, around 16000 I would guess (round bales of hay). I have pulled this load several times before with this truck over the exact same route with no problems. Today, however, I noticed that the engine temp was climbing more than usual, staying up aound 210 to 220 (not quite to the mark between 190 and 240) and would stay there. It was not unusually hot around 90. As I got close to home I thought I could smell something burning and thought it must be the serpentine belt going out (I have 46000 on the truck). Before I could get home the a/c seemed to quit but what happened is that no air will come out of the vents, only the defrost. When I got home, I popped the hood and the belt seems ok, the a/c does blow cold air just from the defrost vent no matter what setting as to position. Odd things I noticed while under the hood, 1) quite a bit of black on the radiator overflow bottle (and it is not as full as it should be) and 2) on the engine behind the turbo is a white powder on top of things. Anyone have any ideas as to what is going on here?

 

[RGardner]

No one has any ideas?

 

[John - K5AWO]

If you had a high humidity level at the time, that would impede the cooling ability of both the radiator and the air conditioning system. The a/c has to get rid of the moisture before it can cool down the cab's interior. Tht would increase the heat load thrown off from the a/c condenser.



But the radiator should be too handle that bit of extra heat load. I would check to dirt and insects stuck in the fins. Be sure someone didn't use a high pressure sprayer on the front of the truck and fold the fins over flat. That will increase your temps in a hurry.



The white powder might be from an oil film or other material that would turn to ash when subjected to the extreme heat generated by the exhaust system.



I suspect the black stuff on the overflow bottle is belt material. Inspect that serpentine real good. either that or you have a buddy with a can of spray tar that is giving you a hard time

 

[Silver_Ram]

I was having a similar problem with my truck. I found out that the oil vapor from the breather bottle had plugged quite a bit of the radiator fins. Have the radiator checked for blockage. Three other guys I work with that have Dodge w/ CTD have had the same problem, within the 50,000 to 65,000 mile area.

 

[RGardner]

But what would cause the air flow to not come thru the dash vents or the floor vents? It only comes out the defrost vents.

 

[Little Bill]

You may have iced up the evaporator if humidity was high. The blockage can due weird things to air distribution in the ducting. If the high pressure a/c switch was acting up the compressor may have been overloaded and locked up. That would explain the rubber smell and black dust. The white dust may be toasted black dust. The high temps may be due to the increased load from the compressor and high condensor temp.

 

[NIsaacs]

Check your little vacume line that powers your heater/ac controls, the high heat may have melted it or come off somewhere.

 

[RGardner]

I have looked for a loose vacuum line but couldn't see one anywhere. Where is the line that controls the heat & a/c? I did figure out what was causing the burning smell tho. The weather strip that is along the windshield side of the hood (that never wants to stay on!) had come off on the passenger side and got on the exhaust. I think that was the cause of the smell and the white powder. Could there be any other reason why the controls to direct the air don't work? It will still turn off the system but direct the air anywhere but defrost.

 

[RGardner]

Thanks for all the help. I looked again last night and found a couple of holes burned in a vacuum line. Taped them up and all is well!

 

[WestTN]

A vacuum system failure will cause all air to come through the defrosters.

 

[BKenny]

I got my 2001 a little over a mounth ago and my noticed my weather stripping does,nt like to stay on there also it must be a common problem. Im thinking of puting some 3M weather striping adheasive on it mabey someone hear has the perfict fix for it

 

[TCory]

My AC just went out yesterday while driving as well. My vacuum hose had a hole melted in it. A quick trip to the auto store, $6 later all is well and I'm running cool again. Thanks for the post!