odd coolant behavior

[mpaulson]

While on a trip yesterday towing about 14,000#, did a 300kms leg of the trip with no problems. The truck sat parked for about 10 hours. On the 300km leg of the trip back, right after getting on the hiway, the temp guage shot up to 230 degrees and once I backed off the go peddle, it would all of the sudden drop like the t-stat opened up finally and then come down. The fan clutch is working becasue I could hear the roar of the fan which in my 177k of driving this truck I have rarely heard. As long as I didn't use too much power when going up grades, it would stay about three needle widths above where it normally is while towing. It was pushing coolant out into the overflow container and spraying under the hood when this was happening. I stopped and pulled the cap off and the coolant was about 8" down from the top of the rad, so I topped it up and drove the rest of the trip without any temp fluctuations and all was normal. When I got home, I could hear it bubbling into the over flow container and the coolant was again about 8" down in the rad again.

No white smoke, no visable leaks, the system was flushed about three months ago when the EGR was removed and about a week after that, it did an overflow tank over flow and sprayed under the hood, and hasn't done anything for months since and I have towed allot in that time. Rad cap was also replaced at that time.

I'm hoping that this isn't a head gasket issue, and something as simple as a bad rad cap, or a themostat that was sticking.

any ideas?

 

[JBallou]

With that many km on it I would think it is the thermostat. It could be a little tweeked, even seen some with one side of the spot welds cracked and broken. It is the easiest and cheapest of the possibilities. Only use an OEM thermostat. Pull it and do a visual on it.

 

[LNaugle]

I noticed you have the egr deleted... . i would suggest grinding the empellers on the water pump... too much coolant flow with egr delete and using hard will cause your problem also... Go to parts store and get visual on 5. 9 pump and make yours look similiar.

 

[marc]

While on a trip yesterday towing about 14,000#, did a 300kms leg of the trip with no problems. The truck sat parked for about 10 hours. On the 300km leg of the trip back, right after getting on the hiway, the temp guage shot up to 230 degrees and once I backed off the go peddle, it would all of the sudden drop like the t-stat opened up finally and then come down. The fan clutch is working becasue I could hear the roar of the fan which in my 177k of driving this truck I have rarely heard. As long as I didn't use too much power when going up grades, it would stay about three needle widths above where it normally is while towing. It was pushing coolant out into the overflow container and spraying under the hood when this was happening. I stopped and pulled the cap off and the coolant was about 8" down from the top of the rad, so I topped it up and drove the rest of the trip without any temp fluctuations and all was normal. When I got home, I could hear it bubbling into the over flow container and the coolant was again about 8" down in the rad again.

No white smoke, no visable leaks, the system was flushed about three months ago when the EGR was removed and about a week after that, it did an overflow tank over flow and sprayed under the hood, and hasn't done anything for months since and I have towed allot in that time. Rad cap was also replaced at that time.

I'm hoping that this isn't a head gasket issue, and something as simple as a bad rad cap, or a themostat that was sticking.

any ideas?

Sorry to hear about your problem. I had similar problem on my 2007. 5, changed the thermostat, water pump, rad cap. didn't fix problem. Took to dealer. failed head gasket at 38k miles part covered under warrant no problems in next 21K miles. Good luck and keep us posted

 

[LNaugle]

worst case is deffinetly headgasket... . would be a lil surprised with H&S tuning though.

 

[mpaulson]

Didn't make it to work this morning with it, had to add about 12 litres to the rad to get to town. It is at the local shop and the ARP studs are ordered from Sinister Diesel in CAL on an over night shipment and the head is coming off in the morning. I called about 9 places looking for the studs and finally found them, everyone has been on backorder for months! Got lucky, I really didn't want to have to use OEM studs, I want to do it right the first time.

$2500. 00#@$%!

Hope they don't find the head to be warped or anything and need to add to the bill.

 

[EB]

When you say DPF-EGR delete, did you delete the cooler(take it off) I had the same problem and the head gasket was replaced, it did not fix the problem. The cooler was leaking internally. When the cooler was replaced, it fixed the problem. I had to pay for the head gasket job. This happened a long time back and I removed the cooler shortly after that and have had no problems since. If you have removed the cooler completely, ignore this post.

 

[martion007]

when You hear bubbling into the over flow container right after You shut it off Yeh it's head gasket. same thing happened to me. Yes H&S nini-max w/deletes. So now I use mild setting with no turbo tune. When pulling up a long hill or mountain I use no-power setting.





2011 SLT diesel 2wd duelly, 68RFE, 373 rears

Full DPF deletes with H&S Performance mini-max chip

firestone airbags/ on the fly adjust

woodhouse dodge sleeper berth

110 gallon extra aluminum fuel tank

RV hauler

 

[mpaulson]

Just got the truck back today. New head gasket and thermostat. Gasket was cracked between 3-4 and 4-5. It now has ARP studs and I will be putting the timing back to default on the towing setting on the smarty jr. Yes, the cooler has been removed since about march this spring.

Now to deal with the whiney rear end. It goes back in on Tuesday to have that thoroughly look over and inspected. #@$%!

Never ends!!!!!

 

[marc]

mpaulson

Sorry about the head gasket, but glad to hear you are fixed and back on the road. don't forget to mark your coolent resivour and check it as it will drop a little as the air is expelled, not much but a little. Good luck. BTW I have kept my smarty on 3 with egr pluged and dpf deleted. No problems to date ( over 20K miles) knock on wood.