Well Wayne, you got lucky. I had to run an errand after work today, so I took the truck to get some gas in it as I was on "E". I get down the road, watching the gauge slowly creep upward, thinking "Good". Then she jumps between the two 0's in the 200 [:@] So I wait, and she plummets, then rises, plummets, and settles around 195-199º. I stop at the gas station (about 5 miles from the house), and pop the hood.

No blown coolant.

Well, hot damn! Maybe there's a freaking air bubble stuck in there (which is pissing me off to no end). All filled up with gas, I head to town. The temp bobbles slightly at 201º (outside air temperature was 84º) and held well. At one of my stops, I popped the hood again.

No blown coolant.

OK, now I feel better. So, I make my one final stop, load up with 160lbs of softener salt, and head home. Every once in a while the needle spiked and dropped, but no higher than 201º. I get home, park the truck, unload the salt, and pop the hood.

No blown coolant.

OK, so I am feeling better. For grins, I pull up in the lock for the radiator cap. Pressure pushes coolant into the overflow and none from under the cap. There was some sputtering, which made me think that some of the air went out with the coolant. In another hour or so I am going to pop the hood and see how much of the coolant gets sucked back inside the radiator. I released enough that it will be as plain as day that any is missing.

 

Well, hauled my trailer to Dallas and back this past weekend (~600 miles round trip) and ran hot the whole way. Didn't blow *much* coolant, and I do know that the rad cap was tight. The waterfall behind the dash continues, and not just on intial start-up. A few times this past week I've heard it while driving to school after work. I turned the heat on last week in the morning and the windshield fogged as well as the stench of burning anti-freeze making an appearance. Seems to me the heater core is bad. I am going to by-pass the heater core tonight and drive the truck for the next few days (the Cavalier is laid up in my garage undergoing new brakes, ball-joints, and tie-rods).

If the bypassing of the heater core doesn't affect running hot, then I'll know for certain that the radiator is the culprit.

 

Gotta be the radiator. I bypassed the core tonight, burped the system, and went down the road. On minor grades the needle shoots to between the 00 in "200" on the gauge. When going downhill or slightly downward, hangs a little over 200. I will try to hit a radiator shop later this week and hopefully they can tell me if this radiator is right for the truck. I don't think it is.

 

So, you sure you still want that thumbs up at the start of the thread?

That sucks about the rad, have you been keeping up with the tranny fluid temps as well? Since it's flowing thru anoverheating rad it might be getting burnt as well.

 

Just reading through this thread and I had nearly the same experience with my 97' 5.9 Ram. New clutch, new pump, new stat new cap and the same thing. Finally replaced the radiator and all is perfect. Running a 195 stat and it sits right on 200* towing a 3000# boat in 95* heatwith the air on. I chased this problem for 2 months until one day I took my infared thermometer and when it got hot, I checked the temps on the radiator. One side was cookin' and the other was cool. That was enough for me to replace it. Never looked back...

 

Are you running the stock aluminum 1-core radiator? I don't see going back to stock. Once I check things out with the radiator shop I would rather stick with a high capacity 2-core unit.

 

Yes, I am running the stock radiator. But it does do the job now. I hope you get yours ironed out soon, cause I know it's a pain in the butt when you can't trust it to stay cool. I damn near was to the point of selling mine before I finally got it fixed....

 

Called a radiator shop today. The owner stated that the Dodge should have 3/8" spacing at 16 fins-per-inch and my Chinese crappy replacement most likely is trying to run 2 tubes where stock ran 1, thereby causing a problem with cooling. We went back and forth about the aluminum rads, but one reason I don't want aluminum is that they can't be repaired once they develop a leak. As the discussion continued he stated that I should run a 3-row high-efficiency radiator. I am going to call a local warehouse place he recommended and get some prices and styles. If I can't find what I want, then I'll take my radiator to him and have him re-core it.

 

Well, I have installed a new heater core in the truck which has helped make a bit of a difference. Now, while driving from Oklahoma to Wisconsin over the Thanksgiving Holiday, the truck stays nice and toasty in 30-degree weather when the selector is barely over on the heating side. The temp gauge still gets really high when the truck is initially warming up and then plummets. During the entire 800+ mile trip the temp need was hovering at the '2' in the "200" or on the second zero. I did spit some coolant on the way up, but during my time there I went from Madison to Chicago and back and after the truck had cooled I check the radiator level. It was high, so I left it alone. The next day, when I checked the level, about ½ of the coolant level had been sucked back into the radiator and no more has been spit out. It still runs a bit high, so I still believe the radiator cores are suspect. Looks like I may be installing a new radiator in January.

 

Well, about a month ago I bought a new, stock Ram radiator off of E-Bay that someone posted here. This past weekend I finally got around to installing it. So, out came the 2-core brass and in goes this 1-core aluminum. I had run out of coolant, so a quick trip to O'Reilly Auto Parts for another gallon and back home with the truck parked on an incline and on ramps. I spend a while bleeding out the air and adding coolant.


[:@] It still gets hot! During the initial warm-up, the needle heads all the way between the zeros (00) on the temp gauge before plumetting to almost 190º/195º. As I drive, it drops when the engine isn't under much of a load, but goes to 200º while heading up a minor grade. The other issue is that there is leakage around the top of the radiator near the filler neck. I think it's coming from around the nipple that connects to the overflow hose. So, the hose may not be fitting tight, but that's an easy fix.

Anyway, this is seriously pissing me off. I have a brand new 195º t-stat, a new waterpump, a new radiator, and a new heater core. It has been suggested that the head gaskets could be incorrect and are restricting the flow, but I don't think that is the case.

I am open to suggestions.