Alright, its a 1991 Dodge Dakota Club Cab with the 318 V8, 4x2 and around 195k. Its been overheating on short drives around 3-10 miles and I replaced the themostate with a OE one, I think 195 degrees? Besides that the only things I have replaced are the spark plugs, plugs wires, the temp. sending unit, and oil change from 5w-10 i believe to 10w-15? It ran fine when I bought it from my grandpa and now sense I did that stuff its been getting really hot and the over flows been boiling and coming out of a hole on it (not sure if the hole is suppose to be there, its at the top on a little nub) My grandpa replaced the water pump when he had it and it only ran a little warmer than normal for him. He also flushed it every 2-3 years and hasnt done it in almost 5 years now. So thats what im doing tomorrow. I put a new radiator cap on it (16lb) because the last one was hissing a little bit. Only 4 bucks so oh well. Any suggestions? Also theres no oil in water, or water in oil.

 

Maybe the radiator is clogged or blocked, internally or externally. Or maybe the thermostat was incorrect or incorrectly installed. Maybe wrong mix of coolant and water. Lastly the water pump.

 

i was thinking those so depending on the weather tomorrow i was gonna pull the radiator and give a good cleaning and flush it. now any idea how difficult it is to remove the radiator? my haynes book makes it look easy. but so did my shocks and i busted some grade 3 bolts, PIA to drill through.

 

by the way, sick looking dakota, lovin the brush guard now if only i could afford nice things lmao. but gotta kid on the way

 

Thanks but it is not a ram. It is a Dakota. Ya I just my daughter a year ago. Got to save up for the family. The trick is to make what you can find for a good price fit. www.craigslist.org is a good place to look for good deals.

It is not hard to remove the radiator. Just use buckets to collect all the fallen coolant.

 

yeah, i caught the ram thing, its been stuck in my head all day, my buddy just got a 2500 for 3k. so even neons look like rams. and the "No truck should ever be lowerd! NEVER" haha agree. my gpa bought my truck from some hispanics who had it lowered. looked like someone stepped on it

 

Not raining so imma get out there and pull the rad, clean it, then put back and flush the whole thing. after my interview of course

 

my 90 the whole front side of the radiator was corroded away the fins were eaten away. could not see when installed due to the A/C in front. new radiator and that fixed mine..

 

Even with periodic home flushing, crud can build up in the radiator AND the engine.....but a radiator shop can do a really thorough cleaning...
Might be cheaper, tho, to buy a new one. I just last year replaced one in a minivan, and a new radiator was cheaper than having the old one fixed...

 

Well for thermostats, I've never ran with a OEM 195 degree I've always ran lower, like in mine it's a 165, makes it run alittle leaner but worth it but after I changed it I noticed I was still overheating come to find out all the internals was shot so I replaced it with a brand new radiator and never had a issue with it going above 190 on the highway she runs at 165 steady, city 180 tops. As for the oil, I always run 10W-40 during the summer and 10W-30 for the winter the thicker the oil the more strain you put on the engine.