Ok guys,, did a search and been reading for a while, but didnt see info I was looking for..


My 01 durnago(115K miles) has a major malfuntion. Ran hot when hose busted at top with cap. Went to dealer and got new hose & t-stat,, Got it all to gether and bled air and was running fine for about a month. Even went on a 400 mile road trip with out a hick up.

Couple days ago wife was driveing home from work and all of sudden she it started running hot and started making pinging noise, when she turned in neighborhood,, and stalled right before she turned in drivway. Let it sit for a few to cool & got it in driveway and she was HOT.. Opened cap and no water, when I started to put water in it boil right back out.... Let it cool off and just added water, and started it. She is skipping and sputtering but will crank and no knocking from bottom end, so I am thinking head gaskets..

Have a friend with acces to al-data and he got me a copy of head gasket replacemnt. But it stae to use special cam locking tool, to remove the chains. Is this tool abosultey neccasry or can this operation be performed without it. I am no novice to motor repairs, but dont have speacial tools for cars.

I am deating weather to do the head gaskets or just replace the motor itself. So my questions is a head gasket swap that hard without any special tools? And is there any tips on this procedure?

 

Head gasket.

 

Don't run your engine if it starts to overheat... you need to do the right thing and just pull over ASAP.. Do not try to make it home when she is overheating. call a tow truck, get a trailer down whatever you need to do in order to get it from but not driving it when she is hot.

You will just cause more issues

 

This I know this,fella's... Wasnt driving truck when it happened, wife was driving home from work and just didnt notice gauge. Long hours and radio jammin,, So what is done is done,,,

I am looking for any tips on the swap,, Read the al-data procedure and staed something bout special tool needed to lock cams.. Is there any tips on doing swap without the special tool??

 

First off....... What year, motor, drivetrain? Sounds like a 4.7L?

 

It could of possibly cracked the heads near the valves.. These heads have an issue there anyways (valve seats have fracture lines in the weak area between intake and exhaust seats. This is a known issue with the stock heads) Dunno about the 4.7 if it shares this issue.

Another note, your engine ran hot your transmission fluid was hot as well (they use the same cooling that being the radiator) So you will want to change the fluid/filter and if you are doing that if not a 4.7 adjust the bands (should be done every time you have the transmission fluid changed, a lot of people don't know this ).
http://www.dodgeram.org/tech/transmi...T_band_adj.htm

 

Yea ita a 4.7......

 

4.7L are aluminum heads so I doubt they cracked.

You need to pull the heads. As for the special tool, I'm sure you can figure a way around it or rent it from AZ.

 

Just fix the problem. No need to replace the entire motor LOL.

I understand swapping heads isn't necessarily 'easy' however it is a hell of a lot easier than swapping the entire 4.7l.

IndyD

 

Thanks fella's gonna jump on this weekend.. Think I may go ahead and replace the chains while I am there, since they have 115k on them...