I have a 2000 Dodge Dakota V6, has 89000 miles on it. This morning I drove about 40 miles -- after getting off the freeway, I was idling at an intersection literally a minute away from my destination when my "Check Gauges" light flashed on and I noticed that my water temp was almost in the red. I pulled into my office's car garage and turned off the truck only to notice a really bad smell and lightly yellow-tinted condensation on my hood.

Popped up the hood and it steamed for a while. Seemed to be coming from the bottom-right part of the engine, and I could hearbubbling in my engine coolant container. It's been quite hot lately but I have only used my AC two or three times in the past month so I don't know if it's anti-freeze related.Any thoughts???? An owners manual wasn't included when I bought the damn thing so I don't know how to check the coolant level for that matter. Any help would be appreciated, I don't want to kill my truck and I certainly don't want to do nothing.... is this a typical occurrence for trucks during this kind of weather? Thanks to all!

 

The nasty smell would probably be your antifreeze. I'd bet you got a prob with hose somewhere.

 

i would say lower radiator hose is rotted... she boiled over since there's no pressure in the system to keep the boiling point high in the cooling system... 21 LBS pressure system... boiling point is 265 degrees in our trucks.. 3 degrees for ever pound of pressure, plus your losing fluid.. just a headache, check out your hoses

 

Could be a few different things. First, check to see that all of the hoses are in good condition and are properly secured. If they are, then your water pump might have gone bad, but first, make sure your thermostat is working correctly.

Welcome to the forum.

 

You mentioned that the steam seemed to comming from the engine. If you check everything else and come up without any definate causes, open the oil filler cap and look for steam. Sometimes the first part of the headgasket to go is the area around the exhaust valves, which casues it to pump exhaust into thecoolant. If the coolant wasn't boiling it could have been bubbling with exhaust gas, which would also overheat the coolant in the engine without heating the coolant in the radiator. Drain the oil and look for coolent. If the head gasket is not too far gone you can still save the heads.

Not to sound alarmist or anything.