My 2002 dodge dakota 4.7l V8 truck has been overheating intermittently. I went on a 60 mile trip on interstate from speeds around 75-80 truck stayed cool until i hit the exit then the temp jumped up.
Ive put new hoses on the truck so far and flushed my coolant as best as i could. The next thing im gonna do is replace my thermostat. My fans are working fine, upper radiator hoses are hot lower hose is cool. No debris in radiator. My overflow tank is filled to much so im gonna take some out of there. Not sure if my radiator is filled enough. So what im trying to figure out is could it be my rad. cap? thermostat? internal combustion? I bled my system but i dont think i bled it well enough. I opened the bleed screw when truck got to operating temp and coolant and bubbles were coming out. but then nothing came out after a while so does that mean i dont have enough coolant in system or what? I wanna see if i can fix this myself before taking it to a shop.

What are some things i should check for.

How do i know if my coolant level is good?

Should my coolant be visible where my radiator cap is?

Is it normal for my lower radiator hose to be a lot cooler than my uppers?

How do I properly bleed the system?

 

You said it all when you said the lower hose is cool. The thermostat is located under the lower hose.

Replace the thermostat. They are designed now to fail in the open position - but you know how things are - they never 'fail' the way they are supposed to.

Make sure your oil pressure is holding up. I test drove a 4.7 dakota that ran cool for the first 20 minutes but then the oil pressure would dump & it would overheat.

But start with the simple stuff - thermostat.

If that doesn't cure it - start worrying about other stuff.

 

So the coolant starts at top goes through radiator where it is cooled right? so wouldnt it be normal for that hose to be cool?

 

i guess we should define cool.

cool to an engine is 195 degrees. cool to a human hand is much lower.

what were you using to measure temp? What was the cool temp that was registered?