I'm brand spanking new here, so please, bear with me. I have searched before without being a member and had limited success so I became a member and now I can actually ask for help.

I have a 2001 Dak Sport, QC, 4.7L, automatic, 2wd, 70,200 mi (bought new from local dealership in 01). It has always run great until last week. I had been cruising on the check engine light knowing that it was O2 sensors for a while and when I went on vacation, I changed them (bought from NAPA, it was both downstream sensors), no biggie.

On the way back form vacation, the truck runs hot, all of a sudden like, not a gradual thing. I had been driving for 50 miles when the check gauges light came on and I saw the temp gauge. I stopped, got a huge WHOOSH of steam from under, cut the engine and let it cool down. I felt the upper radiator hose which wasn't very hot, popped open the radiator and saw no coolant. Popped the reservoir, same thing. I limped as far as I could until I thought I might actually do damage and then had it towed.

Skip ahead to today. I have replaced: thermostat, lower radiator hose, radiator cap, flushed system (without chemicals). Idled in yard after flush/fill, made sure everything was topped off after it settled, no overheating. Drove 3.6 miles today, it ran hot. Just before running hot, the truck shuddered as if it was going to choke off and threw a check engine light at me (don't know what yet). Limped back home.

Please help, I'd hate to have to bury this thing in the back yard.

 

Cycle your ignition from off to on 3 times, but on the 3rd time leave it on. The computer will show all the CEL codes in your odometer.

 

is the fan engaging?

 

rakaric: thanks. never knew that.

magnethead: yeah, both electric and mechanical fan are coming on.

 

Maybe your t-stat is stuck in the closed position?

 

Oh, and for what it's worth, it was shifting funny also (while trying to limp back to the house) almost like the rpm and shift points were not in sync ( or at least like they were).

 

I hope not Mike, I just replaced it. I guess it could be faulty though.

 

Once i get the codes, how do I know what they stand for? I assume a search will be the answer. Just didn't know if there was resource I should be using.

 

it'll give you codes starting with the letter P. Just post them here and We'll look them up here.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ine-light.html

 

Trouble code was a P0455. Looked that up thanks to magnethead. EVAP monitor large leak. OK, what does that mean?

Is this related to the overheating issue?