New to the forum...

Having issues with my 2004 Dakota 4.7 V8 and it's a long story any advice would be appreciated!

Had recently replaced the radiator hose because of a small crack back in October...3 weeks later had the temp gauge spike for no reason at idle and slowly drop when I drove it...thought it was the thermostat but ended up burping the system of a huge air pocket! Added coolant and some water and drove over 3,000 miles with no issues until today!

Had oil changed yesterday and a few drops of black oil on the driveway this morning with a small spot of coolant next to it...sat at idle in the drive thru on the way to work and temp gauge spiked all the way into the red and only the "check gages" light came on...parked and checked all my fluids and shut her down to cool off...all dipsticks seem to be fine and no apparent reason for the spike...went to the shop and burped the system and checked the pressure and seems fine (no increase or decrease at idle or with throttle)...added a little coolant and saw circulation...overflow res is full as well.

Could I be having issues with a seal on the thermostat housing or a water pump issue or a deteriorating head gasket??? Any advice on this issue???

Should I add a bottle of k-seal or air flow sealer???

Also had some taping noise at startup before the oil change so I added a bottle of valve lifter oil and seems to be only a few minutes then stops when it's warmed up...related or unrelated issue???

Please help!!!!

 

Ten thousand years later - what did you end up doing? Did you use k-seal? (If so, how’d it go?) Did you get work done in the radiator or heads? Is the truck still around today?

 

Don't hold your breath. Click on the username and you'll see that this was the individuals only post on this site.

 

So.....ten thousand years later and yes the truck is still going. Running great with the exception of q few bumps and hiccups along the journey. Hail damage, stolen exhaust parts...blah blah blah. But honestly thinking back I actually replaced the hose again and made sure that I had a 20lb cap on the system (I know it says 16lb and that's what I'm assuming all my issues stemmed from). Never had another issue after that with overheating or pretty much anything engine related. Sorry if that's no help but that's just what worked for me and my baby. We've actually just sold her off to the next owner so we can upgrade to a new 2500 Ram. Happy so far!