Well it happened. My beloved 02 dak is currently a driveway ornament, albeit a good looking one.
02 QC, 4x4, 4.7L with about 160k miles.
Have had this truck since '04 and have had a great run with it. Have had the odd mechanical issues and replacements over the years but never left me stranded until a couple of weeks ago.
It was the classic, 10:00 at night, pissing rain, side of the highway, steaming vehicle, hood up, waiting for the tow truck. Not fun.
I'm pretty good with maintenance, doing most of my own routine stuff, fluids, brakes etc etc. I'm not a stickler, but I usually keep a pretty close eye and ear on things and try to address it quickly.
The situation and the question:
Was driving on the highway, about 2 hours into my drive so operating at full temperature. Had been cruising along at about 70mph when noticed temp gauge starting to climb slowly. Then I lost heat in the cabin. I slowed down and the temp reduced so I thought I could limp to an off ramp and gas station. As I was limping along, maybe 40 mph, temp went up quickly and started to see steam. Pulled it off and tried to keep it idling but it shut down and blew off steam. Popped the hood, let it steam. Opened the rad, added some water. Tried to fire it up to see if it would circulate water but it shot water back up out of rad. Sat for a while, let it cool down. Tried turning it over just to see if it would fire up. Turned over, no fire. Relent, call the tow truck. Towed to a service station. (Called the wife to come pick me up. No skiing for me that weekend). Went back next morning. Filled water. checked all hoses etc, no visible hose issues or visible leaks. Tried to fire up. Turned over but no start & puking water out of rad as it turns.. At first I was thinking I blew a head gasket, but now not so much. Why no fire? Tried a couple more times. Easily turning over but no fire. Strong battery, strong spark. Now I'm thinking no compression.
Had it towed home. Checking the oil & coolant, neither are milky so I'm hoping maybe I just cooked the heads, and not lower. Going to check compression in next couple of days but thought I would start this thread in hopes of taking advantage of some of the smart folks and these boards.
I'm new on this board so if I'm doing something wrong please feel free to let me know.
Any insight on the situation appreciated. At this point I'm thinking at very least warped heads, possibly some lower engine issues, possible rebuild. (ugh)
Any thoughts?
Deaddak.

 

Definitely sounds like a blown head gasket if it’s shooting water from the rad while cold cranking. That’s a classic symptom. When you first pulled over, how long did you wait before adding the water? Adding cool fluid to an overheated engine while still hot, can crack the heads, if they weren’t cracked already. You’re probably not starting cause it won’t build compression.

Almost Had a similar situation, but was caused by my own stupidity.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...the-4-7-a.html

 

thanks for the reply, appreciate the input.

It was maybe 5 minutes or so. I only had about a half gallon so not much went in but maybe enough to do the damage. I’m pretty sure I’m not getting compression but just wondering if it might be something else as well.

thanks Dodgevity

 

Actually, I should have said it can crack the block.

 

One should never add cold coolant to a hot engine that isn't running..... bad things happen.

Put a cooling system pressure tester on it, see if it will even pump up. (might wanna pull the spark plugs for that exercise, and see if you get coolant coming out of any cylinders.

 

Thanks Hey You,
Do you mean, pressure up the cooling system and see if there's coolant leaking into the cylinder (by looking into the spark plug hole)? Or see if coolant is leaking out of the block around the cylinders (ie cracked block)?
Cheers,

 

Yep, put some pressure on the cooling system. (engine NOT running) with the spark plugs out, and if you have a problem, it will become obvious fairly quickly. However, all it will really tell you is which cylinder(s?) have a problem, won't tell you if its a cracked block, or blown gasket.

Generally if the block was bad, I would expect to find coolant in the oil. The 4.7's are know to blow headgaskets when overheated though......

 

Been down this road you're embarking on, though mine was probably not as severe.... maybe these will be of interest.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ss-4-7l-2.html

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ml#post3280004

 

Gotcha. Will do some testing in the next day or so. Dip stick looks ok but will drop the oil as well to have a good look. Besides turning it over a few times since overheat it hasn't run, so possible not much opportunity for coolant to seep into the block yet and so not seeing milky oil on the stick. Not feeling good about the no start though. Yet to test but I'm expecting very little compression. Everything I've read tells me these 4.7's don't tolerate overheat well and the heads crack easily. If that's the case likely approaching the 'is this worth it' question. Shame as otherwise the truck is in good shape, no rust, all else mechanical in good shape.
Thanks for your help.

 

Thanks Dodgevity.