I had the same problem as mayfly when I tow my trailer 7000 lb loaded I would overheat, all I did was change my thermostat from the 192 to 180 and my problemwas solved, not saying this would be the case
for mayfly but it did fix my problem and for thew price of a new thermostatyou might want to try this first,I have a 98 ram 5.9l all stock.

 

agree with above. t-stat, electric fan, also try getting header wrap, helps keep the temp of the headers down keeping the engine compartment cooler. Try a coolant flush, either by opening the valve on radiator, or pop the bottom hose, also there is 2 drain plugs on your block. Exact location idk but someone shall add onto this with exact location of those.

 

Well I replaced the radiatior and that was the problem. I broke the old radiator apart and it was really plugged with crude. This has seemed to fix my overheating problems. I towed my 7k camper for almost a hour with about 85+ temps. The enging temp gauge never moved off of 190.

Now i need to fix my a/c blower that keeps swaping from vent to defrost while going down the road. I have traced the vac leak back to inside of the dash. I just dont know if this is enough reason to pull the dash.

I really get alot of good info off of this site. Im always checking out what everyone else has going on with there trucks to see if it will help my problems out.

Thanks Mayfly

 

thats due to a vacume line design flaw, if your talking about it switching when you give it slightly more throttle (or possibly cruise) Theres a writeup on it in here someplace, you could prolly find it in search.

 

i am disregarding my comment lol, sorry

 

The vents switching is commonly called 'wild vents'
if you want to search for cures, including all vacuum lines near the battery where acid fumes can cause leaks

My radiator also failed after 8 years.

====
an old post from year 2000 that might be of interest:
----
I had ordered a replacement part from Dodge that is supposed to correct the
'Wild Vents' problem. This is where AC/Heat air blowing out vents
mysteriously changes and comes out other vents. It is most prone to happen
when accelerating. I read that the cruise control can suddenly 'pop out' of
setting too.

I haven't had the vents change wildly like that myself, but I have had the
'Defrost' setting refuse to work, then come on suddenly 10-15 minutes later.

Chrysler's 'Fix' is replacement part number 04677204.
I think there is a TSB on this.
I had seen the description of the problem in some automotive service
magazines.
My local Dodge dealer told me they now had the part, and I went and picked it
up (plus a broken passenger side sun visor clip). Cost was $7.84


The replacement part turns out to be about the size of a 35 mm Film can and is
a small vacuum reservoir with a built in check valve.
The original part (4306923) was a tiny check valve about the size of the tip
of my thumb. These check valves are in the vacuum line connected to the
nipple just rearward of where the PCV valve hose connects on the passenger
side of the engine. Just behind this check valve the vacuum line T's off that
goes to the cruise control mounted underneath the battery.

But when I went to put it on, I found that the new part lacked the proper
rubber hose fittings to install it. The new valve 4677204 has 3/16 nipples.
The new valve comes with only one rubber reducing elbow which has a female 3/8
end, and the other end 3/16 female.

The original check valve 4306923 has 1/4 plastic nipple ends and has a 1/4
rubber female elbow on one end, and short length of 1/4 rubber hose on the
other. The new valve's 3/8 rubber elbow is wrong - too big to seal to the 1/4
nipple at the intake manifold.

I went back to the Dodge parts counter to ask for the proper rubber fitting to
make it work, but they said they didn't have them and suggested I would have
to go to a parts store. At the local Advance Auto I could not find exactly
the right fittings, but was able to put the new check valve on using slightly
smaller fittings:

Motormite Mfg. Vacu-Tite! pn 47411 rubber elbow with 9/64 and 7/32 id ends,
and Motormite Vacu-Tite pn 47411 rubber straight with 9/64 and 5/32 id ends.

Seems sloppy on Chrysler's part - but maybe later model Rams than a 1995 have
different sized vacuum hoses and manifold fittings ?

 

Thanks for the reply. I already pulled the original check valve and it seemed to be working properly but, for under 10 bucks its worth a try.

Mayfly

 

 

Unless you like rebuilding transmission, don't pull the trailer in O/D. On the flat, you *might* be ok, but, I wouldn't bet on it.

 

X2! Especially pulling an 8K trailer you are asking for trouble. Did your tuck come with the tow package? If not you probably don't have the trans cooler. It would be wise to get one.