So you say one side of the thermostat was broken off? Did you ever find the other side of the thermostat? Could be causing a flow issue... If its still in the cooling system.

 

thanks so muck for the replies guys. when i flushed the rad out a piece of old high temp came out of the drain plug.i replaced the t stat with a new one already but that doesnt mean it is good.i suspect it might be bad because it has the same problems now that it did with the broken t stat.

 

when the t stat was boke it was not broke completely off. the top of one side was broke loose preventing it from working. i just pulled the new t stat out of it and boil tested it and it works. so maybe it is the rad?

 

back up top

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

DVaughn gave you some real good advice in a previous post in this thread. Only thing I would add to his infor would be pressure test the radiator.

 

somebody recently posted in another thread that an old freeze plug might have been dropped inside the block or head. that's another potential source of coolant blockage.

 

mine did about the same thing, would heat up but would cool down if i used the heater. Get a new radiator, picked one up from napa and havent had a problem yet. i think i paid 200 bucks for a radiator and took about 2 hours to do, including the time to go to checker auto for the tranny line tool. SIMPLE

 

This maybe about the funniest thing to say
get a new radiator cap. with that new radiator if you buy one. I just spend three hours today looking over my neighbors Ram the Fing radiator cap was bad.
the Radiator was leaking so it needed to be replaced anyways. he didn't buy a radiator cap with the new radiator. arrrrr
I found it by luck too had the recovery tank hose off I raised the throttle and see the antifreeze dribble out the overflow

 

I noticed my ram leaking a little coolant this evening. The temp gauge always reads slightly over 95, never seen it get higher. As I was looking her over for the source of the leak, while it was running I noticed the upper rad hose is hot, and the lower rad hose is almost cool to the touch. The over flow bottle has been low on water a couple times over the last little while (not in the oil). Seems slightly wet around the water pump casting, but there is an accumulation of dirt there perhaps a slight oil leak, or the seep hole? Pulley seems tight. While the truck is running I can squeeze the upper rad hose and there does not seem to be any resistance at all. I can not feel or hear water rushing by. All leads me to believe the water pump may have given up. What do you think.