Trying to make it to autozone now. I tried 3 other places even the dealer and none had the sensor. Trying to head to a buddies to see if he can give me a ride as I had to pull over 2 times now to let it cool down. Its about 85deg around here.

 

Ok so got it changed and started home and all seemed good needle stayed around the 200 mark or just above. Got to my off ramp and noticed it did climb a bit more by the time I got home it was climbing up to the mid point or just past on the 2nd 0 of the 200.

Hoping maybe just an air pocket as my reservoir is about 2" or so above the full mark.

 

Sounds like an air pocket. Check the core plugs as well to ensure none are leaky and could be sucking air. Another culprit could be the heater core. Is there a smell of coolant when the heat is on?

 

I'm going to try and purge the system more after work see if their is an air bubble in the system and see if I can get it out.

No smell with the heater on.

 

Your symptoms are the exact same as mine. I'm leaning towards the temp gauge being bad. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...install-3.html Read post # 67 and you'll know why. I wish I had an answer for you, because that would mean I had an answer! I'm gonna install a Stealership OEM t stat. Then I'm gonna install an after market temp gauge to see what the difference is. I'll keep you posted. Did you already rule out blown head gaskets or a cracked block/cracked heads?

 

Ya sounds about the same. Is yours purging over into the overflow. Mine did 2 times so not sure.

Other then that I don't seem to be losing any water.

 

Yeah it is. But it's suppose to. Water expands as it gets hot so thats no biggie.

 

Well tried to mess with it a bit more. Thought I'd throw a Napa sensor in since I ordered it and tried to purge the system a bit and seemed to work ok but I was getting alot of foamy water when it seemed the stat opened. So I kept it topped off and let it keep working it out but it seemed like it started to get hotter then it was so I checked the Guatemala and it was climbing between the 2 0 of the 200.

I buttoned it up and let it sit for a min idling and it climbed to mid+ of the 2nd 0.

 

Trad,
Are you running straight water or water/anti freeze mix?

 

Well I'm sure thats part of the prob is that I'm running just water for now. I have been using just water for about a year now when I got the truck running again and haven't had an issue. But with my water temp sensors being messed up it could have been running warmer then it was showing.

When this issue first showed up I changed the stat and used anti freeze but since the Tstat was bad and din't open it got hot while trying to purge the system and most blew out.

So I just got home and it's doing the same thing but seemed like it didn't read as hot on the guage till I was closer to home... So I'm sure I got an air bubble in their somewhere.

Something that might be bad news is after going to Napa auto and comming back and letting it cool down a bit I changed the oil and put the other sensor in. I pulled the truch around to the hose and started to purge the system and when I walked back to the truck I noticed some water coming from the exhaust. It was pretty cold by then but when it finally warmed up I kept an eye on it to see if their was anymore water and their was none.

I'm going to pick up some anti freeze tomorrow and see if that helps.