Hi,

I have a 1998 Dodge Ram 2500 With a V10, it had problems with hesitation right after I bought it used with 100K on it. I took it to the Dodge dealer and spent $700 on it because they said the transmission valve body was bad. A few months later it did the same thing, and I noticed the radiator leaking, I took it to a local trusted repair shop. They replaced the transmission, and told me I should replace the radiator due to the leak. I brought it home and replaced the radiator and the thermostat. All would have been fine but the truck would get hot and I had way too much pressure in my radiator. After doing all I could to bleed the system of air I took it back to the shop. They now think it could be a cracked head, this causing the pressure? I also think the cats my be plugging up.

Before I spend more on this truck I was wondering if you had any ideas that could help.

Thanks

 

Too much pressure in the cooling system...cracked head is what I was thinking. Is there any oil in your coolant, visa versa?

 

x2 on the head. I had an old Mazda MPV that did the same thing to me.

 

head or head gasket. leaking compression into the water jacket.
odds favor head gasket.

compression test should confirm the problem by measuring low on one or two cylinders.

 

How low exactly ? Cause i did a compression check on my 5.9, all cylinders were around 162 dry 167 wet, number 2 tho was 150 dry 155 wet. I have a issue where sometimes when i turn the engine off my reservoir gurgles.

Cant figure it out either cause i dont have oil in the coolant, nore coolant in the engine.

 

Possibly head cracked between the valves. If it gets bad enough, it will make it into the water jacket, but, not into the oil. your compression numbers look pretty good though, so, I don't think your jeep has anything to worry about in that respect.

 

120-170 is good.
blown head gasket will be very low, probably under 100 and vastly different from the other cylinders.

ideally you want them to all be within 10% each other, but having 1 or 2 be a tad low is not the end of the world unless its very low and sets off a misfire CEL.

air bubbles in the radiator when the engine is running might be a compression leak, but air bubbles after the engine is shut off is just pressure release. engine builds more heat and pressure after shutoff than when its running, because coolant flow stops.

 

Yea man thats awsome thats what i was thinking it was.. Because the reservoir is unpressurized, coolant mixture is around 30-40% unpressurized boiling point is 220f. When the engine is shut off i noticed the engine temp rises about 10-15f, i was guessing that the extra heat the still coolant was absorbing was being released pressure wise into the overflow tank, and since that coolant is probably 210-220f then its basicly boiling (being that the overflow tank isnt pressurized)

So what you just said pretty much confirms what i thought it could be. Everyone kept telling me worse case scenario's freaking me out like cracked heads and stuff... I kept thinking if my head was cracked wouldnt it bubble when its running also.. cause it doesnt

 

Thanks for all the quick info. I checked the oil/water first and no sign of water in oil or oil in water. I guess I should have both heads done if one is bad. I haven't heard back from the shop yet, not sure how much this one will cost me. Not sure how much involved with removing the heads on this truck.

 

Removing heads on any vehicle is not a trivial undertaking. Don't bother with having the current heads checked, just replace them. EQ or Clearwater both offer better-than-stock replacements for under 300 bucks a pop.