Dodge ram 1500 5.2L. Takes 20 minutes before the temp goes up driving. What's the deal?

 

Goes up how far? Several factors. How "cold" is it to start? Are you using the highy inaccurate dash gauge to measure temp? What tstat do you have and how old is it?

 

What year? How many miles? Does it have a t-stat in it? Do you get heat out of the vents or are you just looking at the gauge?

 

Weather is 19 degrees.


thought it was just the gauge but no heat.

1996, 150,000 miles, not sure on the t-stat

 

sounds like a bad t-stat. replace with a nice new Stant Superstat 195*

 

That's part of the problem! It is too damn cold where you live!

+1 on checking/replacing tstat. I would almost be there isn't one in there!

 

If this is a new to you truck it could be no tstat. After a side of the road removal of a bad tstat I drove for a couple days with out one and never got much past the 130 mark on the bottom of the gauge and never got enough for heat and that was in the 50s or 60s ambient temp if I recall

 

when you buy that new stat take it into the house first and watch it in a pot of water. it should open completely right before boiling. Its always better to check one before, had to replace it three times, before I started doing that trick.

 

Low coolant is a possibility when it comes to heat. I have two vehicles (the truck isn't one of them) that lose coolant slowly and I know it's time to refill when the heat goes. I don't get a low coolant light either, but it does show a low temp on the dash gauge. Make sure you have coolant in there first, then definitely thermostat.