Hi, new to forum. I bought a 95 ram 1500 regular cab with a 5.2 engine, 2wheel drive. I knew this truck was going to be a project when i bought it. It's turning out to be more of a project then I have skills, time, and money for. Iv'e fixed a lot of things and thought I'd have the truck up and running by now. Run into problems with the cooling system. I have replaced the water pump, tensioner pully, belt, thermostat(twice), radiator, tempeture switch, tempeture sensor, heater hoses, upper and lower radiator hoses. I still got problems. Tempeture gage rides up on high, 260 but doesn't go into the red zone. The engine runs rough and kinda back fires (really weak back fire). Upper hose gets hot and hard. the radiater cap doesn't get hot. Just pulled the spark plugs and had 2 that where clean and wet, couldn't tell if it was from anti freeze or not. Always get smoke out of tail pipe on start up, sometimes goes away once warmed up. Weird smell from exhaust and in side of cab, not sure if from anti freeze or not. I'm looking into replacing the head gasket(the one with the 2 clean spark plugs). I've never done this before, is this something some one can do with limited mechanical skills can do? I'm a machinist by trade not a mechanic. I just downed the repair manual from this site. Very nice thanks. What is the
closed crankcase ventilation system? The manual uses terms I'm not familiar with.

 

Did you check the thermostat before installation?
Does the cooling fan come on?
Is it overheating at idle/while driving, does it overheat right away?
Losing coolant? Do you have a proper mix of 50/50 or 70/30 antifreeze to water?
Too much water, and it will overheat and ruin the cooling system.

Aside from the things you've replaced (and assuming your temp gauge is reading correctly), a bad radiator cap, cooling fan, clogged cat, clogged water jackets, blown headgasket, or cracked/warped head is where your problem lies.

You can pull the upstream O2 sensor (closest to engine) from the cat and run the engine to see if the issue is still there. This will somewhat verify a clogged cat.

You can buy/rent a block tester from an auto parts store to test the cooling system for exhaust gases, meaning a blown headgasket or bad head. Or a leakdown test can verify which head is leaking coolant/pressure. If you replace the headgaskets, its a very good idea to have the heads checked for warping or cracks before you reinstall...from what I hear these heads on our engines like to crack.
Doing it yourself just requires the right tools, a lot of time, and some instructions.

A closed crankcase ventilation system is used on the diesels and it reduces emissions from the engine. The gas trucks use a PCV system or positive crankcase ventilation which is labeled as open...same idea, just different ways or reducing emissions. It basically vents combustion vapors from the crankcase back into the intake to be burned in the combustion chamber instead of being let out into the atmosphere.

 

May sound dumb.... but did you burp it? Also did you flush the system? I had a friend mix coolant's once... got all gunked up and caused a clog somewhere. Same problem as you, ran hot but not in the red. Guess there was just barely enough coolant getting through to keep it from running in the red.

A head gasket really isn't all that hard. Just make sure you don't snap any studs, take not of where everything went and have a torque wrench. When I was an apprentice, the mechanic gave me a head gasket as one of my first jobs without him supervising. Really was a lot easier than I thought it would have been.

 

not true you can run the cooling system with pure water the only time you will have an isuse with is with frezzing in the winter

 

Sounds like you have a head gasket leak. Look for a shop (like a radiator repair shop) or a mechanic who can perform a hydrocarbon test on the coolant. The results will confirm the presence of hydrocarbons (meaning exhaust gasses leaking into the cooling system). The test will not be able to tell which head gasket is leaking, or if both are leaking.

 

You CAN run it without antifreeze, however it won't cool as efficiently.

 

Sorry, I didnt really finish my sentence. I meant if you just keep pouring in a cup of tap water everytime the coolant gets low (due to a leak/blown headgasket) then it will corrode the system.

 

Matt, it is a mechanical fan and I didn't replace it when I changed the water pump but it is working properly. It doesn't overheat right away and it over heats if idling or driving, does both either way. I filled with a pre 50/50 mix. Not sure if temp gauge is working correct or not. Radiator cap is also new. I did put a new 02 sensor to get ride of trouble code, will try pulling it to see how it runs. I'm also getting trouble codes 32 egr valve and 37 trans temp sensor. Could the egr cause the miss fire or back fire? I don't have a garage and it's cold in Northern IL. right now but before the weekend I'm going to do a compression test, if negative results I'll pull the head on the weekend. Got a nice granite plate at work I can check for warpage but not sure about cracks, will I be able to see them with a visual inspection?

 

My360, Yes I did burp it, first time i did it with out reving the engine, it drooped a lot, I filled it up, put the cap on and shut it off. Next day I tried it again and it didn't drop. If I rev the egine when warm and with cap off it's fine till I stop reving the engine then the level comes to the top and lets out a couple bubbles, level drops about an inch or less, add coolant rev engine again, let off gas, does the same, level rises, couple of bubbles, level drops a little again, doesn't boil over. Yes I have flushed the coolant system with the prestone coolant flush, then back flushed with the tee in the heater hose and a garden hose.

 

EGR will most certainly give you strange idle problems, and odd smoke out the tail pipe as well.... Check the entire EGR system, see if anything is not quite right. (I have seen the solenoids melt..... they don't work so good that way....)

Trans temp sensor on yours is in one of the cooler lines, right near the trans. Just a typical sensor that screws onto a fitting in the line. It wasn't installed on every truck, I think you needed to have the towing, or heavy duty package for it to show up... Look and see if it's there.

Also, if your trans check valve is still there, get rid of it. It can cause your trans to overheat..... and heat kills trannys.