I have a 2005 Ram 1500 that started giving me trouble about 2 months ago. At first it began to overheat while idling at stop lights. After running it and watching I was led to believe the fan clutch was shot so I replaced that. Then within a week the check engine light came on and when checked was a random cylinder misfire. I took it in they cleared the code said it was just minor and only occurred on a cold start. Well it started to overheat again and it actually redlined twice. I checked and it was out of coolant which I topped off when I replaced the fan clutch. Now the light is back on and was blinking this morning. How does all this tie together? Is it losing vacuum because of a head gasket and burning off the coolant maybe?

 

You need to find where the coolant is going to! Could be simple as a bad hose clamp, but if it's going into the engine you really need to nip it in the bud now. How's the oil look? Any hint of anti-freeze in there? The over-heating and misfire could be unrelated, but if not, the anti-freeze getting into the engine could easily tie it together...

 

There is no sign of coolant in the oil. Also when I start and it is really ragged a good amount of white smoke comes from the tailpipe.

 

blown head gasket. 4.7's are famous for them