I had this exact problem with my 02 ram with 4.7. I changed radiator caps, made sure there was not air in system, but it kept overheating. I ended up putting in a new radiator- and that was the cure. Be sure to use the G-05 coolant. My old radiator was really plugged up.

Found an aftermarket radiator for around $100, and it was really fairly easy to swap out.

Good Luck.

 

Dawg,
Did you replace any other parts before the radiator? or was that the first thing you did? how many miles you have? "G-50..." is that the orange coolant? Well, I guess what they put in at the dealership will be the correct stuff. I hope !

 

I use peak coolant.

Mmmmm, peak girls at the Indy 500 tent.

 

Just heard back from the dealer... now he's telling me the truck is overheating because the heads are warped.... I was happier hearing about the water pump.

Wouldn't I be losing coolant? (i'm not)
Wouldn't there be water in the oil ? ( no milky stuff on filler cap, or dipstick, or in filler neck)
Wouldn't there be something coming from the tailpipe... like white smoke or steam?
DEALERSHIP NIGHTMARE COMING ON !!! at 56k miles.

 

Snax,
The order of my attempts went- bleed air, new radiator cap, flush radiator, then i replaced the radiator. The core of my old radiator were caked with white scaley looking gunk.

The G-05 is the OEM coolant (zerek)- more of a gold color, not orange. It's a little hard to find.

 

If your coolant was brown and thick like, I'm pretty sure that your radiator is clogged. I had the same issue on a friends 97.
It cost him an engine because he blew the head gaskets twice then spun a rod bearing because he kept driving it hot.
I upgraded from a 5.2L to a 5.9L when replacing the engine and it wanted to do the same thing, so I made him buy a radiator before I gave him the truck back. Never got hot again.

 

I was told the water pump was ok. It appears to have been removed. Engine failed compression test so Dealer is waiting on new heads. As of now the truck is sitting in the driveway. Could take up to a week to get the parts. Stay tuned, I'll be back to let you folks know what happened.

 

At least they are going to fix it

 

Hell to the YEAH! We have a Cool Running Truck! Alright men...anyone want to start guessing what it was? Too late...I am just gonna let you know.

So I took out the radiator on Saturday...it took all of 40 minutes. Took it to BILL'S RADIATOR AND MUFFLER in Plano (TX) and had them try to clean it and see if it could be salvaged...

It could not be. As it was explained to me, it is planned obsolescence. The radiator can not handle corrosion very well. Whatever...he (Gary) then gave me the bad news...the news was that I was going to need a new Radiator.

I kinda had already suspected that from what everyone here had said. I was not ready to spend the $$$, nor do I have it. But the guys at BILL'S RADIATOR AND MUFFLER () treated me fairly. I got me a new Radiator (only $$ instead of $$$) and installed it tonight. I did as Bill told me and made sure there was no air in the system, and the truck runs like a CHAMP!

So it was the radiator...It only took 30 minutes to put it back in, and another hour or so to bleed out the air and make sure it was all working, but she is back in service! Hell YA! WE ARE HEADED BACK TO THE LAKE!!!

I wanted to make sure to Thank ALL of yall for all the help and interest you gave. And I also wanted to make sure that anyone else with this problem could do a search and "live through" what I did. So THANKS A BUNCH guys...lets hope this is a lesson to all that use these Forums...Share what you know...Someone out there can use your knowledge.

Now...how do I proceed in clearing the CEL?! HAHAHAAAAAA

R

 

Glad you got it fixed. Your code was the EVAP leak right? Did you replace the gas cap? You can disconnect the neg. battery cable for 15-20 minutes and if the code comes back then you still have a problem.