hey guys im new to this forum. I have a 05 ram 3.7 and i am having a problem with the cooling system. driving home from work temp gauge rose up and i thought it may have been because i just started driving without letting it warm up on a 100+ day with the AC on high. The check gauge light then came on so i stopped at 711 because it was closest thing around. opened hood and seen that the fluid was low that some came out of the radiator cap. Im guess it just came loose or something because i havent had any other problems with it. So i run inside and get the only coolant they have on the shelf some 50/50 stuff. put a gallon in there. turn heat on high and let it cool off with the hood open. after about 20 mins it was able to start again with teh temp gauge about 3/4 the way up. I drove about 2 more miles and same thing happens. i pull over open hood up. rad cap is closed but i notice that the resevior level has increased. i sit there for about 40 mins wait for temp gauge to get below half way. then i notice that the heat isnt work at all. its just blowing air out. drive the other mile or so home and the check gauge light comes on as i pull up the house. go to store get the right HOAT coolant. drain radiator and flush with about 3gal of water. go to fill back up and it only takes about 3/4 of a gal of coolant and its filled to top. so i put other 1/4 gallon in resevior. start it up runs for about 10mins idoling in park and the check gauge light comes on again with teh temp gauge redlining. go to store and get new thermostat. drain again install that refill and nothing has been resolved. I try to let it run for about 40 mins with teh rad cap off and reseviour cap off to try to maybe burp some air out of the system. I got some bubbles here and tehre nothing significant. the bottom rad hose going from t-stat to rad is cool and the top hose is piping hot....but its soft, i can squeeze the sides of it together. and the bottom rad hose....does it have something in it like a coil of some sort because it feels like there is a coil of something running through the length of it. AND the radiator is cold to touch.....the whole thing didnt find a hot spot on it. BUT my question here is, what is wrong with my truck....guy at auto parts store was no help. I gather that the coolant is not flowing through the system at all? but why? Thanks for any help been driving me crazy all week.

 

If the lower hose is cool and the upper is hot, water is flowing through the rad. That could be a stuck thermostat, clogged rad or water pump that isnt cirulating. That doesnt help much but first thing it to pull the stat out and out in in some water on the stove and see if it opens. Then pull the rad and it is checked out and pressure tested at a shop

 

what exactly is the opened t-stat in water supposed to do? i tried doing that with the new t-stat before i installed it in truck but didnt notice anything happen.....could be because i have no idea what is supposed to happen? lol. all i did was boil a pot of water let it cool off some til it was only hardly boiling to produce a few bubbles and put it in there......didnt see anything happen. what exactly is supposed to open, like where

 

well i took the new t-stat out of the truck, took gasket off t-stat and put it in housing. filled the rad with some water and started truck. ran for about 15minutes without even getting to the 1/2 on temp gauge....then drove it around the block a few times and took it up to 40mph.....only went up to 1/2 on temp gauge so i drove back home. blasted heat....and it was hot. blasted AC and it was very cold. im guessing it was the t-stat after all? it was broke and i just happened to buy another broke one. taking it back to store in the morning to get ANOTHER one. but i think there is still something wrong with the bottom radiator hose, it isnt that hot, and doesnt get hard (like feel like its filling up). The radiator itself has not gotten warm. its hot....but not to the point where i cant lay my hand on it. any ideas what else could be wrong with my system?