Ok browsed all of the overheating threads and couldn't find out the things I am experiencing. First of all its winter here and about 3 weeks ago when I started my Ram in the morning to heat it up and defrost the windows no heat came out no matter how long I warmed the vehicle. Even with the temp gauge being at the halfway/normal mark there is still no heat to defrost my windshield. However when I begin to drive the heat starts to flow and my windows are good by the time I past the third block in my community. After that I have great heat all day. The antifreeze is at the right mark in the overflow and no leaks are present. Was ok with this but it sucked when I had to use a towel to clear my foggy windshield until the heat kicked in. The issue got worse the past few days as now when I am sitting in traffic or creeping to get on post in the morning my temp gauge rises to H and my check engine light comes on. Now the funny thing is that my fan is running with no problem and what's even funnier is that my overflow level is at the same level. Also the radiator is cool to the touch but my temp gauge is to the far right. tried this evening after coming home to make this happen again in my driveway but the darn temp gauge would not budge from the normal mark. radiator was still cool to the touch and fan was running as usual. did this for 20 minutes and no error or check engine light came on. Can anyone explain this? When the truck overheats doesn't it usually get hot? I'm stumped on this one as I've had to change out tstat and water pump before but have always experienced spillage and the radiator and cap being hot as heck. Never experienced it being cool to the touch and having great heat when driving. Also when I'm driving at normal highway speeds I have no problems and have the same good heat. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


I have a 2004 Dodge Ram Quad Cab SLT 4.7 V8 with about 110,000 miles

 

Sounds to me like your thermostat could be sticking. I know you said you changed it. Did the issue start after changing it? Also sounds as if you are not getting good flow through your radiator or heater core. When you changed water pump and thermostat did you do a flush? I have read a few threads on here that some people have experienced their vehicle overheating and rad was cool to the touch, turned out they had a clogged rad and ended up replacing it. I had a car that the heat was warm and didn't get hot until you accelerated. I reversed flushed the heater core a couple times by swapping the hoses around on the heater core during a flush and fill. This solved that issue. Hope it helps.