My 02 Ram has 172k-ish on it. It was a nice day today so I took it out instead of my car for a 40 mi round trip. On the way there it started running warm (3/4 up the gauge almost up to 4/5) no check gauges light or coolant alarm. Got to my destination and it was steaming and had coolant all over the inside of the engine bay. I had the heat blasting on high to help keep it cool.

I let it sit for about an hour and a half, maybe 2. Made it about 8 miles before it got awful hot, even w/ the heat on full blast it was nearly to the top of the gauge. The check gauges warning light came on for maybe 4-5 seconds, I slowed down to like 35 and pulled over and let it cool off for about 10 min. Limped it along another 2ish miles to the only gas station near by.

Once I stopped there it was steaming like crazy out of the end tanks of the radiator. I put 2 gallons of 50/50 water/coolant mix in and it started steaming again and peeing coolant out the driver side rad end tank. I called for a tow at that point.

For sure I think the radiator end tank is cracked or leaking. I ordered a new water pump, thermostat, and gaskets. The u-pull junk yard near me has about 20 Ram 4.7L radiators in stock with a 6 month warranty for $65. Probably grab one of those and try it as opposed to $160 on a new radiator.

The gauge never made it all the way to H, low coolant alarm (assuming there is one) never came on, and the check gauges light only came on briefly. I do have an ODBII scanner, there werent any CEL's or pre-codes stored after this, and the CEL never came on during the hot running.

I'll probably change the oil next weekend and swap the rad/water pump and flush it and see. Hopefully I didn't warp the heads or blow a head gasket.