I recently bought a 96 2500 with the Cummins motor. Everything was fine until we pulled our travel trailer this weekend. First for the confusing part. The temp gauge in the dash shows 60 , 90, and red line at 110 but the owner's manual shows 140,190,230. Any suggestions?

When pulling, we had to run with the heat on to keep it from hitting the red line at 110. The EGT's would hit about 1200. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

hows the coolant level? what condition is the coolant ie.weak, too strong, colour?
how about the fan, is it spinning? what condition is the condenser in? water pump working? thermostat stuck? tempature sensor gone bad perhaps?

 

The coolant level is fine. We are gonna drain it and start fresh. Fan spins and I assume the water pump is working. I do have a new thermostat to try but if it was stuck, I would assume it would run hot all the time. I drive the truck daily and it never gets above 90 on the temp gauge. Once a week, I put 1200lbs of feed in the back and it never gets above 90 which is the mid point. Pulled the travel trailer 1 weekend and that's when the truck shot to 110 which is red on my gauge. I'm still confused why this gauge is different and so much lower than the one in the book. Anyone have the temp gauge that I have and where does your truck normally run?

 

Easy one first. I can probably help on the temperature gauge problem. Your manual and your vehicle gauge are the same - 60 = 140, 90 = 190 (194 actually), 110 = 230. The first number is the centigrade (Celsius) scale and the second number is the Fahrenheit scale.

As for overheating you may need to get the system flushed. It is not uncommon for vehicle owners to neglect the cooling system which may have compromised the radiator itself. Is it possible in 1995 that a different sized radiator was used for different towing packages?