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View Full Version : Overheating - had to be towed



landark
05-25-2009, 01:50 AM
I am new to the board - hi everyone. I used to own a modified 99 Black CC and loved it. After selling it and regretting it, I recently bought a 2000 Red CC.
Anyway, my 2000 is bone stock with electric fan fully functional. Since I bought it it would run hot when first started. It would go to almost red and then drop back to 130 and run around 180. I was fine with this, though it was troubling. Recently, it has been getting hot and staying hot a while - to the point where you could smell the coolant.
Today I was on the highway and it got hot. I had forgotten to put the pressure cap back on the hose and it was belching coolant everywhere. I pulled over and filled it back up (apparently not the thing to do while hot). It wouldn't cool down after that and I made it about 5 more miles stopping 4 more times before I called the tow truck. I got it home and drove around the block and it started getting hot again.
So, I searched and someone else had the same problem and said changing the temp sensor fixed it. So does that mean the sensor was bad and the engine wasn't running hot?
I bought a 160 degree thermostat to replace the current one, but my limited knowledge of the subject tells me that thermostats are supposed to fail open. So should I bother changing it out? And am I wrong thinking 160 degree is better than 180 for hot months?
Could filling the coolant reservoir after driving with the pressure cap off have made the problem worse this time?
Also, I tried to turn the heat on to pull it from the engine, but it doesn't blow hot. In fact, it never blows hot. And AC comes out when not on the snowflake settings. What's up with that?

Sorry this is so long. But my truck broke the only real rule I have, not to leave me by the side of the road. My 99 never gave me a single cooling problem.
I'll ask about the transmission issues another time after doing a more thorough search.
Any advice anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated.

RTchas
05-25-2009, 02:33 AM
When all this was going on did you notice if the electric fan was running? If not the sensor might be bad and you could have a bad stat, the 160 might be to cold and trip a code. I run a 180 with no mech fan and water wetter with no problem in my 2000. Also if the electric fan is not working check the fuses.How many miles you got on it? Could be bad water pump impeller too ? Hope you get it right! Good Luck!

SB440R/T
05-25-2009, 02:35 AM
First, fill up your system and make sure nothing is leaking. Yes a faulty coolant sensor can give you fits. I would also check to make sure your water pump is not weeping. If it then that is the problem and would have to replace it. Also make sure you are not running straight water as it will boil faster, make sure the mix is good. A 160 may cause your truck to run too cool thus throwing a code. The 180 would be better in my opinion.

landark
05-25-2009, 02:49 AM
Thanks for the response guys.

It's got 45,000 miles on it.
I was paying attention tonight after I got home and as soon as it got to 220 the electric fan kicked on. I also noticed it running on one of my trips to the side of the road.
Since I bought it, I was pleased to see that there was nothing wet anywhere on the engine. It doesn't seem to be losing any coolant when it is all buttoned up.
I bought premixed coolant today and went through almost the whole container. It was cold when I first checked and saw it was really low. So I filled it, but I had also forgotten to close the pressure cap from earlier when I was contemplating changing the thermostat, so I never got a good reading - except that it was running really cool for 10-12 miles until it started belching the fluid. The oil temp was fluctuating instead.

So I'll take the 160 back tomorrow and get a 180 and drop it in.
Any signs the pump would be going bad other than leaks? Does it start to whine?

Again thanks!

Adobedude
05-25-2009, 03:00 AM
Did you burp the air out...

Remove the cap, and let it idle till the bubbles are gone. Mine takes a couple times till it's right.

hskr
05-25-2009, 03:36 AM
Sounds like a bad t-stat to me. Or the pump went bad. If you are going to change the t-stat, might as well hit the waterpump while you are at it. If you were belching water out, it's probably not the temp sensor.

And definitely get the 180. No need to go any colder than that.

bad360rt
05-25-2009, 03:59 AM
Did you burp the air out...

Remove the cap, and let it idle till the bubbles are gone. Mine takes a couple times till it's right.

What Dave said. Any time you work on the cooling system, you have to make sure you work the air out of the system. Have to get it up to temp so the t-stat opens, then keep adding water/coolant until it's actually full and all of the air has worked out of the system. I usually do a few restarts too, just to make sure.

landark
05-25-2009, 05:23 PM
The truck had a 160 degree t-stat in it and I replaced it with a 180 degree.
When I pulled it in this morning there was a large amount of air released when I took off the pressure cap. There was also no coolant in the reserve tank.
I couldn't find the drain plug for the radiator so I decided to just take the hose and housing off and clean up whatever came out after. To my surprise nothing came out. When I took the t-stat off there was no coolant visible behind it.
This is especially shocking since I put nearly a gallon of coolant in it yesterday. And there are no visible signs of it leaking and no puddles.
I started it with the pressure cap off and released the pressure a few times until it got up to operating temp.
Anyway, it still wants to overheat. The hose is hot after running so it seems like it is getting coolant. The reserve tank is still full.
Should I be putting coolant in anywhere other than the reserve tank?

My next step will be to change the water pump...

(and what kind of sadist put that "FRONT" tab on the t-stat housing!?)

SB440R/T
05-25-2009, 05:42 PM
Fill it through the hose. Once you have that full it is full. Make sure you fill that up while its up to operating temperature

bad360rt
05-25-2009, 05:56 PM
Yup, if the hose isn't full while you're running at temp with the pressure cap off, then you need to keep adding coolant/water.

Edit - Just to add, from your post on your welcome thread, the hose should be the highest point in your cooling system, so if it's full at the hose, it's full. :)

hskr
05-25-2009, 06:31 PM
You need to make sure you have it up to operating temp and see the coolant moving past the fill port prior to putting the cap on. This will allow all the air to bleed out and you can top off the system that way. After it's full and the water is hot and flowing through the hose, then put the cap on. The next few days just make sure the overflow stays at the full mark and top off as necessary. The natural heating and cooling of the motor will suck the water out of the overflow and purge out any left over air.

Also, you might want to test to make sure your fan is pulling air through the radiator.

landark
05-25-2009, 06:38 PM
Ok, so keeping in mind that I have never seen a leak, puddle, or wetness, and I drive it about 2-3 times a week. Is it possible that I have been driving without any coolant for 3 months? Running a 5.9 on just air cooling?
Combined with the gallon I put in yesterday, I just added 2 more gallons of coolant.
Do you think I could have lost 12 quarts of it when I had the pressure cap off while driving? It didn't seem like I lost anywhere near that much.

Otherwise, where the heck is it going???

I just drove it, hard, for about 10 minutes and it is staying right at 180, so thanks for all the advice thus far, but I am worried I haven't found the cause of the problem...
I'm going to keep it parked in my garage for the next few days to be 100% sure it isn't leaking.

Warrior Poet
05-25-2009, 06:43 PM
Ok, so keeping in mind that I have never seen a leak, puddle, or wetness, and I drive it about 2-3 times a week. Is it possible that I have been driving without any coolant for 3 months? Running a 5.9 on just air cooling?
Combined with the gallon I put in yesterday, I just added 2 more gallons of coolant.
Do you think I could have lost 12 quarts of it when I had the pressure cap off while driving? It didn't seem like I lost anywhere near that much.

Otherwise, where the heck is it going???

I just drove it, hard, for about 10 minutes and it is staying right at 180, so thanks for all the advice thus far, but I am worried I haven't found the cause of the problem...
I'm going to keep it parked in my garage for the next few days to be 100% sure it isn't leaking.
Headgasket? It seems to be runnin good, so cross the fingers on this one

landark
05-25-2009, 06:53 PM
Headgasket? It seems to be runnin good, so cross the fingers on this one

Ugh, I did not want to hear that mentioned...
I'll keep an eye on my oil as well.

Warrior Poet
05-25-2009, 07:08 PM
Ugh, I did not want to hear that mentioned...
I'll keep an eye on my oil as well.
It *may* be.. but I'm sill new to these dodge motors. When I had my Z28, It did the same thing. Overheated out of the blue. I did thermostat, same thing. New waterpump, same thing. Overheated when it wanted to, puked up water, was fine for 25 min's then you were stranded. When I rebuilt it... it ate up the driver side head gasket. replaced it... problem solved. Now, I didn't say it was the headgasket/s... but it never hurts to check. Better safe then sorry. Also, sorr if it wasn't what you wanted to hear dude...., I hope I'm not right

hskr
05-25-2009, 07:23 PM
Ok, so keeping in mind that I have never seen a leak, puddle, or wetness, and I drive it about 2-3 times a week. Is it possible that I have been driving without any coolant for 3 months? Running a 5.9 on just air cooling?
Combined with the gallon I put in yesterday, I just added 2 more gallons of coolant.
Do you think I could have lost 12 quarts of it when I had the pressure cap off while driving? It didn't seem like I lost anywhere near that much.


Yes, you could have easily lost that much coolant by driving it with the cap off.

RT_solar_sleeper
05-26-2009, 12:28 AM
im a butt in but you can have air pockets in the cooling saystem. also on my i had this loud whining moise and i thought it was the ideler so i change it. soon after the noise was still there and the temp kept going up getting high i changed out the t-stat and a day later the radiator busted. i couldnt ubderstand the noise got louder so one day i took off the water pump to check it i notice the impeller was busted off not even attach to the pump but it some how work. i dont know if this helps but check your pump then go thru the checklist like t-stat radiator or head gaskets. pm me if there is a problem with what im saying.

hskr
05-26-2009, 01:28 AM
im a butt in but you can have air pockets in the cooling saystem. also on my i had this loud whining moise and i thought it was the ideler so i change it. soon after the noise was still there and the temp kept going up getting high i changed out the t-stat and a day later the radiator busted. i couldnt ubderstand the noise got louder so one day i took off the water pump to check it i notice the impeller was busted off not even attach to the pump but it some how work. i dont know if this helps but check your pump then go thru the checklist like t-stat radiator or head gaskets. pm me if there is a problem with what im saying.

Try this
http://www.rosettastone.com/personal/languages/english-american/level-1-2-3-acb

G-Man
05-26-2009, 02:23 AM
Try this
http://www.rosettastone.com/personal/languages/english-american/level-1-2-3-acb

"Now that's funny"

RT_solar_sleeper
05-27-2009, 04:47 AM
That is so hilarious. Why is it that yall always check my grammar and spelling. Are we in a class that i dont know of.:jerkit: any ways check the water pump then everything thing else. you can check your spark plugs to see if your head gaskets are messed up.

RT_solar_sleeper
05-27-2009, 04:49 AM
oh hey im hispanic and english is my second language.

hskr
05-27-2009, 12:06 PM
That is so hilarious. Why is it that yall always check my grammar and spelling. Are we in a class that i dont know of.:jerkit: any ways check the water pump then everything thing else. you can check your spark plugs to see if your head gaskets are messed up.

Because it makes your posts very hard to read and understand. And if you type like that, then why would anyone want to listen to your advice since they can't understand it anyways.

Nolan
05-27-2009, 07:31 PM
Edzackery!

Nolan

RT_solar_sleeper
05-27-2009, 09:37 PM
honestly how many of yall are real mechanics? hey it sound like he has air pockets or a bad waterpump, hell even a bad oil pump will give him overheating problems. so has this guy check any of the suggestion we have given him?

hskr
05-27-2009, 11:36 PM
What makes a person a "real" mechanic?? An ASE certificate just means you sat through some classroom instruction and passed the test, but that doesn't mean you know much about actually troubleshooting problems. I do all my own maintenance on my truck, which inlcuded removal and rebuilding my motor.

landark
05-28-2009, 01:23 AM
So far so good. I drove to work two days in a row and it ran cool all the way. Even the old symptoms have disappeared. The radiator tube is full. I do still smell coolant sometimes, but I'm hoping that is just the remnants burning off from the engine when it went everywhere.
The oil seems clean, but I am still going to keep an eye on that.

Thanks for all the advice, if anything happens later, you'll hear about it.

SB440R/T
05-28-2009, 01:28 AM
When its nice and cool check the level at the tube. You will notice If you are losing any coolant then.