Steam under the hood

I wasn't sure the best way to word the title. I'm having an issue with my 2007 Ram 4.7L. So far this has happened twice. The first time I was picking up my nephew and had about a 4 hour round trip. I was probably 3/4 into my trip and I started hearing the serpentine belt squeal. It would happen sporadically. Once I started paying attention, I noticed the voltmeter would dip down in the low area of the normal range and then when the belt squealed, it would come back up to normal. It was a wet\sloppy snow so I figured that combined with spray coming up from the vehicle in front of me was causing the belt to get wet, slip, and when it would dry out, everything returned to normal. All my other gauges were normal.

I didn't think much of it until today. I had to pick up my dogs from the kennel and this trip was about an hour and a half. The roads were dry, but we've had warm weather for the last week and all our snow is melting so the air is really damp. I thought it was just doing something similar, but it got progressively worse on the way home. The same thing would happen. Volts would drop. Belt would squeal and it would return to normal. This was the case when I was travelling 60ish mph. Once I got into town and had to drop to 45, the volt meter was staying around the low end of the normal range. I was watching it and it seemed like the longer I drove slower, the more it would drop. I was almost home so I was praying it would make it. By the time I got within a couple miles of my house where the speed limit is 30, the volt meter kept dropping. It was hovering just above L. I shut off my heater blower and my headlights, and then the meter jumped back up to low to mid normal range. After I parked, white steam starting coming out of the engine bay. I popped the hook and there was what I assumed to be water all over the place. The belts and pulleys were wet. The top of the air filter housing, the top of the battery had standing water on it and the wool wrap was wet. Pretty much anywhere that wasn't as hot as the block was wet. To the touch, it seemed like water. But the steam coming out tasted sweet.

I checked the oil and it was filled sufficiently. I checked under the oil fill cap for a white milky substance, but there was none. Although, based on how the oil fill assembly is, I don't know that I'd even see it if it were present. The cap was dry as well as the fill reservoir.

Because I was so focused on the volt meter, I didn't check to see if any of the other gauges were out of range. The part that worries me is that when I was looking around, I could "taste" the steam and it was sweet.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. I'm by no means a mechanic, but I feel I'm fairly competent and can follow instructions\suggestions.

Thanks,
Joe

You have most likely overheated the engine because your water pump has taken a dump. The squealing pulley was the serpentine belt running over a water pump that isn't spinning.

I think you may be on the right track. I went back out after the truck cooled down and I am low on coolant. I think it's leaking from the water pump as when the truck is running, it's making a clanky pinging sound. I can grab the engine cooling fan and move it around. The pully it's attached to moves along with it. I'm guessing the water pump needs to be replaced and that's where the coolant is leaking from.

You should also have someone look at the head gaskets because if you overheated the engine you can now have coolant leaking into the oil and combustion chamber or at worst have warped a cylinder head. At this point, don't drive it, don't even turn it on until the water pump is replaced.

I put a video up of what my issue appears to be. If you take a look at this, should I be concerned about the fan or fan clutch having issues as well?

http://youtu.be/fWVkUedbs-w

I doubt you have any issue with the clutch fan since the wobble is coming from the water pump side of things.

Be weary of the fact that the 4.7L has the tendency to be a warmer running engine that other MOPAR engines.

If it overheats you run more chances to warp the heads and blow a gasket than on most other engine. I would refrain from driving the truck and get it to a mechanic ASAP to get that Water Pump swapped, unless you intend to do it yourself.

I would even go as far as taking a compression reading for all cylinders before you swap that pump as to assess whether or not it is worth to do the work or maybe think about a complete engine swap.

Just saying!