Heater Issue

Hauzer said:

Hey guys, this is my first post and I'm in need of some advice.

I have a 2001 Dodge Ram with the 5.9L and my heater doesn't work well at all. My temp gauge sits in between 130 and 210 which seems low to me. I just changed the thermostat tonight and it did nothing for me. After I was done, I went to go burp the system and noticed the radiator cap wasn't even hot, and the lower radiator hose had pieces of ice in it.. I'm up here in Maine and it was about 17 degrees F today. The upper radiator hose was hot though. Do you think I have too much water in the antifreeze mix which is causing my heater to suffer from insufficient coolant flow? I also noticed some gurgling coming from under my dash and I'm pretty sure that's from the heater core. What should I do?

Any help would be appreciated!!
-Hauzer

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ktm1217 said:

Maybe your rad is shot..? Did you drain the whole coolant system and maybe try flushin it also? Your temp should be closer to 210 when warmed up, at like 195.

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Hauzer said:

I was thinking it could be my radiator too since the cap stays cold even after running the truck for a while. Couldn't that create a potential problem by having too much pressure in the radiator and no where for it to flow? I just bought the truck a few months ago and have been running it like this. Didn't do a flush because the coolant looked new..

What's the best way to test to see if the radiator is clogged? Run water from a hose through it?

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ktm1217 said:

It could also be the cap, sometimes they dont hold a good seal and the cooling system wont pressurize. Id try to take off both the upper and lower rad hoses at the radiator, and take a garden hose or some sort of container and pour water down the top. If its not clogged, it should run through and out the lower rad hose connection. If not, you prob have a bad radiator. However, if it does flow through, you could try to put a new cap on and see what happens then.

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Hauzer said:

Hey guys, this is my first post and I'm in need of some advice.

I have a 2001 Dodge Ram with the 5.9L and my heater doesn't work well at all. My temp gauge sits in between 130 and 210 which seems low to me. I just changed the thermostat tonight and it did nothing for me. After I was done, I went to go burp the system and noticed the radiator cap wasn't even hot, and the lower radiator hose had pieces of ice in it.. I'm up here in Maine and it was about 17 degrees F today. The upper radiator hose was hot though. Do you think I have too much water in the antifreeze mix which is causing my heater to suffer from insufficient coolant flow? I also noticed some gurgling coming from under my dash and I'm pretty sure that's from the heater core. What should I do?

Any help would be appreciated!!
-Hauzer

Click to expand...