2016 Hemi 5.7 Overheating Tried Everything, I think.

[Oldtownmarine]

Bought a 2016 Ram with Hemi 5.7 at auction 2 weeks ago sight unseen. Overheated Immediately, managed to limp it home.

Appeared to have new water pump installed already.

Investigated.

Appears to be no coolant circulation.

1. Removed t-stat, filled system up with coolant until it came out of detached upper radiator hose. Turned on engine, no flow (or sporadic) from hose.
2. Replaced the water pump, same problem. Heater doesn’t blow hot. Truck overheats quickly and builds up steam in upper hose. Doesn’t seem to be coolant flow.
3. Thought it was head gasket, ordered tester, No evidence of exhaust in coolant.
4. No coolant in oil.
5. Removed upper radiator hose, put hose into radiator fill, ran engine. No t-stat. Water comes out upper radiator hose (thru whole system) until I remove hose, then no flow. Ran once at idle for a long time, no flow, UNTIL Fan kicked on and then suddenly lots of flow (overflowing one of those vacuum funnels)…
6. Thought maybe I over-tightened the water pump and it wasn’t turning properly and fan turning on added sufficient torque to get it to turn… or fan coincided with boiling point of water? Removed water pump again, put it on with 18 ft-lbs torque, re-installed, seems to be pumping coolant correctly now with upper radiator hose detached. YAY!
7. EXCEPT, when I reattach everything it stops pumping. No heat coming into cabin. The truck overheats quickly.


If I stick a hose on the top radiator port it comes out the other side, I do have to hold it on there strongly, not sure what type of pressure is required.

Is my radiator clogged? It’s a 2016 and doesn’t look dirty.

Would a clogged heater hose cause no coolant flow? I can just bypass that. I live in Key West.

Any other ideas??? I’m about to junk this truck because of this. But, it DOES NOT OVERHEAT if I just run a hose thru it and leave the upper radiator Hose disconnected. The coolant temp is what’s skyrocketing to 240+. Engine temp is never that bad.

Thanks for ANY ideas on what I can do neXt

 

[Burla]

If there is a clog that is from normal cooling system stuff rmi 25 will unclog it the caviet being you need some flow. For sure the heater core can cause vehicle overheating, and maybe even likely. Why not bypass it and see what you have before you junk it, or just blast it out. Once you solve it, yearly use of rmi 25 will prevent clogging most of the time.

This Is How To Unclog Your Heater Core For Free In Minutes At Home | Easy

I unclogged the heater core in my car with 2 tools. A water hose and a jet nozzle or water ballon spout. The entire process took me less than 30 minutes and ...

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