High Coolant temp

[Jwithing]

I would tend to agree.

After doing a little bit more research... I didn't realize there was special coolant. I put the green stuff in... Did you use OAT coolant?

 

[nateinva]

After doing a little bit more research... I didn't realize there was special coolant. I put the green stuff in... Did you use OAT coolant?

When I got my 2011 used last fall it had the orange OAT in it. After installing 180 tstat and replacing my water pump a few weeks ago I've kept up with the OAT.

 

[HammerHead]

Just some thoughts on this subject. I do believe the radiators on our 1500 Rams are a bit undersized to keep coolant temperatures high. Thats good for emissions. Not good for power. A properly sized radiator will efficiently shed engine produced heat, even in extreme conditions, so that coolant temperatures will remain at, or within one or two degrees of installed thermostat calibration.
In the days before our present super tight emissions, if one installed a 180 degree thermostat for example, coolant temperatures typically were very close to 180 degrees, as OEMs weren't as concerned with emissions as cooling efficiency. In my 2011 3500 Ram Cummins, coolant temps with the 190 degree thermostat I installed (down from the OEM 203), stayed @ 190 degrees regardless how hard I worked the truck, whether AC was on or off, or ambient temperatures. That truck had a huge radiator, as the truck was meant to work.
I installed a 170 degree thermostat in my 2012 Boss 302 Mustang, and even during very hard running on hot days, coolant temperatures sit at 170 degrees. They climb when I stop moving, but drop right back down when under way again. That car has a very large, all aluminum radiator.
I've got a 180 degree thermostat in my 2017 Ram, and coolant temps fluctuate from 185 up to 190, typically remaining between 186 and 188. My shutters are all removed, save the uppermost and lowest one.
I've not found any supplier that offers a performance radiator for our trucks. Personally think the only way to really keep coolant temps equal to installed thermostat calibrations would be to have a custom, all aluminum performance radiator fabricated, or source a radiator from a 2008 - 2012 Ram with Cummins, with all of it's attendant attaching pieces and try to install it in a 1500, but even with that, a lot of component relocation and fabrication would be necessary.

I was just thinking the same thing this past weekend, looking at the radiator size and considering a bigger replacement. Couldn't find anything online but it's something I'd like to do.
OP I have the 180 jet with my efan set to run all the time and my coolant stays 185-188. Your Temps seem very high to me. I'm thinking it might be defective.

 

[Jwithing]

I was just thinking the same thing this past weekend, looking at the radiator size and considering a bigger replacement. Couldn't find anything online but it's something I'd like to do.
OP I have the 180 jet with my efan set to run all the time and my coolant stays 185-188. Your Temps seem very high to me. I'm thinking it might be defective.

I did get the motorad instead of the jet... Not sure how their qc is... I wouldn't mind a bigger radiator too. Damn it... Not wanting g to flush the radiator to put oat in it.

 

[nateinva]

I have the motorad on mine too.

I thought the post re: radiator size and emissions makes a lot of sense.

 

[tsielski]

Another thought about the radiators in our 1500 Rams being slightly undersized. I found a "rule of thumb" used by many custom shops to determine how large a radiator (read custom) would be needed for a given engine size when they are designing a custom car. That rule is 2 cubic inches of radiator core for every cubic inch of engine displacement.
The 5.7 liter hemi's in our Rams are ~348 cubic inches, which indicates a radiator core of 696 cubic inches (with minor plus adjustments for air conditioning, and transmission cooling).

The radiators in our 1500 Rams have a core size of 27.5"(wide) x 21.9" (tall) x 1" (thick). That comes to ~602 cubic inches of radiator core. Clearly a bit undersized.
Now some of that size deficiency can be compensated for by increasing air flow thru the radiator, but not all. When you consider that most 1500 Rams (I think the Rebel model excepted) have shutters which work to reduce air flow thru the radiator, the observations of coolant temperatures being typically 5 to 10 degrees higher than installed thermostat calibrations when at highway speed makes sense.

I can only conclude that the cooling systems in our trucks seem to have been designed to run on the warm side for emissions purposes, but not so small as to cause cause a cascade overheating condition in the majority of foreseen operating conditions.

A custom 2 or 3 inch thick, all aluminum multi-core radiator would do wonders to keep coolant temperatures solidly at installed thermostat calibrations.

 

[Jwithing]

Maybe an upgrade radiator could be something that Matt @ Moe's performance could look into?

 

[BadRam14]

I finally dug into my cooling system to figure out why it was getting up to 212* and above with a 180* thermostat. After making sure there was no air in the system and flushing and replacing with OAT coolant the temps were still the same. So I found that Amazon had the Motorad 180* for $13. So I ordered one. Once I put it in my temps now stay right at 186*. After all of this it was a bad thermostat, or incorrectly boxed thermostat. These do not have any markings saying what temp they are.

 

[VB712]

Any benefit to a 180 thermostat without a tuner or anything? Any of you guys removing shutters or deleting them completely on the 8sp trucks?

Mine is basically stock. Coolant stays about 200. Trans around 190 and oil up to 210.

 

[grizzstang]

Any benefit to a 180 thermostat without a tuner or anything? Any of you guys removing shutters or deleting them completely on the 8sp trucks?

Mine is basically stock. Coolant stays about 200. Trans around 190 and oil up to 210.

I am wondering the same. Coming from a Ford I can tell you that new vehicles prefer to run hotter, that is how they are designed. On my old 03 F150 my electric fans were not even set to come on until 210. No one on the Ford truck sites were running a cooler thermostat than OEM. It must be a Ram thing.

 

[Jwithing]

Didn't you say you were swinging 37"s ,what pressure are you running them at.Also what gears are in your diffs? Your tires are going to take more horsepower to turn,especially if you run them on the soft side,horsepower used=heat created,and if by chance you have 3.21's,your rpm is going to be low,which means less coolant being circulated ,while you've increased the horsepower required to turn the tires. for ***** and giggles try airing your tires up to the max inflation listed on the tires sidewall,and see if anything changes with your temps,then air them back down and check temps again.

Just now saw this post. Running 37's @ 44psi w/ 3.92 gears.... Once it gets heated up, it won't drop below 194... Thinking I need to try another thermostat.

 

[jag1886]

I know a lot of people say you can just remove the stock clutch fan but the problem I see is that stock electric fan has no shroud so all the cooling it does is the size of the fan and that leaves a lot of radiator uncovered which is very inefficient.
My truck ran at 201 with a 185 stat pulling a 25FT camper up large hills with the stupid 3000 RPM stall stalled at 3000 RPM's but it alway cooled right back down to 187 on the flats.
I'd put the stock fan back on or convert to the V6 fan.

 

[Jwithing]

So I tried another tstat... My temps are getting upwards of 223 when it's 94 degrees out... Starting to get a bit concerned... Not sure what my options are at this point other than putting the clutch fan on to see what that does...

 

[nateinva]

I've been driving in much warmer temps since my earlier posts. Down in Myrtle Beach this week and temps have been 190-200. Just updating from prior posts, still not seeing anything near as high as you are though.

 

[Jwithing]

Wondering if I have an exhaust manifold leak. No sounds indicating such, but still should check

 

[West27]

Driving in town when it's 100+ outside I am seeing temps at 190-195 with efan on. Sitting at a light i have seen it reach 205 but once start driving it goes back down to 190.
Had it on the highway at around 80-90 outside temp and flat or down hill driving the temp was around 186-190 and it hit 206 when I was climbing a huge hill.
I have the big horn grille on mine (chrome slats) which seems like it doesn't have very good flow through it so now I'm considering getting a better flowing grille. What do you guys think about that. Worth it?

 

[Jwithing]

Wish someone would come out with that larger radiator already

 

[Ratket]

Do you have a aftermarket grill??
A larger radiator isn't going to help you- try going back to a factory tune?
I had a "Built " mustang about 15 years ago or so and I had a nice big 3 core aluminum radiator and a big ass electric fan with a stock water pump and a 180 t stat. Water pump died and I let a guy talk me into " well it's bad so put a hi flow water pump on it" problem was it pulled the water out of the radiator to fast at hwy speeds- " 4:10 gears with a t56 5 speed didn't help the Rpms - but at idle or slow speeds " low rpm" it would cool right off. Learned a valuable lesson- the coolant needs time to transfer the heat in the radiator- if it's not doing it at Hwy speeds and if u have a factory grill, something is restricting the air flow? Maybe at idle ur not getting enough air flow from the electric fan? Just something to think about.

 

[Jwithing]

Do you have a aftermarket grill??
A larger radiator isn't going to help you- try going back to a factory tune?
I had a "Built " mustang about 15 years ago or so and I had a nice big 3 core aluminum radiator and a big ass electric fan with a stock water pump and a 180 t stat. Water pump died and I let a guy talk me into " well it's bad so put a hi flow water pump on it" problem was it pulled the water out of the radiator to fast at hwy speeds- " 4:10 gears with a t56 5 speed didn't help the Rpms - but at idle or slow speeds " low rpm" it would cool right off. Learned a valuable lesson- the coolant needs time to transfer the heat in the radiator- if it's not doing it at Hwy speeds and if u have a factory grill, something is restricting the air flow? Maybe at idle ur not getting enough air flow from the electric fan? Just something to think about.

Pretty sure it's a stock grille... Looks like the black honeycomb underneath w/ horizontal chrome slats. It'll cool off a bit at idle at a light, but has to sit for awhile (usually uphill) to cool down into the 180's. It's also black, lifted w/ 37's, so I expect higher temps, but this is ridiculous. I'm 99 percent sure there's no air in the system and know about burp valve positioning due to previous installs on other vehicles. I'm just baffled and a little concerned with driving home today since it's supposed to be 101 degrees and I'm hitting 223 @ 94.

 

[CTD]

Pretty sure it's a stock grille... Looks like the black honeycomb underneath w/ horizontal chrome slats. It'll cool off a bit at idle at a light, but has to sit for awhile (usually uphill) to cool down into the 180's. It's also black, lifted w/ 37's, so I expect higher temps, but this is ridiculous. I'm 99 percent sure there's no air in the system and know about burp valve positioning due to previous installs on other vehicles. I'm just baffled and a little concerned with driving home today since it's supposed to be 101 degrees and I'm hitting 223 @ 94.

I have pretty much the same truck except running stock tires, Big Horn, Black, same grill, 180 tstat, and Hemifever tune. It has been around 90-92 degrees around here and the highest temps I have seen on my truck is 194 and that was pulling up steep grades, it stays between 185 and 190 at highway speeds.