06 dodge 3500 overheating

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CharlesinGA

Junior Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2018
Posts
17
Reaction score
6
Location
50 miles south of Atlanta, GA
Ram Year
2003
Engine
5.9L Cummins 305 hp HO
My 2003 5.9L HO 6 spd manual had green coolant in it when I bought it in early 2018. i drained it and removed the thermostat and took out the guts of it and put the plate and seal back, so coolant would circulate continuously. After flushing with Cummins acid and alkali flushes and many hundreds of gallons of water, I installed a new NAPA thermostat (bad mistake) and filled with Zerex G05 and ran it. It took weeks of running and topping to purge the air out. The engine indicated right at 200 with the new thermostat while the original was noticeably lower. After about a year I started having the thermostat stick. It would get hot and then unstick. I made the 60 mile (sigh) trip to Cummins South Atlanta and bought a genuine Cummins thermostat p/n 5292744 for about $53 (sigh again!). I installed it and went thru about three months of adding coolant till the level stabilized (finally). This took a while as I don't drive the truck that often but made a point of driving it more while trying to get the coolant topped off. It just turned 100K earlier this year.

Moral of this story is, buy genuine parts, not aftermarket. I have had to resort to buying Ford thermostats for my old '91 Ranger because the aftermarket hunted temp and would not stabilize, but I screwed up again (sigh) and I am 66 years old and have been messing with cars since I was 15, and have been a heavy aircraft mechanic for an airline for 31 years till I retired, and I still screwed up and bought the cheap crap, again.

Charles
 
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TTKC

Junior Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2020
Posts
29
Reaction score
0
Location
KCMO
Ram Year
2006
Engine
5.9 Cummins
Well I think i have possibly found the problem. Now none of them symptoms showed up before.
Today my truck got up to 235*. Had parked it and as soon as I did it starts idling high at about 1000rpm's (not sure why).

Let it cool and decided to go home, barely made it because of how hot it was getting. Pulled into the driveway and the symptoms finally started.
Ive got coolant ont he ground, low an beehold the waterpump is leaking bad and Id say has gone out now.

Here is my weird thought though, with the temp getting up to 235*, the fan clutch still wouldnt turn on. It turns on when I first start the truck, but wont come on again.
This is what is confusing me currently.
 
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