2014 Ram 1500 5.7 hemi. Overheat and will not try to start.

[Killer_NCO]

New to the forum. New to auto mechanics. I bought this truck about 4 years ago. It has a little over 250K miles on it. No major issues until now. I was driving home from work and stopped at a redlight. Heat gauge shot to max. Truck died. Towed it home, and it would not even try to start. I had replaced the starter about 6 months before this happened. I replaced the battery after this happened because it would not turn over. The starter solenoid clicks, but that is it. All the lights on the dash stay on but the only thing that happens is the click of the solenoid. PLEASE HELP!!!

Update: I had one mechanic friend say that there is a shutdown relay on these vehicles. Does anyone know about this and where it would be located, or how to reset it?

 

[NETim]

I am not sure about the existence of a "shutdown" relay, so I can't help you there.

When these trucks get weirded out and doing crazy things, usually the first place to start is the battery and connections. Get the battery checked, clean the connections on the battery, inspect all ground connections for tightness and cleanliness and leave the battery disconnected for at least 30 minutes in the process before reconnecting. This allows the various controllers to fully power down and reset.

Also, any codes reported on a code reader?

 

[rzr6-4]

I've had mine very hot a couple of times, but the one that was the worst was when I left it running for 5 min and when I got back in the gauge was pinned. God knows how hot it got. That said, I just shut it off, gave it time to cool down, added coolant to it and went about my day. I've heard of engines getting so hot they physically seize up but they still restarted once they cooled back down.

As Tim suggests, I would get a $20 code reader from amazon, always good to have anyway. If you have a multimeter, check your voltages although I doubt that's your issue. This may be a case where pulling a spark plug and looking in with a borescope may be necessary to see if your block is toast.

With every vehicle I've ever triggered a safety mechanism on, the safety will prevent the starter from even trying. If you can hear your starter, then there is no safety holding it back. There must be something electrically or mechanically wrong.

 

[Burla]

It's the starter again, hit it with a hammer.

Then you will have to figure over heating, try new thermo stat read YouTube how to replace, anyone can do it. Use OEM replacements.

 

[Burla]

GET A HAMMER! EMERGANCY STARTER FIX 🔨🔨🔨

✅ HAMMER ON THE STARTER! What do you have to loose? It's no good anyway. You can usually jar the starter loose and get started by smacking it with a hammer o...

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It possible the engine is seized, which is bad news if so. But rare if everything was fine and just over heating at a stoplight. Check radiator for oil and dip stick for water.

If you replaced battery to quick, you didn't reset system. Try hard reset unhook battery for 1/2 hour.


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[Killer_NCO]

Thank you all. I did find the problem. The starter fried. I have already replace the water pump, so the thermostat will be next after the starter.

 

[Killer_NCO]

The engine is not seized. I was able to turn it by hand. Thank goodness. I really didn't want to spend 4K on a crate.

 

[Burla]

Yeah that is what I thought, normally a very easy diagnose, but when two things happen at the same time always confuses the situation. Now you have to keep an eye out for electrical gremlins, because unless you put 100k miles on it in 6 mos the starter shouldn't be going out so soon. Maybe a grounding issue.

So this I must admit is far reaching, but if these two items are related as in grounding issue and electrolysis in cooling system leading to over heating, evidence would be in coolant. RMI 25 both protects radiators from electrolysis and deposits any gunk or rust from system into over flow tank for extraction. It should be called radiator shops secret but this is still an unknown product out there, but I have used it several times and it does what it says, look into it usually available on eBay or Amazon. You can also test for electrolysis in the cooling system with volt meter, Google it.

For now sounds like winner winner chicken dinner, but if something in this ilk happens again soon you could have some stray current, bad ground or short circuit somewhere.

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[Burla]

cool product I do not know if that fits ram, but if you had that product sitting your coolant will stop electrolysis and diagnose it because if it slowly is dissolving you have it.

 

[EdGs]

Overheating sucks, and waiting to cool down sucks just as much, maybe more. Especially on the side of the road.

But no matter what, wait until the engine is completely cool before adding coolant. My son had a 2001 blazer 4.3, overheated to the point of shutoff, we let it cool until completely cold, filled and restarted with no issues. Amazing.

 

[Wild one]

Thank you all. I did find the problem. The starter fried. I have already replace the water pump, so the thermostat will be next after the starter.View attachment 556022

Make sure you test the thermostat before installing it,in a pot of water on the stove.Just cause it's new doesn't mean it's any good or will even last 6 months these days.

 

[Tominator223]

Overheating is probably what fried the starter. Get a 180 or 190 t-stat. My hemi likes the lower temp t-stat. Jmo

 

[Killer_NCO]

Overheating is probably what fried the starter. Get a 180 or 190 t-stat. My hemi likes the lower temp t-stat. Jmo

Thanks for the advice. I definitely will. It is running for now. I'm not driving it yet though. I drained the radiator and rinsed before filling it. Tried to do the oil change,but the drain bolt is stuck like chuck. I'll get it out and retap it.

 

[Killer_NCO]

Thank you all for the replies and help. I'm sure there will be more questions to come in the near future. It's awesome to have someone to ask besides Google.

 

[Hardracer]

cool product I do not know if that fits ram, but if you had that product sitting your coolant will stop electrolysis and diagnose it because if it slowly is dissolving you have it.

Zinc anodes,yep That product is all over marine engines and a few outboards.Yamaha,Suzuki etc.