spacedace
Junior Member
Interesting event yesterday so I thought I'd get some opinions. 97 ram 2500 with the 5.9 gas. Pulled out of my friends driveway and the oil light briefly popped on and initially thought it was just electrical. Went off and then 5 minutes later I started to smell antifreeze and looked down to see the temp at 250. Pulled over and no leaks. Upper hose scalding hot and lower was warm. Saw that the overflow tank was empty so I filled that up when home.
I started to think maybe the tstat was stuck, or waterpump, clutch fan...by the way, are these not supposed to be spinning when cold? mine does...I also read that when the belt stops these stop and I get about 7-8 rotations after. I can spin it by hand but there is some resistance...so I guess it's always engaged.
Checked the oil and I have an aftermarket pan, which for some reason didn't accept the stock dipstick...checking oil level isn't great since it's one of those universal wire ones, but I made it to length...pulled it out and was nothing on it. I added a quart then went driving and temp still got back up to 250. Added another quart and it got high on the highway but then manageable in town 220-240, which is still higher than normal. I think someone has a higher temp stat in there, but I've been driving it 3 years now and see it hit 220, then cools down quick after that.
Before I get into checking or replacing a water pump, oil pump, oil sensor, water temp sensor, t stat etc etc...does it sound like the lack of oil was causing heat transference to the water? This truck doesn't have a single leak on it, and it also doesn't smoke...so it's beyond me where it goes. When I replace the rotted out pan it got a fresh 5 quarts...I was down 2, maybe even more...waiting on a new dipstick to see if I can get it to work..aftermarket pan isn't designed the same for the dip passage to bend the same as oem
Note...oil pressure seemed low as well. 25-40 during idle and cruise and I saw the needle pulsing more and I haven't noticed before. I'm thinking this was all oil level related
I started to think maybe the tstat was stuck, or waterpump, clutch fan...by the way, are these not supposed to be spinning when cold? mine does...I also read that when the belt stops these stop and I get about 7-8 rotations after. I can spin it by hand but there is some resistance...so I guess it's always engaged.
Checked the oil and I have an aftermarket pan, which for some reason didn't accept the stock dipstick...checking oil level isn't great since it's one of those universal wire ones, but I made it to length...pulled it out and was nothing on it. I added a quart then went driving and temp still got back up to 250. Added another quart and it got high on the highway but then manageable in town 220-240, which is still higher than normal. I think someone has a higher temp stat in there, but I've been driving it 3 years now and see it hit 220, then cools down quick after that.
Before I get into checking or replacing a water pump, oil pump, oil sensor, water temp sensor, t stat etc etc...does it sound like the lack of oil was causing heat transference to the water? This truck doesn't have a single leak on it, and it also doesn't smoke...so it's beyond me where it goes. When I replace the rotted out pan it got a fresh 5 quarts...I was down 2, maybe even more...waiting on a new dipstick to see if I can get it to work..aftermarket pan isn't designed the same for the dip passage to bend the same as oem
Note...oil pressure seemed low as well. 25-40 during idle and cruise and I saw the needle pulsing more and I haven't noticed before. I'm thinking this was all oil level related
