Intermittent overtemp

[Brian V]

About a month ago, my ram started overtemping intermittently. I first noticed it on a road trip to NY from VA, about 6 hours into my drive. I was stuck in stop-and-go traffic when the engine temp light came on. After the stop-and-go traffic cleared and I got back to normal speed (~75mph) the temp came back down to normal. I was able to drive it the rest of the way (3 more hours) to my destination, and then I drove it back to VA a few days later. Since then, I notice the temp creeping up during my drive any time I take her out somewhere. It seems to only happen when accelerating or going up an incline, when the truck has to work harder to maintain speed.

I checked to see if it was throwing any codes but didn't get any hits. I am leaning towards the radiator or the thermostat but I don't know for sure. Any help is appreciated. Thanks all!

 

[U&A]

First thing that comes to mind is you have air in the system Air reaches the pump and coolant stops flowing for a short period of time.


Sent while firmly grasping my redline lubed RAM [emoji231]

 

[Burla]

Pressure wash the fins on your radiator? I think the rad shares space with ac unit as well, sometimes it will leak oil on radiator, and that gathers dust. See what is going on, have you serviced coolant? You should have done this at least three times by now. You could go lower % coolant/distilled water mix as well. Is the strength of coolant 50/50?

 

[misfit77]

Sounds like a fan clutch,, why the hell did ram go with a mechanical fan?....

I have spent good money and time chasing cooling issues in the past to find out it was a 30 dollar clutch.

 

[srv1]

my 2k4 was fluctuating temp a while back.i checked the t-stat and found that the bottom of it (backflow valve i believe its called)had broken off and was laying down in my water pump.put a new t-stat in ,fixed.just a thought if you have not already checked it.good luck.