overheated

[dwarfracer1]

I all, having a bit of a problem. 2018 Dodge Ram 6.4 gas job, 4x4 a/t short. bought a small camper and on the way home coming up a long hill started over heating. had no choice but to baby it home. I think that thermostat stuck closed. did a compression check # 1-215,3-215,5-215,7-215,2-185,4-185,6-150,8-170. Head gasket? or worse? got up to 160* thanks in advance

 

[Wild one]

I all, having a bit of a problem. 2018 Dodge Ram 6.4 gas job, 4x4 a/t short. bought a small camper and on the way home coming up a long hill started over heating. had no choice but to baby it home. I think that thermostat stuck closed. did a compression check # 1-215,3-215,5-215,7-215,2-185,4-185,6-150,8-170. Head gasket? or worse? got up to 160* thanks in advance

Buy a coolant tester that tests for combustion gases in the coolant,and see if it changes colour.You can get them pretty well at any decent Auto Parts outlet.

https://www.amazon.com/RELD-Gasket-Tester-Combustion-Detector/dp/B07RS3N98V

 

[dwarfracer1]

Thanks Wild one, my son has one, forgot to add no water in oil, and no white smoke out the exhaust. had a lot of pressure in system. upper rad hose was hard as a rock

 

[crash68]

got up to 160* thanks in advance

Guessing you meant to type 260° because 160° isn't even up to full temperature.
What kind of trailer, how much does it weigh and how fast were you trying to climb? (Include speed, rpm and/or which transmission gear if possible)

 

[dwarfracer1]

Guessing you meant to type 260° because 160° isn't even up to full temperature.
What kind of trailer, how much does it weigh and how fast were you trying to climb? (Include speed, rpm and/or which transmission gear if possible)

sorry yes it was 260 trailer is 16' 3100 lbs was using tow haul
, hill was long,(black mountain in nc on i40)running 60-65 built up enough pressure to blow cap off resorvoir tank

 

[EdGs]

sorry yes it was 260 trailer is 16' 3100 lbs was using tow haul
, hill was long,(black mountain in nc on i40)running 60-65 built up enough pressure to blow cap off resorvoir tank

That doesn't sound good. Praying for an easy fix for you.

 

[crash68]

sorry yes it was 260 trailer is 16' 3100 lbs was using tow haul
, hill was long,(black mountain in nc on i40)running 60-65 built up enough pressure to blow cap off resorvoir tank

Unless that was a steep grade, the trailer was a massive parachute and the OA temp was really high wouldn't think that trailer would overload the truck.
The 6.4 does have an EGR cooler which could be leaking, sometimes those don't rear their ugly head until your under a load. A exhaust gas test for the coolant should pick this kind of leak.With EGR cooler leaks, the coolant usually doesn't make it to the ground but the coolant can/will trash the catalytic converter if it eats too much coolant.
I believe the pressure cap is 22 psi and those trucks have basically a degas bottle instead of an overflow tank. It is easy to over fill those.

 

[blackbetty14]

My 2024 5.7 overheated in traffic, slow climb to 255F and I knew the fan just wasn’t coming on. I drove over a Medan to get some airflow and it came down to temp. Got it home and figured out the fan plug wasn’t making contact for some reason even though it was fully connected. I wiggled it around and fan came on. I took pics of the overheat obviously and brought it to a Ram dealer to get it noted and documented. Mine is a lease and I’m not keeping the truck so I’m fully worried but it has me un easy. I did check the coolant which didn’t drop and everything seems fine. Your 150 compression piston doesn’t sound great. If you do the combustion gas tester that has found problems for me in the past and a cylinder leakage tester could verify the low compression on that one cylinder. Could be a valve too. I had a small head gasket leak on a 5.3 that’s turbo’d and it would push gases to the coolant. I used kseal ultimate head gasket in a bottle (2 of them) and I’ve put 100miles on it and seems to have sealed it up.

 

[lpennock]

Probably the fan clutch needs replacement. Normally shows up under load on grades. If original that would be my first check. Did you hear it roaring as you climbed the grade?

 

[EdGs]

I had a POS Motorad 192 tstat (< 1year old) that decided to start opening late. Way late. A couple times I got to 235°. It became common for my temps to stay 210° - 228°.

I repaced my fan clutch which was bad, but no dice. The fan clutch was so bad, I could stop the fan with my hand at full hot. My e-fan was the only thing trying to moderate my temps.

The thermostat was the real culprit.

Installed a gutless thermostat I had, which did fine, but I tripped a CEL a couple times because the temp didn't come up fast enough.

Installed a 192° Calorstat thermostat, and all is well in the world. Rarely does my temp hit 205° now. Mostly stays in the 190's.