My temperature gauge climbs near 220 or higher when towing a camping trailer up hill. The temperature will drop down to normal once I start to go downhill. Normal temps are 190 during normal driving conditions. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

I own a stock 2002 Dodge Ram 2500 with Cummins diesel automatic transmission - only changes are KN air filter.

 

Look at the back of your radiator. Your truck probly has the catch bottle for the crankcase breather hose behind the fan. They end up caoting the radiators with a film of oil and the dirt gets on it and reduces its heat transfer abilities. Saok it with a lot of degreaser and spray it off with a hose front and back, just becareful to not bend the fins. That should take care of it, also check your coolant level too.

 

Thanks for the tip. I should have mentioned that I had cleaned this off earlier but it didn't help. I appreciate your response.

 

Does your fan clutch work properly?

 

I use to think my water temp was getting to high while towing our 5th wheel until I installed the Quad Commander. I can now see the thermostat open at 190* to 192* and I have never seen temps over 205* on the Commander pulling the trailer even on 100* days but the stock gauge will be showing 220* at that point. I can see the thermostat open at about 190* and then drop to about 187*. The stock gauge will still be showing way above that and will start to drop after about 15 seconds. I guess what I am trying to say is I don't think the stock gauge is all that accurate.

 

Hunter11 is right - and 220 isn't too high - it's getting there - but with good coolant you can survive that if that's the maximum.

Peter

 

If you know that your t-stat is working properly, then I would pull your radiator(only 45 minutes or so total) and really clean it well. You can't properly clean it when it is in the truck and the fins fill up with junk really quick. My old radiator was leaking so I replaced it with an identical one and now the truck runs a lot cooler. Also, if you have been in mud or sand, try pressure washing your fan clutch since they won't grab if they are full of junk.

 

My guess is the transmission oil is cooking. If you don't have a tranny oil temp gauge you probably should.

 

Does your engine make a knock or rattle sound more than usuall while making the climb? Mine was and also getting that warm. It happened to be a TSB on the thermostat. TSB 09-008-02 is to replace the thermostat with part # 05015708AC. You can read about this at http://dodgeram.org
http://dodgeram.info/tsb/2002/09-008-02.htm . May be this will help,did mine.

 

DISEL ROB
HOW WOULD I CHECK THE FAN CLUTCH? thanks for your help.

 

Yes, check your radiator. After I cleaned the rad and relocated the puke bottle, no more heating issues. (although now, at -31 C I could use a little more heat...)

 

Puke bottle hose is on the driver side of the radiator, tranny cooler is on the passenger side. This looks like a combination of dirty on one side and hot air coming through tranny cooler on the other. I like the idea of a tranny temp guage myself for towing. I'll be looking into getting one before this summer's camping season..

 

There may be some special tool but we always did it this way... Get the engine good and warm then shut it off. turn the fan by hand forwards and backwards, it should be stiff but smooth. Using a piece of corrugated cardboard to hold back one corner of a fan blade have someone start the engine, keep your fingers out. You should not be able to keep it from turning if the engine is good and hot. If you can hold it back the clutch hub needs replacing. Make sure you get the exact one. Many look the same but are made for different applications.

 

I had the same problem when towing. I cleaned the radiator first (while it was in the truck) and that didn't make much difference, so I replaced the fan clutch. THAT was a night and day difference.

Prior to the fan clutch replacement, I had been asked if I could hear the fan engaging. I wasn't sure because of normal engine noise. Now, when the temp starts to climb, I can actually hear the roar of the fan as it enagages.