Hello everyone.

I have a 2006 2500 with about 40k on the odo. Here recently, I have been running higher temps than what I used to unloaded. Temp guage would always peak up to 200 then open and settle down around 190. Now, even unloaded going up small hills and whatnot, my temperature peaks over 205.

I had the cooling system flushed and replaced the coolant last year. When the dealership first gave it back to me, they had put Dex-cool in Didn't have that crap in there even for a day. They flushed it out 3 times and put in the Dodge HOAT coolant. Mind you, this was a year ago.

Meanwhile, just recently the temperature has been acting funny. So I called them to do a flush and change the thermostat. I told them I would get the de-ionized water. That's when they told me they used TAP water last year.

So, I had it flushed again and thermostat changed (190 degree), but its still running warm. Cooling fan clutch is definately working right. Upper and lower radiator hoses are not soft, nor does the lower hose suck closed when running. I am trying to make sure I don't have anymore air in the system, but after running long getting it up to operating temp, only the driver's side part of the radiator is hot, but the passenger side is practically stone cold. Could corrosion have started to take place with the tap water, and now the water pump impeller corroded?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks

 

Man, that's why I do that kind of stuff myself...

Unless you live somewhere with really hard tap water, I doubt it would have done that much damage that fast.

I wonder if they failed to flush (or just said they did) when they took the dexcool out. As I understand it, you will get a bunch of slime if you mix it with HOAT, and it can form rubberlike solids. I think you can see some of the fins from the radiator cap if you drain it a ways. Might see what you can see.

The other thing I would wonder about is could the dealer have used too much antifreeze. It doesn't carry heat as well as water, so if they were to have given you like 80% mix that could cause overheating.

Lastly, do you have an exhaust pyrometer? I wonder if you had a boost leak or other similar problem that would cause exhaust temps to be unusually high, if that would also result in higher than normal coolant temp...

 

Could it be possible that you might need the RADIATOR cleaned out..and FLOW TESTED by a qualified Radiator repair shop. These shops can tell the efficiency of the radiator.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I honestly haven't had the time recently to do much work on it myself, but I believe I will be draining it down some and look in the end tank and also go to the Cummins dealer and get a true Cummins thermostat. Also, cleaning out the radiator is a good idea. Can they also flush the block with anything to get rid of the Death-cool stuff?

 

You could put some flush stuff in with distilled water and run it until the thermostat is open.

To rinse out the block I usually pull one of the heater hoses off, and hold a running garden hose up to one end and to the other until clear water runs out from where you disconnected it and out of the neck of the radiator...

 

Did you ever figure out why your truck was running warmer? Mine has been running like you describe for the past few months. I have about 75k miles. Truck used to run 180-190 unloaded and now it stays right around 200 all the time. Let me know if you have any suggestions.