Latest update on this.

2007 Dodge Ram 3500 4wd dually.

Took a trip last week and everything seemed okay. It only hit 217 on a pull and it was hot out.

This week, had a load going to Houston area and it seemed a bit hot until I got to Texarkanna and turned south.

The truck then hovered close to 220 for the most part. It would drop to 212 and then sometimes hit 225, based on the hills.

Had a head wind of about 15 mph and it was 105 out. Kept an eye on it and it stayed close to 220. Fan clutch roaring, so I know it was working.

By the time I was getting closer to Houston, it dropped to 98 degrees and the temperatures declined.

After I dropped the trailer, I noticed that the temps seem to hover just like I was pulling a load. Called and made an appointment with a radiator shop at home.

What they found.

The aux transmission oil cooler had been leaking and it plugged itself with grime and did the big hunk of the radiator. They flow checked the radiator and it was good.

Cleaned the tranny cooler and then pressured it and could find no leaks. Said to run it until it leaked where they could find it or replace it. None available in town without ordering.

Will be checking prices tomorrow at dodge when I get the plug or whatever to fix the leak that started this morning on the tranny dipstick.

They added new Prestone antifreeze to it and then it stayed around 193 all the way home.

The radiator guys suggested replacing with the oem cooler for ease of installation. I believe I might get sticker shock in the am.

Any suggestions?

This truck has 625,000 on it and it works for a living as totally stock.

 

Road grime, leaves, etc. will clog up the radiotor. If you can see no leaks, leave it alone, it is fine. Save your money.

 

you will be surprized at the prices dealers get .I got a great dealer near me and I get stuff from them all the time its OEM and sometimes they beat napa by a lot of $$

 

I checked this cooler before they took it out. The paper towel did not have an odor on it, but was blacker that dirt.

The AC was crystal clear and it is in the front.
The Air to air was also clear.

It seemed odd that the tranny cooler was dirty and also the radiator.

I had the tranny replaced before memorial day. It ran fine the first trips out after it was done.

Then I ran into Montana where they were doing road work and had sprayed something on the road to keep the dust down. Unfortunately, we hit this in the rain and it coated the truck and the trailer.

I would wonder how it would have missed the ac.

I have ran with 2 screens on the truck since the week I bought the truck.

I had them put the old cooler in and will watch it for a couple of weeks.

However, this truck lives on the road, and down time is costly.

 

The dealer's around my area are greedy. I usually end up buying through St. Louis.

 

Don't want to hi-jack this thread but started having the same issues. Only mine would spike at idle or in traffic. Before this happened I notice the cooler res was empty so I added 3quarts of Zerex coolant, then this started happening. Fan started howling on acceleration and under load. Temp has always been around 200 on dash but goes up really fast when slow then drops as speed pick up. Any ideas?

 

T stat and radiator cap.

 

I would test the fan clutch the reason why is that as you drive you are pushing air into the radiator and at a stop the fan clutch has to work

 

I've never gotten more than 70k out of a tstat in my 5.9s. My 03 stat was bad at 60k. I got a new stat at Cummins (the only one I will buy)and put them both in water on the stove and the old one only opened 2/3 of the way. Craig

 

I got over 350,000 on the original one.

Changed it last year thinking it was a problem with a NAPA one.

Got about 240,000 on the last one.

I believe you are really correct though. I think the life of the stats are shorter.

I wrote the miles down for this one and will be monitoring the performance.

 

Thanks will check the stat. Problem has seemed to go away. But keeping my eye on it. Knew the air was cooling but even at speed the fan clutch was running. Sorry for the mis-info.