My 2000 Dodge Dakota with the 3.9l v6 engine overheated.
For a few days I noticed when I started the truck it seemed to struggle with starting a little. When I cranked it…it kind of sputtered a little but then started as usual and was fine.
I went on a 30-minute trip and noticed some steam and then the gauge went to hot. I got it towed back home.
The upper coolant hose near the cap was off and antifreeze had spewed everywhere.
Could this just be a faulty hose? I am fearing it was probably another issue which caused too much pressure and made the hose fail.
What should I check?
( I can take it to a garage, but I enjoy learning about these things myself )
Reinstall the hose, clamp and add coolant. Warm the engine up idling with the pressure cap off of the expansion bottle and look for bubbles indicating a blown head gasket. Overpressure from a blown head gasket can pop off a hose but the radiator cap pressure relief should have prevented that. A new cap is in order.
All you can do is what Mustangman suggested, put the hose back on and fill it up, bleed the air pockets and cross your fingers…
With the hose off and dumping the coolant fast, it takes the gauge a lot longer to show the hot temps, the gauge doesn’t pick up hot air as fast as hot coolant… My buddy did similar, but may have driven longer (hopefully), but he killed the transmission and engine, it overheated BAD!!!.. The over drive unit in those transmissions don’t like heat…
I told him to run a compression check 1st, but he went ahead and pulled the trans and brought it to me to build, it was mostly junk…
Had to buy a trans core and take the best of both and build a trans for him, well he installed the trans and found out the rings had collapsed, so had to put another engine in it…
Point is, if something is still wrong with it after you put it back together, then check everything before dumping money in it, could end up snow balling on you…
Yes even with the collapsed rings (low compression) it idled/ran pretty smooth, just had no power…
I just got around to looking into my truck. I read something about turning the heat on and waiting for it to warm up and then seeing if the heat blew hot. And that would be a water pump problem with the overheating. Is this true?
I am leaning towards the water pump. I replaced it 2 years ago and afterward read the one I purchased had horrible reviews and many people said it only lasted a few months.
I let it warm up… turned the heat on full blast and it never got even warm. Even as the temp gauge increased towards red after a short drive and sitting idle for 20 minutes.
You could have an air pocket, did you properly bleed the cooling system??
You can’t always go by the gauge, you need to watch Live Data and use an infrared temp gun to see what is really happening at the thermostat and temp sender unit, check the heater hose inlet and outlet temps, check the temps across the radiator etc etc…
I even from a cold start up, will use a pressure tester with no pressure on the cooling system to start off with and watch the pressure, it will also show you when the t-stat opens by watching when the pressure drops as well just how much pressure the system is building up, or not building up like if the t-stat is stuck open…
You should have refilled the cooling system before driving the truck. “No heat” indicates the system is 3 or more quarts low.
After the engine gets hot enough for the thermostat to open, you can finish filling the cooling system. The thermostat needs to open to allow the remaining air to escape the engine.
Blown head gasket 99% sure.
White smoke + coolant in oil (or oil in coolant) + overheating after 30 mins = classic on the 4.7L.
Do a compression test or leak-down test first. If #3 or #5 is low, gasket is gone.
These engines rarely crack heads, just replace both gaskets + check the surface isn’t warped.
Fel-Pro kit + get the heads checked at a machine shop (£150-200 total DIY). Runs forever after. Good luck!
Only thing is the OP said it was the 3.9 V6 OHV engine, absolutely nothing in common with the 4.7L SOHC engine, the 3.9L is based off the 318ci or 5.2L engine…
Plus the OP never mentioned anything about coolant and oil mixing, unless I missed it…
yeah my buddy had this same issue on his dakota turned out to be a bad radiator cap not releasing pressure right which blew the hose off
first replace the radiator cap theyre cheap and might be your whole problem… then check all your hoses and clamps for cracks or swelling
the hard starting before it overheated is sketchy though could be head gasket letting combustion gases into the cooling system which builds up pressure
do a block test with that blue fluid kit from the parts store to check for exhaust gases in the coolant
start with the cap and hoses first before assuming the worst