"04 Dodge Dually Diesel ..again

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TSR

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In relation to an earlier posting...I just had the radiator pulled and cleaned (guy said he didn't find much in the radiator) and the thermostat replaced. The truck tends to run too hot (between 200 and 250 on the guage when pulling up a steep incline. It also runs hotter ( maybe 2 indicator needle widths past 200) when pulling a load in city traffic on a hot day. When it does this, it causes the auto trans to shift hard with a screeching sound and I don't want to tear up my transmission. This is why I took it to the radiator shop (a very reliable shop) and had him check it out. Today on the way home I had the truck in cruise on the i-state at 70mph and the temp stayed right at 200. The only time it started running cooler was on the backroads near my house in the country at much lower speeds~40 mph. It also ran much cooler idling. Question: Can the 195 thermostat be replaced with a 180 in this truck without any problems??? And would this help?
 
I'm not sure if you have the electric fan on the drivers side or not but if you do it could be your culprit.
 
Red Bull Breeder said:
Has it been chipped??[/quote

I really don't know but I don't think so. These heating problems mainly occur when I start pulling a load behind it, namely a 32 ft trailer with hay or equipment on it in the summertime.
 
i changed mine from 190 to 180..it helped a little.

if the truck is stock you shouldn be having any issues with getting hot. if its not stock your egt's could be driving up your coolant temp..which is very bad. stk turbo and inj i wouldnt think so tho.

is your fan clutch working. to me it sounds like it isnt. the wires rub thru on these i believe and it causes it to not work...ill look into that and get back to ya...
 
btw..ter belts not slipping is it...and from what ive gathered it is typical for that truck to tow heavy in the 220 range..
 
dieselbeef":3kxd6go2 said:
i changed mine from 190 to 180..it helped a little.

if the truck is stock you shouldn be having any issues with getting hot. if its not stock your egt's could be driving up your coolant temp..which is very bad. stk turbo and inj i wouldnt think so tho.

is your fan clutch working. to me it sounds like it isnt. the wires rub thru on these i believe and it causes it to not work...ill look into that and get back to ya...

Fan clutch is working, problem with it is it kicks in too late--~215 degrees. By this time if you are in city traffic or have just finished climbing a grade when you take off and the tranny has to shift it shifts hard with a screeching sound which can't be good for the transmission imo. I really am not too worried about the engine. Does egt stand for exhaust gas transmission? If so,how are they read?
 
EGT= Exhaust Gas Tempature, aftermaket suppliers sell guages for this. I have an 04 and really never had it get warm like yours pulling heavy load into the 15-18k range. My fan kicks in before 215 I think and truck runs at right at 200 on average. You dont have anything blocking air flow do you? Like a big custom bumper/brush guard. If I am not mistaken there is way to wire in an over ride switch, to where you can manually kick the fan on? Seems like I read that some where. What about the A/C condensor, is it clean? Does it have and external tranny cooler? If not that might help, mines a standard so I dont know if the tranny cools via radiator or not.
Just another thought when pulling steep grades are you having the pedal on the floor? I found it better to down shift a gear on my 6 speed and pull with less throttle, that will help keep the temps down. just some ideas
 
yu should be able to pull the codes and see if your fn clutch is having issues.

higher rpms is might help as noted. if the ac is on the fan comes on later..higher temp...i kow its backwards but thats the way it is. i looked into ait a bit for you and alot of the 04 have this issue. they tow any kind of real wight with higher coolant temps.
aux fans are aviail

check out the cumminsforum..lots of the same issues on there and not a lot of resolutions
 

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