Check your coolant level 1st. I had something very similar happen just
couple weeks ago. Turns out, it was an air pocket in the coolant system
from not having enough coolant. Make sure your radiator is pretty full as
well as your overflow. If that doesn't do it, replace your radiator cap
and t-stat.. Oh yeah, and if the coolant is orange, break out that wallet
cause you got some rust.. Just went thru that crapola and it ran me $1600
to replace the freeze plugs. Just top off your coolant and take it for a
test drive. You should know within 5-10 min.
Ken Allgood
97 CC SLT 5.2L
> Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 09:22:47 -0600
> From: "DML" <bentlejp@yahoo.com>
> Subject: DML: Overheating! - What the problem is?
>
> I've been having an intermittent problem since my tune-up/MSD install with
> the truck over heating. The problem has gotten progressively worse until
> now it does it virtually every time you drive the truck. The truck comes
up
> to operating temperature, heat blowing out, then all of a sudden the air
> coming out of the vents gets cold and the temp gauge starts going up. It
> may go up 10 degrees, it may go up 50 and trigger the check gauges light.
> Then all of a sudden something switches, and the temperature falls back to
> normal. The thing that really confuses me is that the gauge does these
wild
> temperature swings really quickly (like 1 min or less from one extreme to
> another). My first thought is that the thermostat needs to be replaced,
but
> I've never seen a vehicle do this. The last time I needed a thermostat it
> was because the vehicle never wanted to put out any heat, but it never
> overheated. Could it be the water pump? The temp seems most likely to go
> back down when RPMs are up a little, not when sitting an idling. Could it
> some how relate to the tune up / MSD install? I can't imagine what that
> could be, but that's about the time it started. I am planning to change
out
> the thermostat and replace all the coolant in the next day or two as my
> first attempt to fix this, but I'd like a second opinion before I start
> changing things. Thanks once again to all who have any suggestions.
>
> Jayson
> 1998 Dodge RAM SS/T - with the special overheating mod.
> 2000 Grand Prix GTP/GTX
> 1969 Charger
>
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