Dakota Durango Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Garage Forums

Severely overheated...

Jump to Latest
1 - 19 of 19 Posts

BlackDak

· Registered
Joined
·
1,673 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
Been a long time, ladies and gentlemen, but I have a problem with the truck!

96 degrees outside, rush hour traffic, going into downtown Seattle to pick up my wife from work. Door to door, roughly 15 miles. About 12-13 miles into it, by idiot "check gauges" light comes on and the temp is PEGGED. I am on the freeway at this point and nowhere to go so I made it to her office and shut her down.

I assummed it was a stuck t-stat at this point, so I let it cool, and off we went, this time no freeway, we stayed on side roads. I made it 1/4 and it was pegged again. Set and parked for an hour letting it cool off as much as possible. I am pretty agitated at this point, to put it mildly, lol.

Made it another 10 miles in small short spurts before it finally decided to start running really rough and stalling. At this point I actually touch the radiator, its cool! Oh crap, its not the t-stat, its the pump...

So....

I don't know how hot my engine got, but it was BAD. I could barely get it to run enough to get it up on the tow dolly the next day to get it back home!

No codes, extremely rough idle, aside from the obvious water pump, what might I be looking at here? Did I trash a head gasket? Aluminum heads, right? plastic intake? I am seeing a lot of room for potential damage here...

2001 AWD 4x4 Dak Sport Quad Cab
 
#2 ·
I think you'll be adding a Page 26: Replacing the Engine.


No seriously, you can try to put a new water pump on, but the damage is done. Surprised you actually made it that far with that much heat. Sorry man.

IF we look at the brightest side, the stumbling was from detonation. Your engine got so hot that it was igniting the fuel before even using a spark. The stumbling could be from that. Detonation will do a lot of damage though, its like taking a hammer to you piston and rings and that shock will go down through the connecting rod through the bearings into the crankshaft. No way to know if its damaged unless it continues to run like crap. If you start it and it runs okay now (cool) then the stumbling was from the detonation.

Worst case:

Your heads might be warped, and if you are leaking coolant, it's a good sign that its warped. I dunno if just replacing the gasket would work, might need to get the heads machined.

You might be able to get by with just fixing the problem and continue to drive it, but either way, there has been damage caused whether or not it is noticeable.


If it still turns, its better than nothing.
 
#3 ·
My 01 serverly over heated and thought I got a head gasket, but was worse than that when broke down. After letting it cool and it would start but had a bad skip to it. When I was tearing iot down to replace head gaskets noticed 2 followers laying in the head.. Thought to myself how did they come off??? Well when I finally got the heads off those 2 valves were fubarred.. The seats came out and one of the valves kissed the piston,,,
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Thats not good!

My plugs look good. Worn but not wet or anything out of the ordinary. Nothing is leaking, yet. I am about to run a cooling system pressure test and we'll see what happens, and I am going to run a compression test as soon as I get back from the hardware store to get some fittings to allow me to use my compression tester.
 
#5 ·
Mine was overheated before I got it 3 years ago. Went through about 4 water pumps since then. The last time it warped the head. A new passenger head, new head gaskets and new timing set, and about $2500 later my 4.7 runs like a champ again. My experience has shown that discount brand water pumps like to fail at the shaft bushing on these engines.
 
#6 ·
BlackDak said:
Thats not good!

My plugs look good. Worn but not wet or anything out of the ordinary. Nothing is leaking, yet. I am about to run a cooling system pressure test and we'll see what happens, and I am going to run a compression test as soon as I get back from the hardware store to get some fittings to allow me to use my compression tester.
Click to expand...
thread jack

back from the dead? lol had to take a second look as i almost forgot who ya was

end thread jack


all of the above is true, blown head gasket is common when overheated and also blow a motor over heating it, the head could have became warp bein alum and the amount of heat, let it sit over nite and try startin it the next day and see how it runs which if it runs normal shut it back down, check your oil and antifreeze and make sure to keep an eye while its runnin if smoke/steam is comin out the tailpipe
 
#7 ·
bobbo_dc said:
Mine was overheated before I got it 3 years ago. Went through about 4 water pumps since then. The last time it warped the head. A new passenger head, new head gaskets and new timing set, and about $2500 later my 4.7 runs like a champ again. My experience has shown that discount brand water pumps like to fail at the shaft bushing on these engines.
Click to expand...
Do you have your fan attached to the water pump, or have you gone 100% electric? I'm willing to bet that its the heavy fan that kills it.
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
I was among the first to remove the fan years ago when I was much more active here, been all electric for a very long time. I did a compression test today, was all over the board, from ZERO to 150, heads are coming off... Damn.
 
#10 ·
BlackDak said:
Worse than I thought and the heads ain't even off yet!

Found a rocker under the first valve cover, I am afraid to look under the other one.

What are my options here?

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Click to expand...


Dang dude,,, Thats exactly what mine motor had. 2 followers were off laying in the head, and those were the worst 2 seats, Thise 2 on my motor are actually the ones that seats came out of the head it self. And one of the valves kissed the piston,,,, SInce my heads are off I will post picture later this week,
 
#15 ·
yeah I overheated mine, but didn't peg it, it had had 1200mi since my overheat and it runs fine no prob; guss I got lucky, didn't have my clutch fan on. I think the lesson here is DO NOT REMOVE THE STOCK CLUTCH FAN!

hope you rebuild it and make it better (-:
You have a DD in the mean time?
 
#16 ·
Long time no see. Sorry to here your problems buddy. Mine is starting to get hot too. I change my t-stat the other And got all the air out. It still running around 210-230. Hasn't pegged yet. Knock on wood. Hope you get better news. Good luck.
 
#18 ·
Damn dude sorry to hear about the trouble. Almost sounds like what happen to my old truck when i cracked the heads .. the culprut on my issue was the damn hose from the water pump to the block, $2 part that broke and let all the water out..
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#19 ·
1 - 19 of 19 Posts
About this Discussion
18 Replies
10 Participants
Last post:
Ma01slt
Dakota Durango Forum
posts
1.4M
members
58K
Since
2003
A forum community dedicated to all Dodge Dakota and Durango owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about modifications, troubleshooting, towing capacity, maintenance, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Photos & Videos General Automotive Discussion Troubleshooter's Forum 4.7L/4.7L HO/4.7L Gen II Engines Suspensions - Lifted & Lowered