Hey guys is my radiator supposed to be hot on both sides? B/C one side is hot after running and other is cold. Didn't know if that meant the radiator needs to be replaced. Also the truck makes a bucki
Asked by jhogue3105 Jan 03, 2012 at 12:55 PM about the Dodge RAM 1500
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Need help
5 Answers
If your radiator is working, yes, the side farthest from the upper hose will be cooler than the other side. What is the second half of your question?
jhogue3105 answered 12 years ago
Thanks Mike, the other part of my question is this. Since my radiator is working, then what will cause the truck to buck after being heated up. While driving the truck bucks (Like it cant breath) and when I stop and pop the hood the overflow reservoir is boiling. What could be the cause? Thanks
Hate to bear bad news, man, but it sounds like a failed head gasket. You can run a compression test on each cylinder and the one or two that are much lower than the others will be the leakers. Once you've determined the leaky ones, you can confirm the gasket leak with a couple of tests. You'll need a source of compressed air and an adaptor to get a hose connected to the spark plug hole. Remove the plugs one at a time, screw in the adapter and connect air to the cylinder. If you can hear or feel air escaping through the radiator you've found the offending hole. Another way to test is with a standard two gauge leakdown tester. With radiator open, perform test on each cylinder as usual. The leaky one will show a higher leakdown rate and you'll hear air escaping through the radiator as well.
jhogue3105 answered 12 years ago
Yes definitely not what I wanted to hear. Thanks for the info, on to fixing it now. Thanks again