1. Home
  2. Dodge Trucks Forum
  3. 2000 RAM 1500 V6 Lost coolant, need advice

2000 RAM 1500 V6 Lost coolant, need advice

My teenaged daughter's truck had a catastrophic water pump failure (no obvious leaks under truck, then massive failure) and now it appears that there is exhaust coming up through the radiator.

At the least, this indicates a blown head gasket, perhaps a warped head? Any sure way to tell the extent of the damage without a teardown? How easy would this be to do in our driveway? Does it require taking out the engine, etc?

My son and I are probably capable of doing this, but if it's something that I could make worse (or end up just taking it to a mechanic anyway) I'd probably rather just go that route.

Thanks in advance!

Tweaks (Bill atatat indmolding.com)

Reply to
tweaks
Loading thread data ...

Rest assured that if you overheated it and blew the head gaskets, the heads are at the very lest warped. When coolant is lost, the head can get very hot quickly for hot exhaust gasses flowing through them and warp or crack. It need the heads pulled and the very least to determine the extent of damage and go from there. I have taught all my kids that if your engine get hot, shut it down no matter where you are because continuing to drive it will only cause more damage and can ruin engine too sometimes. I recentyly pickup up a 99 cheap car to repair that the previuos owner had run the water out of it. I will decide whether it can be repaired or if the engine needs to be replaced after I pull the head off in a week or two.

----------------- The SnoMan

formatting link

Reply to
SnoMan

Thanks - I'm going to take off one side this morning to see what's up. Was told to look for scoring on the cylinder walls, etc.

Reply to
tweaks

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.