89 Conversion B-250 Ram Van OVERHEATING

[YemayasMoon]

I have a B250 Ram Conversion Van; I love it soooooo much, but he is overheating, and I am lucky if I get 12 miles to the gallon. He has never gone into overheat high enough to burn up, but the gage reads at just above 3/4s hot, and he smells really hot when I turn him off; sometimes, a bit of steam escaping.

When I first bought him, 9 months ago, he was running fine, but the air cleaner was pretty clogged up, so I bought one of those red, permanent ones; don't remember the name, but it's the only red, permanent air cleaner filter they make; for all models of vehicles. Anyway, the first day I ran the van with the new air cleaner in it, he overheated just like he is now.

The other day, I took him for a 50 mile run, and he overheated a bit higher than the 3/4 mark. I'm very worried, and need some advice here. Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Dodgevanman]

Moving to van section...

[Dodgevanman]

K&N Filter perhaps?

I would seriously consider changing the thermostat and having the cooling system flushed. Over the course of 18 years sediment and rust form in the cooling system and settle in the bottom of the radiator and engine block cooling passages thus making the system less efficient. Have the heater core flushed as well.

[van-nut]

Where is the steam escapeing from? If its comming out of the radiator cap, you might have a bad radiator cap. A decent shop should be able to test it, or you might want to just replace it. If you replace it, make sure the new one has the correct PSI rateing for your model.

On the other hand, if it was running fine and all of your problems started the day you changed the air filter, that sure leads me to believe that the filter may be causing your problem. I would seriously consider going back to an OEM filter, or at least an OEM style aftermarket filter. Maybe the "Red" one is causing the engine to run very lean, and in turn hot?? Worth a try - a new filter is pretty cheap.

Pete