I have a 2003 ram 2500 it has started using coolant and fog vapor coming out of the exhaust. Is this caused by blown head gasket?

Asked by bigbear13 Jan 27, 2015 at 01:18 PM about the 2003 Dodge RAM 2500 SLT Quad Cab 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

7 Answers

157,115

Probably a head gasket or cracked cylinder head. Antifreeze out the exhaust is never a good thing. Has the engine recently overheated?

1 people found this helpful.

No my truck never over heated. It has lost power I tow a trailer about once a month its' about 4000 pounds. my engine is a hemi 360.

157,115

I assumed it was a diesel. Pull the spark plugs and if one is very clean unlike the others you have found the bad cylinder.

1 people found this helpful.

A small amount of white 'fog vapor' is normal, the hot exhaust reacting with very cold air will condense the moisture in the air and make it visible. I am not disagreeing with Bob, but think it could possibly be something else too. Do a compression check on all cylinders. Is it consuming a lot of coolant?

1 people found this helpful.
Best Answer Mark helpful
157,115

Most people don't have a compression tester (I do :)). If he has a severe coolant loss through a head gasket pulling the sparkplugs and looking at them should tell him which side of the engine the problem is on. Compression test is better at determining the cause, but not perfect either.

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