1990 Dodge D150 overheat prob

[powerinit]

Hey guys, My dad's 1990 Dodge Ram D150 (5.2L 318, Auto)has always run great, until winter finally hit us here maybe 3 days ago. We got the cold weather, 1-2 feet of snow etc. We had snow and cold weather before this, but not as much. The truck ran fine up till maybe 2 days ago when my dad took it into town, it ended up overheating not a quarter of the way there. He cooled it down and brought it home. Then, today I went out to run it and it ran fine till about halfway up the temp gauge (could smell antifreeze in the front of the truck). Thats when I noticed the motor started running like crap and then right before I was gonna shut it off, it stalled with steam coming out of the front grille area. I was thinking that it's the thermastat, what do you guys think? The water pump was new right before we got it, I don't know if the radiator has ever been changed or anything. Anyways, it would be nice to get it fixed so I can go pick up my snowmobile, so thanks in advance for any help.

[BleedDodge]

You say it just turned winter? I wonder if your antifreeze is strong enough, maybe it's freezing.

[powerinit]

Well, it's been winter for a while, but it wasn't bad at all till 2 days ago. About 3 days ago the truck started this. Sorry if I miswrote something, but I went out and looked the engine bay over a few hours ago and the antifreeze isn't froze. Hard to say if it's leaking anywhere because when it overheated this morning some things are still wet from antifreeze. The only thing that was also weird this morning when I was running it is that I kept hearing a sqeaking sound off and on, but it has a belt getting worn so i'm not sure if it was that or not, although it normally doesn't make any noise until high rpm's. If you have any questions, just let me know. Thanks for the reply.

[powerinit]

Oh, by the way, nice car in the picture under your name, very nice.

[BleedDodge]

Belt squeaking? Take the belt off and spin the water pump pulley by hand, see if it's tough to turn or making any strange noises. If that's all good, I'd top it up with antifreeze/water and put a new rad cap on it, and then go for a ride. If it overheats again it's probably the thermostat that's buggered.

If that doesn't fix it it's probably pressurizing internally, or the rad is shot. If that rad was going bad you'd probably notice it warming up over time, not suddenly like it did. Could have head gasket issues or something.

Let us know.