Overheating question...

[FFSchooley]

I got home the other day after driving around town, no hard driving, that my undercarrage was covered with coolant. I opened my hood and found that the relief resevior was full. I checked my coolant level and I must have lost at least half of it to the road. I always check my guages and I did notice that the temp got a hair over 190, but never got out of the normal range. I replaced my thermastat as I have been reading that it is often a problem, but this happended again, but not as bad as the last. I also notice my temp. still around the 190 mark. Anyone have any idea on what the problem is? I was going to flush the system and change out the coolant, but its pretty fresh. Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[lawdog]

You are not alone... . A friend that has a sister truck to mine, experienced an overheat problem a couple of weeks ago. He was in heavy stop and go traffic, running empty, about 90 degrees outside temp. his temp guage went high and tripped the overheat light. He got the temp down with using the heater on high ( said it was a drag on a hotday to run the heater full blast, but it got the temp down. ) My friend from the engineering center for DC checked the truck with a DRB II which showed that when the fault code tripped due to over heat, the truck was coasting at 23 mph, no throttle pressure and no load on the engine. The DRB II also showed a grid heater stuck on in the intake. This has been found to be a glitch in the system, as there has been reports of a couple of trucks out west doing the same thing. (overheat and show heater grid (intake) stuck on). The only thing we could find was the front of the radiator, between the charge air cooler and the radiator, waspacked with fuzzies from debris, cottonwood tree fuzzies and such. I understand the trucks out west also had the same problem. I always wash off the front of the A/C condensor , but never thought to go between the coolers, and sure enough, mine was also plugged.

Sorry so long, but something for the info... .

 

[Mog]

Check to see if their are bubbles in your radiator while your truck is running. If their is, you are getting cylinder compression in your cooling system. Also check and make sure your radiator cap is working properly.

 

[Mr. Brewski]

A blown head gasket (or a seeping one) did that to me on my 6. 2 about five years ago. The engine never got hot, but it would blow it's coolant out when under load. Never checked to see if the radiator was bubbling. Had the motor rebuilt and it ran fine after that. Have you checked your radiator cap?

 

[Sasquash]

over heating

I had my truck get on the hot side pulling the continential divide at Bozeman, Mt, while pulling my 5th wheel. The problem was caused by thousands of bugs plugging up the air flow through all of the radiators! I couldn't beleive how much st*#@%* came out with compressed air! Dan

 

[Archive]

Dan... actually, the continental divide runs through(just east of) Butte, MT. There is a good sttep pass between bozeman and Livingston, tho.



These reports are part of the reason I always have a screen in front of my radiator in the summertime. Its much easier to pull it out and hose it off than it is to attack the radiator, and its not easy to clean the radiator from the engine side to blow the bugs out properly.