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Still Overeating!!!!

fatbob said:
I think you would just pinch it.:dunno: It should be the lower hose, and if it has ribs in it, or if you can feel a spring, then it's probably ok. Ya kinda hope it dosent have one, dont ya:rotfl:
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Ok so if i pinch it and it feels like it can collapse, its bad??????? If it isnt ridgid, its bad????? Ill pinch whatever i have to pinch to get the job done. :haha: Ok, its been idling out there for 20 minutes, and its still running cool. WTF? Mabey it heard me talking about it? :rotfl:

The damn thing runs cool with just the prestone flush stuff and regular water, but overheats with antifreeze. Is it retarted or something? :haha: I still need help, please speak up guys. Jacob:)
 
hi pinion said:
runs cool with just the prestone flush stuff and regular water, but overheats with antifreeze.
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Were you running 50/50 mixture of antifreeze and water or pure antifreeze?
 
bigyellowjimmy said:
First look inside the radiator when the engine is idling, bubbles indicate a combustion leak from the head gasket. Also you can check the spark plugs, they will look very clean and have a greenish/whiteish soot or stain if the head gasket is leaking antifreeze into the exhaust port. A good shop can check this with pressure tester as well. You replaced the radiator with a new one right?

Antifreeze does get "old" or more accurately "contaminated" by rust, dirt and metal from wearing parts. It wont cause the engine to overheat though but will cause the all the metal parts to rust and corrode.

Was your antifreeze really rusty looking when you replaced the radiator?
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Yeah i think it was rusty a little. ,,,,Yep the radiator is like only 8 months old. I hope its not a head gasket, but ill check for bubbles tommorow when i can see. How big of bubbles? If the flush works im going to be amazed. I want to check EVERYTHING else before i go to the head gasket. The truck runs like a champ by the way, does a head gasket make it run crappy? I also looked at the oil today, and it looks good on the stick, no signs of water, etc.


ALSO!!!! Where does the crap go, when you flush it??? Should i turn the hose loose on it and ket it run at the same time? If it breaks it loose, where does it go after that? :thinking:
 
hi pinion said:
Yeah i think it was rusty a little. ,,,,Yep the radiator is like only 8 months old. I hope its not a head gasket, but ill check for bubbles tommorow when i can see. How big of bubbles? If the flush works im going to be amazed. I want to check EVERYTHING else before i go to the head gasket. The truck runs like a champ by the way, does a head gasket make it run crappy? I also looked at the oil today, and it looks good on the stick, no signs of water, etc.


ALSO!!!! Where does the crap go, when you flush it??? Should i turn the hose loose on it and ket it run at the same time? If it breaks it loose, where does it go after that? :thinking:
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The hope is that the crap will come out when you run the hose, unfortunately sometimes the flush loosens up crap which then becomes trapped in the heater core and radiator.

It should be a fairly constant stream of bubbles rising to the top if you have a leak. A faulty head gasket can definately cause overheating without causing the engine to run poorly though.

Dont use pure antifreeze in the system....50/50 only

Im headed to bed, good luck man :thumb:
 
Look Again For Leaks

I am no expert but here is what has worked for me:

Double check the radiator cap -- try two or three, sometimes these are bad right out of the box. Don't trust the first one you put on. Check the seal surface below the radiator cap for rough edges where the thermostat rubber might not seal properly. Stranger things have happened with new radiators.

Ditto that for the thermostat. Check that the right thermostat is installed and its in right side up. Make sure the thermostat gasket surface is spotless, fits correctly and doesn't leak.

Double check fan belt tension. -- sometimes they can slip without making much noise.

I have heard of suction side hoses collapsing inside cutting flow but have not seen this myself. New hoses might not help but they are cheap to try.
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But most overheating is from lack of pressure caused by small leaks: Somtimes the temp will go up somewhat slowely over time and then blow into the overflow tank when the pressue finally exceeds the cap rating - sometimes really noticable when you stop (lots of gurgles). By the time you start to look around the pressure drops so there is not much more leaking and with the engine hot the leaking spots of water evaporate quickly. This makes it very hard to find the leak.

I tried this many years ago and I assume it will still work:

Get an old style radiator cap that will accept a hole in the top where you can install a solid tire stem (with the regular tire valve) to add pressue to the system.

Then, with the engine COLD put the cap on and VERY CAREFULLY add a little air from an air compressor with the regulator set as low as it can go. Use a tire gauge on the cap-stem to check athe pressure. Add more air to get about 8-10 PSI or so.. If you put too much air in then you will blow out your radiator or heater core!!!! Wait a half hour and check again with the pressure gauge If you lose pressure then you need to find the leak -- look/feel for small water drops along all edges of the engine and hoses from top to bottom. For it to lose pressure the water must escape. Add pressure to force more water out if needed. With the engine cold it is a lot easier to get your hand and fingers into every corner and feel for dampness in spots you can't easily see.

Check the "weep hole" below the water pump shaft -- the usual place where water pump seals start leaking.

Pay special attention to the freeze plugs. Sometimes you will see/feel a very tiny leak that wil be just enough to cause the system to lose pressure over time and eventually overheat. But engine and exhaust heat makes this evaporate quickly and may not leave drops you can see. On one car I fixed the freexe plug leak would drip on to the exhaust header and would instantly evaporate -- all invisible and never left a drop on the concrete.

If you can't find any leaking water OUTSIDE then it is more likely being lost internally inside the head or block. A leaking head or block will sometimes add exhaust gas to the water.Sometimes you can see tiny fizz bubbles in the water after a long period at idle, after most air would have been purged from the system. In the old days shops had a sensor that could detect head/block leak by looking for exhaust gas (CO?) in the water.

To check blocki/head leaks on the intake side pull the plugs and look for a **really** clean plug. The water leaking will cause steam and clean the plug -- sometimes one or two will be a **lot** cleaner than the others. This is a clue that there is a leaking head gasket or a crack in the head.

One last thought: On one car I worked on (Ford) the head gasket was reversed during a rebuild -- it actually fit OK and ran OK but blocked water passages and caused overheating.. Who would have guessed?
 
Antifreeze isn't going to be the issue with overheating, especially if its bad.

Fords seem to be the only engines that rot impellers away (only ones I've heard of lol) so that is a definite maybe.
 
Whell, thanks guys, im about done for tonight, you guys were a great help. Im just going to remove the prestone cleaner, let a hose run real good while running the engine, and then put some antifrezze in. Well see how it goes. :)
 
I had a coolant temp sender go bad on my dually. It would think it was so hot that it would turn the red idiot light on. After a radiator, t-stat, and fan clutch I bought a temperature gauge and checked at the top of the radiator(not the best place, but it's pretty close to the temp of the coolant coming out of the t-stat), and felt that it really wasn't overheating. I swapped out the cheapest and easiest part in the cooling system and the problem was solved. You sure it's overheating? You can get one of those infrared temperature takers and check the temp coming out of the engine, i.e. at the t-stat housing. If it's not over 200F, you're not overheating. A perfectly good cooling system will overflow into the bottle depending on the temperature differential between the radiator and the overflow bottle, ambient temp, etc., especially after you shut the engine off and circulation stops.
 
Ok, i dont know if this an odd coincidense or not, but i just took it out again after the flush and the new fluid, now it dosent go past the half mark, and it did before. Im not jumping up and down thats its fixed,(omen lol) but, it seems to be working now. If the prestone flush worked im writing a testimonial. Jacob
 
skelly1 said:
I had a coolant temp sender go bad on my dually. It would think it was so hot that it would turn the red idiot light on. After a radiator, t-stat, and fan clutch I bought a temperature gauge and checked at the top of the radiator(not the best place, but it's pretty close to the temp of the coolant coming out of the t-stat), and felt that it really wasn't overheating. I swapped out the cheapest and easiest part in the cooling system and the problem was solved. You sure it's overheating? You can get one of those infrared temperature takers and check the temp coming out of the engine, i.e. at the t-stat housing. If it's not over 200F, you're not overheating. A perfectly good cooling system will overflow into the bottle depending on the temperature differential between the radiator and the overflow bottle, ambient temp, etc., especially after you shut the engine off and circulation stops.
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It bubbled up hard on me today into the overflow tank, so much it ran out. I * think * it was overheating. :confused: When the guage is at 3/4 and its doing that at the same time,, i think its working. I dunno.
 
Water cools way better than antifreeze. We only need antifreeze to raise the boiling point of the cooling system, prohibit corrosion and to help lube the water pump seals. It doesn't get cold enough around here to freeze your engine. I would only add about 1 1/2 gallons of antifreeze and the rest water. Antifreeze is thicker than water which having too much makes it too hard for the water pump to circulate it properly. Ask any reputable radiator shop and they will tell you the same thing. :thumb:
 
Don't buy into the raising boiling point too much. Pressure is what makes the most difference in the coolant boiling point. Checking the sticker on the antifreeze bottle, they don't bother telling you that the numbers in the boilover chart are at 15PSI.

It does help, just not as much as they'd like you to believe.
 
Have you checked your antifreeze with one of those little testers? I would change it out anyway, cause you don't know how long its been in the system. Is your radiator clean on the outside so air can flow through. Try shining a flashlight or droplight on it and look from the other side for light shining through.Finally, when you empty and refill the cooling system, leave the cap off for 4 or 5 cycles of the thermostat to allow any air bubbles to escape. Is your fan shroud still on the radiator(I know dumb question).
 
Yep this is true, for around where we live i would only run 70-30 mix, i dont think you need anymore antifeeeze than that



4X4HIGH said:
Water cools way better than antifreeze. We only need antifreeze to raise the boiling point of the cooling system, prohibit corrosion and to help lube the water pump seals. It doesn't get cold enough around here to freeze your engine. I would only add about 1 1/2 gallons of antifreeze and the rest water. Antifreeze is thicker than water which having too much makes it too hard for the water pump to circulate it properly. Ask any reputable radiator shop and they will tell you the same thing. :thumb:
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I thought you were gonna get it flushed right.... at a shop?

Caps AND thermostats can be bad right out of the box...man it sucks to be you.

good luck.
 
I don't know if this has been answered or not but if a water pump goes bad on it you probably won't know unless you replace it... the newer ones are made to leak when they go bad so you don't throw 600 bucks into your cooling system then find out its the pump but i doubt your pump is one of the "newer" ones.
 
Goober said:
Just found a new sig line. :D
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LOL, i broke down and took it to a shop taday, and the guy was cool enough to bleed the air that was in the system, by removing the cap when it was hot, and letting all the air out that was in there, i thought i got it all out!!!! I guess it wasnt a self priming system!!! :confused: That stopped the sparatic movements of the guage, i drove it around for 15 minutes after that, still heating up,,,,,,,, brought it back to the shop , and some guy says, i know what the problem is,,, (the van is still running) he grabs a radiator hose from the shelf, and stuck it right into the fan. The fan STOPPED. I just replaced the clutch fan, but i guess it was a defective one. :confused: So the part is on order , it was a heavy duty clutch fan ,it was 225 bucks, from the dealer, it will be here in 2 days. I never red lined the motor while i was driving from day to day, i just hope i diddnt blow that head gasket . :blush: Napa gave me the wrong one. :crazy:

Just a heads up, needle "bouncing" was air in the system.

And clutch fan was bad right out of the box. I guess there not supposed to stop when you try to stop the fan while the engine is running. :confused: Sounds right, right? Ill be down for 2 days, but i think its dialed in this time :) thanks guys:)
 
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