Driving home from work on Thursday last week, my temp gauge went to the max safe operating temps as shown on the gauge. My quad did not show any readings (kinda like it froze or something). Granted that it has been hot here lately (upper 90’s). So Friday I flushed the radiator, pulled it out, pressure washed the gunk out of it (really nasty), put in a new t-stat, new fluid. Drove to coast and topped off with more distilled water. Overflow is growing with fluid, but temps are still climbing. I can’t afford to keep throwing money at this. Any ideas on what’s causing this? Could it be the radiator cap? Sending unit? Water pump? Thanks guys for the help!

 

Head gasket sounds like, or there is still air trapped. Pull the t-stat out and that should help with the air problem. Now as far as the head gasket, crank the heater all the way up, and keep a close feel on the air temp. If it's blowing cold, hot, cold, hot, head gasket is leaking.

 

Some of the possibilities here are bad water pump, bad t-stat, radiator clogged or back of the radiator is gunked up with oil from the overflow tube.

Personally I'd start with some simple green and clean out the back of the radiator and replace the cap. Both simple and cheap projects that should be done regularly anyway.

Then I'd pull the belt and try turning the water pump pulley by hand to make sure it turns smooth with no binding. You can also buy a $3 automotive stethoscope and very carefully around that fan, with the truck running put it on the water pump and if it's bad will be making squealing sound.

 

wildbill -
As soon as the temps started to climb i turned the heat all the way up.. This stopped the temps from climbing any more, but it blew hot air the entire time, 20+ minutes.

Uncle Bubba -
I did pull the radiator out and pressure wash all the gunk off of it as I wrote in my original post. I will try the cap tonight and probably turning the water pump by hand.

I dont like being mad at my truck!! It's the only vehicle I have

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Are you recommending pulling it out completely and driving around w/o?

 

On the t-stat, pull it out and let the air purge (if any) then bolt her back down.

 

You may end up havin to pull a freeze plug to make sure coolant is flowing through the block also. How did the coolant you flushed look, rusty, discolored, or nice and clean.

 

Coolant looked fine. not sludgy at all. Still green in color, maybe a little off green, but no rust or anything. t-stat looked good too. Not damaged at all. Truck has been taken care of, and only at 84k miles.

 

as an option to pullin freeze plugs you could also take it someplace that evacuates the coolant to flush the radiator. If they hook the upper and lower hoses to their machine then they won't get any flow unless the block is open and the thermostat is working. I know I hate takin it anplace but this is much easier then pullin freeze plugs.

84k miles at 9 years old means this truck has spent most of it's life parked and that's worse on these trucks then high mileage. Do you know how many miles are on the coolant that you saw during the initial flush. No water on the passenger side floor, sweet smell of anti-freeze in the cab or windshield foggin up easy is there.

 

I do not know how many miles were on the stuff I took out. This is the first flush that I have had done and I got the truck in Mar of 08 w/ 60k on it. (I thought the low miles was a good thing) There is no windshield fog or anti-freeze smell in the truck. No wet carpet either.

My buddy here at work thinks it could be the head gasket due to the fact the the temp is changing so often. I wasn't racin or doing anything abusive, just in rush hour traffic in the heat and noticed it running warm. I check the coolant level all the time now and find myself adding water. The overflow is getting more and more full, but not at the same rate I am adding water to the system. I am hoping for trapped air, but with my luck, its gonna be something expensive My buddy will bring in his coolant pressure tester (?) and he said it will tell me if I need a new headgasket..

 

If it's head gasket you should either see it leaking down the side of the crankcase or your oil should have coolant in it. Turns the oil either milky white or greenish depending on the water to Anti-freeze mix.

I'm tryin to avoid the serious question here about the engine block casting number, I'm really hopin it's not an early build 01 which could still have the 53 block.