updates?

 

i took the radiator in had it cleaned. not isntead of running at 210 with the thermostat completely out, it runs at like 170 max and never even warms up. i did find it was a thermostat problem. NEVER buy a cummins thermostat from napa, oreilly autozone or any of those places theyre not the right ones and dont open correctly. im waiting on a new cummins thermostat to come in and ill update you guys then. itll be ice for my heater to work again and not blow semi warm air

 

just wondering if you received them.

 

i got them yesterday and installed it today. the one with the rubber bottom doesnt fit its about 1/4" wider than the factory one, so i put the factory one in and now im still having problems. theyre doing the exact same thing as before. and i made sure to put it in correctly (the little tab slides into the groove for it)

does anyone know what would cause a thermostat not to open? this is like the 5th thermostat so im ruling out a thermostat problem. with the thermostat out its runs 100% good. and if i take the cap off, it blows pressure out so i know its got good pressure in the system, and when i put the cap back on the upper hose gets full of pressure within ten seconds or so.

somehow or another the thermostats wont open at all. anyone got any ideas?

 

call me, we need to make sure that the factory ones are put in just right, the one with the rubber seal all the around is also factory, cummins just calls it the new style.

we need to try the new style.

I'm hoping I sent you a 6bt new style instead of the 6ct new style, if so no biggie, I'll just send the correct one out

 

In my experience when the system pressurizes that quickly it is a head gasket problem or cracked head. The air from a gasket leak or cracked head will cause an air lock that will make the thermostat act up. Does it build pressure fast with the engine cold? If it does it is time to pull the head.

 

wouldnt a cracked head or blown headgasket cause overheating though? it has never once overheated. just runs hotter than normal. like 235 or so. and there are no signs at all of a blown headgasket or cracked head. no water in oil, oil in coolant, moisture in exhaust etc etc etc. i dont know about the engine being cold i havent checked it until it was hot and the thermostat is out again now so i can drive it. it never builds an excessive amount of pressure with the thermostat out of it i know that.

isnt there a chemical of some sort they sell at the auto parts store that you put in your radiator. and if it changes colors or something it means you got a cracked head or block and that its allowing combustion gases through? should i try that

 

A small head gasket leak can leak compression into the water jacket because of the high compression and firing pressures but the low pressure water will not always leak back into the cylinders. There is a kit to check for combustion gases in the cooling system. You don't actually add anything to the radiator. It just lets the air from the cooling system bubble through the test liquid and if there is co or co2 it will change color. It doesn't work as well with diesels as with gas engines because of the larger amount of oxygen in the combustion process. sometimes you have to let it bubble for quite a while for the change to take place in a leaking diesel. I think the leak test kits run about 40 or 50 dollars.

 

i would think id have a cracked head before a headgasket being bad. this headgasket doesnt even have 200 miles on it. it definitely isnt the 1st headgasket ive done either. i think im just going to run it without the thermostat for now until my twins come in a month or so. then ill pull the head have it o ringed get the coolant passageways cleared out put a thicker HG on it and some head studs. hopefully ill be able to figure it out then. i really dont wanna pull the head now if im going to do it in a month anyways. its my daily driver so i cant afford to have it down that much

 

With that fresh of a gasket you might need to retorque it. I am not sure about the cummins but on vw diesels if you don't they are almost garanteed to leak