Hey guys, I need your help. For the past week or so, I have been having
problems with my truck overheating. Last summer I had put in a Robert Shaw
180 degree thermostat just to help things run a little smoother and to help
remove some of the ping. Then about a week ago I drove the truck about 120
miles and it began to overheat. The needle would rise close to the upper
operating level but not yet to redline. I stopped the truck at Wal-Mart did
about 30 minutes of shopping, and when I started the truck back up to head
home it ran perfectly fine. Well, I was getting ready to go on a canoe trip
that weekend so I swapped out the 180 for the original 195 thermostat
thinking that maybe the thermostat was sticking and also made sure that the
fluids we topped off. I then drove it around for about 20 minutes and all
was well.
Then we left for our trip. About 30 miles down the road the temp started to
rise, but then all of a sudden it would drop back down to normal. Then a few
minutes later it would rise again. It would go up and down repeatedly for
the next hour (until the next town). At this point it never passed the upper
operating line. We stopped to get gas and then let the truck cool for about
45 minutes. As we left the temp stayed perfectly fine for another 60 miles
and then it started acting up again. This time it passed the line to almost
redline, so I parked the truck and left with other friends. Then 2 days
later we came back to get the truck. I filled the fluids back to normal
since I had lost some from the overheating, and we left. We then made it all
the way home without incident until the city limits (about 140 miles) and it
started happening again. The temp would rise and fall repeatedly.
The next morning I took my truck to the dealership to have it looked at.
They said that all seemed to be running fine. They didn't have a way to
drive it 100+ miles to get it to overheat. The only thing that they could
come up with was that the radiator was dirty, and needed to be pulled from
the truck and sprayed out from the back side ($200). I told them that that
didn't seem like it could be the problem considering how inconsistent the
temp had been. I took the truck home and checked the fluids again, bled all
air out, changed the oil, and cleaned the K&N and then drove it about 70
miles. No problems.
We then take a 30 minute trip and it all starts over. I am now to the point
where I will be doing a full coolant flush, replacing the thermostat (again)
and seeing if I can pull the radiator out to spray it from the backside.
Has anyone seen anything like this? Any suggestions? Would a dirty radiator
actually cause this? There doesn't seem to be any leaking hoses, the water
flows, the temp sensor is working. What could this be?
Thanks for all your help,
Jason
'00 Sport Quad 4.7L 4x4 3.55, Autolite 3923's, BFG AT T/A,
IAT Adjuster, 360° Air Intakez, Robert Shaw 180° thermostat,
Line-X sprayed bed and nerf bars, Roll-n-Lock tonneau
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