Another overheating Thread

[Wild one]

Swapped it right after making that post. It had been parked for 4 hours, but coolant temp was still 113 when I started it back up. Topped it off and let it sit with the rad cap off and the heater going to burp all the air. Put the cap back on and cranked the AC and after a few minutes it got to exactly 185 and stayed there. Drove it for about 10 minutes at 55 (traffic, couldn't go faster), then exited and U turned and stopped at a few lights. Didn't move off 185 through all of that until I got stuck at one light for about 5 minutes. Got up to 190 and then was back down to 185 maybe 1.5 miles after the light going 35mph. Oil temp stayed at 197 through all of this.

Wife went with me, so we stopped for ice cream. After 10 minutes in the store, water temp showed 194 at startup and then immediately dropped to 188. I sat there idling with the AC on to see if it would drop but it went to 190, so I decided to get moving. About 2 minutes fighting traffic to get out of the little shopping center, water got back up to 194, oil got to 203. Ice cream place is 2 miles from my house through the neighborhood with stop signs and lights, water was back to 185 and oil back to 197 when I parked it up.

I think tomorrow in the heat of the day I'm just going to drive to my job and back and see what happens. It's about a 30 mile round trip, 90% of it at highway speeds. If that goes well I will order those 797 plates when I get back home. Even with the extra gasket it's still cheaper than a failsafe thermostat.

I really wish I'd done this sooner, but I thought it'd run too cool or the rad wouldn't be able to keep up and it'd overheat for real. The last few weeks have been a struggle. I pick up my step daughter from school after work now and the traffic leaving the school is a nightmare and I can't run the AC til we're almost home or it starts getting hotter than I'm comfortable with. I see people in hot climates on here saying that 215 is nothing to worry about, but anything over 210 and then all I can focus on is the damn cluster until it drops back below 200. When the thermostats are new, it sits at 186 cruising at 70, maybe 188 if its over 100 degrees outside. But over the last few weeks I've watched it creep up day after day. Coming home at 1pm today it was only 98 out but the truck was running at 201 cruising at 65.

I also learned through perusing this topic that I have the more restrictive grill, so may have to find one of the honeycomb flavors. I'm also seriously considering going back to the clutch fan. There's enough people that have done the swap that I ought to be able to find all the parts cheap enough. I'll try those plates first tho and see how they work. I didn't know they were a thing. Thanks again.

Thermostat restrictors have been around since i was a kid,but back then we usually made them out of gutted thermostats. They don't work great in a Canadian winter,but if you're where you hardly ever see below freezing temps in the winter,you can usually run them year round with no issues . They do leave alot to be desired at -30 though,lol.

 

[KansasArt]

Did you replace parts because they were known to be faulty?

 

[jelih]

Thermostat restrictors have been around since i was a kid,but back then we usually made them out of gutted thermostats. They don't work great in a Canadian winter,but if you're where you hardly ever see below freezing temps in the winter,you can usually run them year round with no issues . They do leave alot to be desired at -30 though,lol.

Is it just because you lose the heater? We sometimes see 20s, like we did earlier this year, but that hasn't been the norm. The heated seats alone could probably take most of the edge off for me if the heater doesn't quite do the job for the 10-15 days a year I really need it.

My route to work is 13~ miles, route home is 17~ miles. I drove up there, parked in the sun and idled with the AC for 15 minutes (something I mostly try avoid now after doing the cam and lifter job), and drove back home. Stayed at 185 the whole way except for when I started leaving the gas station, just like yesterday except I didn't turn it off this time, where it gets up into the low 190s, and then back down to 185 once I'm moving.

The coolant takes a few minutes longer than usual to get there, but the oil takes way longer. It's about 95 out today and it still took about 7 miles on the highway before it got to the same 185 as the coolant, then up to 201 and stayed there the rest of the trip.

This little experiment has been a massive success. Restrictor plates will be inbound shortly.

 

[Wild one]

Is it just because you lose the heater? We sometimes see 20s, like we did earlier this year, but that hasn't been the norm. The heated seats alone could probably take most of the edge off for me if the heater doesn't quite do the job for the 10-15 days a year I really need it.

My route to work is 13~ miles, route home is 17~ miles. I drove up there, parked in the sun and idled with the AC for 15 minutes (something I mostly try avoid now after doing the cam and lifter job), and drove back home. Stayed at 185 the whole way except for when I started leaving the gas station, just like yesterday except I didn't turn it off this time, where it gets up into the low 190s, and then back down to 185 once I'm moving.

The coolant takes a few minutes longer than usual to get there, but the oil takes way longer. It's about 95 out today and it still took about 7 miles on the highway before it got to the same 185 as the coolant, then up to 201 and stayed there the rest of the trip.

This little experiment has been a massive success. Restrictor plates will be inbound shortly.

Basically yup,the heater output sucks with the restrictors,especially at -30,lol. Glad it's panning out for you.These days you have a better chance at winning the lottery then getting a good thermostat,lol. The Mr Gasket high flow thermostat probably has the best rep,but even they can be duds,as i had 2 of them that failed within 6 months. One thing about the restrictor is it'll never fail and leave you stranded.

 

[StateOfMind]

What about vacuum bleeding the coolant? There's been lots of fiddling, some of these symptoms could be air.

Also, the kits for checking for exhaust gasses in the coolant to rule out head gasket are very affordable, like $30 on Amazon

 

[Wild one]

What about vacuum bleeding the coolant? There's been lots of fiddling, some of these symptoms could be air.

Also, the kits for checking for exhaust gasses in the coolant to rule out head gasket are very affordable, like $30 on Amazon

Theres an allen wrench pipe plug on the 5.7's cover that you're supposed to remove when filling up the 5.7's with coolant,park the truck facing uphill on a slight incline,pull the plug out,once coolant starts to run out of the hole,you've pretty well got all the air out of the system.Vacumm bleeding them isn't a bad idea,but very few home mechanics have access to a vacumm bleeder on a Sunday afternoon,removing the bleeder plug is the next best thing.
See the green dot,the pipe plug that you remove is just above it.This is on a cars cover,but the trucks have the same plug,in pretty well the same spot

 

[StateOfMind]

Theres an allen wrench pipe plug on the 5.7's cover that you're supposed to remove when filling up the 5.7's with coolant,park the truck facing uphill on a slight incline,pull the plug out,once coolant starts to run out of the hole,you've pretty well got all the air out of the system.Vacumm bleeding them isn't a bad idea,but very few home mechanics have access to a vacumm bleeder on a Sunday afternoon,removing the bleeder plug is the next best thing.
See the green dot,the pipe plug that you remove is just above it.This is on a cars cover,but the trucks have the same plug,in pretty well the same spot

Winner!