need help please

[fordf350]

yes it over heats and no i dont have heat, but im not loosing any fluids. im getting antifreeze to the radiator but it not going into the block and my top radiator is hard and my heater hoses and no i can not pinch them off

 

[86ford69]

Sounds like the thermostat is not opening enough to allow it to flow. Change that thing out before ur changing ur motor!

 

[fordf350]

I think the radiator is bad but I will change the thermostat to.

 

[oldmisterbill]

I personally had a motor rebuilt in Maine.As soon as i left the shop it was overheating-blowing coolant out. Took it back to the shop left it he told me it was the thermostat & he replaced it again. I asked him if it was a ford one. Yes sir he said,off I went. same thing his mechanic took it out and lunched the motor- guess what he put a second aftermarket thermostat in it.He got another block rebuilt it-same thing. This time I took out the thermostat (aftermarket) installed a Ford one -it was fine. FIRST thing replace the thermostat with a ford one. The $$ you save may be your own.

 

[fuzzydog]

I have a similar situation - mine is a 7.3 (1991) and same exact symptom as the PO describes. coolant gushing out of the overflow tank. Except I had no overheating symptoms at all, truck generally ran very cool, had good heat out of the heater. I was suspicious of the temp gauge because it rarely ever moved off the bottom but when towing or working hard it would actually come up to half way and then I could hear the fan kick in and the temp would drop right back down. The gauge may be inaccurate, but the cooling system is working properly.
I have removed my heads and they are being checked out right now - I am waiting for a call on the verdict. I started a thread with lots of pics too.

regarding the thermostat, I have the cover removed but haven't looked at the tstat itself and will do so tonight. But for those of you suggesting that the wrong tstat is the problem - would this problem arbitrarily reveal itself after months or years of running with the wrong tstat? I have had the same tstat in since I bought the truck in 2007. How could it just now start to cause an over pressure problem?

 

[fuzzydog]

When you redid the head gaskets did you have the heads checked? I just got the report back from the machine shop and my pass side head was warped. My symptoms were exactly as you describe.

 

[damac]

If the truck is cold, take off the radiator cap, pop the hood and watch the filler neck as you start it. Does it spray coolant out?

Even if your cap was bad and not holding pressure it shouldn't shoot into the reservoir, it hasn't had a chance to heat up yet. So all that other stuff like the water pump/thermostat hasn't come into play yet.

Also the rock hard hose quick is a bad sign, that should be firm to the touch after you come back from a warmed up drive, not right away.

So it would seem to me the obvious answer is the motor is pushing pressure into the coolant system and you have a big problem

 

[94turboidi]

I started having my truck run hot last year. I finally decided to switch to the correct antifreeze but when I did apparently my thermostat decided it wouldn't open at the same time. As soon as I started the truck the top hose was rock hard. I kept thinking I had air in it and kept messing around with that and tried to take it for a drive. I barely made it out the drive and was overheating. I got it back home and kept messing with it. I finally took the thermostat out. I don't think it was a ford one. I boiled it in a pan and could not get it to even open slightly! I bought one at Oreillys to replace it but it still never seemed right but i could at least drive it. This winter when I had my engine all apart I put a ford one in there but the new Oreillys one already had started to fall apart. The rubber part on it was stuck clear through the thermostat and that was over 20 dollars for that thermostat. I don't buy only ford parts but when people on here insist on certain thing to be had from ford only I try to listen.

I wouldn't assume its cavitation I would try the thermostat first. Heck if nothing else try removing the thermostat all together and see if the hose does the same thing, I bet with no thermostat it won't though. If it does then you can look at other causes.

 

[94turboidi]

Also I just put in my new temperature sending units (forgot to take out the old ones when I hate the heads cleaned) and drove a few hours yesterday right at the N or under on Normal.

 

[MidnightBlade]

The first thing I would do is replace the Dummy Sticks with real gauges and see what kind of readings you get.

Does anyone know if they sell a water press gauge? That would help with trouble shooting I think