air lock in cooling system?

[Sweanpup]

I'm in desperate need of help, next week im driving my truck to Idaho which is by far the longest I have ever driven it. My truck has always ran on the warm side and my radiator was full of gunk so i replaced it with an aluminum spectra radiator and replaced the Tstat with the motorcraft 1049. now that i have it all hooked back up i cannot get the truck to cool off at all, as soon as it gets warm the temp keeps rising and rising to the red. I pulled the Tstat back out, (a gallon or so of coolant rushed out of the block when i pulled it out) I boiled it to make sure its opening which it did, so i put it back in with a new gasket and it still does the same thing. I attempted to burp it with no luck (ran the truck with the rad cap off, lots of air came out but it never cooled off at all) im thinking there is a massive air lock somewhere? Any ideas welcomed! Thank you in advance!

 

[franklin2]

If you are afraid it has air in it, wait till it is cool, and then take one of the heater hoses off. Be careful if you take the hose off at the firewall, don't twist it with a lot of force or you can make your heater core leak. Once you have the hose off, if no coolant comes out, then start filling the radiator and leave the hose off. Once coolant starts coming out of the hose, stop and put the hose back on, and hook it back up and run it again with the radiator cap off. There will still be a little air in it but not much. Keep running it with the cap off till the top radiator hose is hot, and you see coolant flowing by in the radiator.

 

[Sweanpup]

I will give it a shot! Having an air lock is the only reason that i could come up with, the upper rad hose gets hot and pressurized but the truck never gets cool nor will the temp stop increasing. I can only run it for 10 or 15 minutes before it overheats. Any other ideas on why it would do that?

 

[towcat]

do you like collecting useful tools?

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[chris142]

These dont normally give problems like this. Is the water pump pumping? Headgasket pressurizing it?

 

[Sweanpup]

yes the radiator pressurizes and so do all the hoses. I'm completely stumped.

 

[chris142]

Is the pump pumping coolant to the heater?

 

[Sweanpup]

i am not sure, ill go fire it up and turn on the heater and find out.

 

[Sidewinded_idi]

When you fire it up feel the radiator with your hand, you should be able to feel when the thermostats opens and the hot water starts warming the radiator. If your trucks starting to overheat and your radiator is still cool to the touch you know something's up

 

[Sweanpup]

the radiator heats up. the Tstat is opening and hot water goes into the rad but for some reason the truck runs incredibly hot. i havent ran it for more than about 15 minutes bc it gets so close to the red.

 

[pelky350]

Ian the cooling system like instantly preasurized upon starting the truck by chance? Or once it's filled and the radiator cap is off while running is there a constant stream
Of air bubbles you can see in the radiator?

 

[Thewespaul]

You mentioned it goes to the "red" in a short amount of time, are you relying on the factory temp gauge? If so that's probably your issue. Get a real temp gauge and see what your temperatures are.

 

[franklin2]

You mentioned it goes to the "red" in a short amount of time, are you relying on the factory temp gauge? If so that's probably your issue. Get a real temp gauge and see what your temperatures are.

I agree with this.

 

[Macrobb]

A good gauge would be the first step, yes.

Secondly, to make bleding a snap, pull off the upper thermostat housing - next to the thermostat hole there should be a little channel with a ball bearing floating around, held in by the gasket.
Remove this ball and make sure that that 1/4" passage is clear. Now you can just fill the radiator with no more trapped air - and the 1/4" passage makes no noticable difference in warmup time.

 

[icanfixall]

As already posted. Pulling a vacuum on the cooling system refills ANY cooling system 100%. You might try lifting the passenger side front wheel. That way you make the passenger side head the highest point in the cooling system. You might also look at the fan clutch shaft for dirt collecting on the seals and front heaT COIL. iF any OIL OR DIRT IS SEEN YOU REALLY NEED A NEW FAN CLUTCH.