Possible HG failure...

[pl4yboy]

Okay, I'm fairly certain that this is a HG issue, but want to throw this out there and verify first. Being Christmas time and work being slow since its the end of the year, I'm a little short changed.

Bought the truck almost two months ago. I got the truck fairly cheap, so I expected there to be issues. I checked injector rates when I bought it, checked coolant levels, and everything checked out. I drove the truck for a solid month before I had any issue. Being in southern OK, it hasn't been particularly cold, but I noticed that the truck took a while to warm up a few weeks after I bought it. No big deal, until I needed the heater. The truck would not heat up at idle, period. 1000 RPM and the truck heats up just fine. Anyway, moving on. I noticed the temp gauge would fluctuate quite often, like I could watch the thermostats open. I kept an eye on things and checked the upper hose often. It will have zero pressure on it after 3-4 hours. About a month ago, I drove the truck pretty hard with no load, just a bit of WOT, and when I killed the truck, it puked coolant. I checked the levels and it was barely low, so I added coolant and forgot about it. About two weeks ago, I was on my way to the woods and the truck randomly overheated. I pulled over, popped the reservoir cap open and it had a bit of pressure. It looks like it has been puking coolant often at this point, and it is low. I added water to get me to the woods and back home, then topped off the reservoir and continued driving it. Last week it overheated again, but was not very low on coolant. Literally put a 16oz bottle of water in it and it was full and after releasing the pressure, it was fine.

To this day, the upper hose does not stay pressurized after a few hours, but the coolant reservoir does stay under some pressure. I haven't replaced the cap yet, but I have washed it in warm, soapy water. I haven't replaced thermostats either. There is no real discoloration in the degas bottle. There is no oil in the antifreeze, no antifreeze in the oil. There IS a smell of antifreeze in the exhaust. I do have a small, 50ish HP tune on the truck and have since day one. I would pull it off, but I'm getting 19mpg with it and 14 without.

Any suggestions before I order 914$ worth of gaskets, studs, and EGR delete? I may not do the studs, as its just my work truck and don't plan on modding it.

Like I said, its Christmas time, work is slow, and I'm a little short on funds. Just don't want to drive the truck and hurt things worse than they already are, but don't want to drive my nice truck to work in the oil field every day either.

[ALLY Cat]

Mine had those symptoms when I bought it, I found the little rubber poppet valve in the cap was jammed shut, I cleaned the cap and unstuck the poppet, it's been working fine for over three years now. The cap should allow the cooling system to vent to atmosphere when it cools down but if it's stuck, it will hold pressure. You might luck out, cap is cheaper than HGs....

[pl4yboy]

Originally Posted by ALLY Cat

Mine had those symptoms when I bought it, I found the little rubber poppet valve in the cap was jammed shut, I cleaned the cap and unstuck the poppet, it's been working fine for over three years now. The cap should allow the cooling system to vent to atmosphere when it cools down but if it's stuck, it will hold pressure. You might luck out, cap is cheaper than HGs....

Most definitely. I doubt that's the issue, but its worth a shot.

[CanadianDmax]

Just a shot itn the dark but if you have antifreeze smell in the exhaust it may also be you egr cooler. Thats what mine ended up being and it cost me a turbo..not overly cheap either.