Steam Heat

Steam Heat was Originally Posted on August 19, 2014 by lavarock

The truck kept overheating. There was a small pinhole leak in the radiator thermostat cover, so it was replaced. A pressure test showed all was good. I still lost water. I tried the stop leak to no avail.

The other day I saw that after the last repair, the guy forgot to put the overflow tube on the radiator. That is the hose that allows hot water to flow into the overflow tank and then be drawn back when the radiator cools off. However a few days later I still was overheating, even though the water level was still the same height in the overflow. HUH?

When I see the engine temperature rising, I have been near but not at home and usually driving with frozen food. I have opened the windows including the sliding window at the back of the truck cab and turned the heater on full blast. That extra water flow has helped to keep things cool and I could actually see the water temperature drop.

Yesterday I pulled the hose from the top of the radiator cap and tried blowing through it. It turns out it was solidly clogged with rust from the previous owner who never used antifreeze. Even though we don’t get much freezing here (you have to drive up the mountain to see snow), antifreeze can help keep the engine from rusting.

On my way back from town last night, the engine did not overheat and seems better. Time will tell but it looks like I solved the problem.

I am trying to be careful not to invest too much money in the truck. It is 15 years old and has about 140,000 miles on it. There is a problem with one of the cylinders and I am trying to prolong its life a bit longer.