Advance is fine. You get a 20% discount (up to $50 off) if you order the parts from their website and pick them up in the store a little later. You have to enter a code in the shopping cart, but it's right there on the main page of their website.

If you're not planning to work on it for several days, I would also suggest looking at ordering from Rock Auto. They usually have good prices, and it usually only takes a couple of days for them to be delivered to your door.

Depending on where you end up getting your parts, they will have some rather expensive options and some real cheapo options. For the fan clutch and the water pump, the most expensive option won't be worth the extra money, and the cheapo option might not be worth installing. What's in between is often a safer bet. That's what was meant by "mid level."

My suggestion to you would be to research the parts on the auto parts stores' websites, find a brand you think you want to buy, then search on Google for people talking about that brand and part. If there's a problem with a particular brand, people will have discussed it somewhere. I have dodged a few bullets that way.

 

She wants an easy way out. That's understandable, especially from someone who is inexperienced with auto repair and is probably doing it because she doesn't have the money to pay someone to do it. It sounds like a real hassle to her, because it is. She hasn't learned yet that there isn't always an easy way out, and she's hoping some of us are wrong.

I think we've probably gotten the point across now, though. If not, I doubt she'll get much more assistance.

 

Sounds like at idle you are not getting enough cooling either from water circulation or fan rpm cooling.

I'd check the fan clutch while engine is stopped. Hand turn the fan. You should feel resistance from the gearing in the fan clutch. If the fan turns rather effortlessly, the resistor mechanism of the fan clutch has seen better days. Pretty easy install.

Also open your radiator cap and idle your truck. When your thermometer opens you will see water circulation. If not, then you might also have a tank or coil blockage issue.

 

If she was a guy, she would have been labeled an askhole long before the 7th or 8th page.

Who said chivalry is dead?

She was told long ago what to replace and where to get it. And where to find out how to do it. No need to still be going over all this on the 7th page.

 

Thanks.

 

Ok, thanks.

 

Please let's not make assumptions. Thanks.

 

Chivalry isn't dead, that's why you're helping. Be nice, thanks.

 

I appreciate your checking back.

 

Let us know how it goes next weekend.

 

Roler hits the nail on the head once again.

 

Bimmerette.

 

It wasn't meant as an insult. I've been there. When your daily driver has an issue, you want to get it fixed and back on the road as quickly and as cheaply as possible. If a difficult fix is offered and an easy fix is offered, you're going to jump at the easy fix and hope the people who offered up the difficult solution were just being pessimistic. The question becomes, can I just patch this up and keep it going, or am I going to have to take on a major project I don't really want to deal with right now?

This is human nature. You wanted an easy fix. Who wouldn't? I sure as hell would have. Our challenge has been to convince you that the easy fix isn't going to work this time.

Now your challenge is going to be to accept the reality of this situation not just intellectually but all the way to the core of your being so that you relax and don't get frustrated. These are not difficult repairs, but they require patience, and they will take longer than you're expecting the first time you do them.

By the way, when you do the fan clutch, you may have difficulty getting the fan out of and into the car. There is a cross member bolted down across the top of the radiator that holds it in place. If you have difficulty getting the fan out, you can take that cross member off (10 or 12 bolts and nuts), and doing so will allow you to tilt the radiator toward the front of the car to give yourself extra clearance for removing the fan.

That's not in my FSM, so when I did mine I was having a really hard time with it until I just said screw it and removed that brace. The frustration level then dropped to zero, and I avoided yanking on the thing and breaking my fan shroud or gouging my radiator.

 

Just curious. But have you tried to do any of the suggested repairs?

 

Radiator cap.