Guys...

Last week my water pump went out, so I spent this past weekend replacing the water pump, t-stat (180*), t-stat housing, coolant, belt, and cleaned my hoses. Driving to work this morning (45 minute drive), she started off great, but heated up slowly until almost reaching red when I pulled into work.

I parked with the front a little elevated, went out later after it cooled, and let it run with the heat on and rad cap off. It got to the normal 210* but the coolant level in the filler tube didn't go down. When I gave it some gas, the level would drop, but would go right back to the top when I let off, and trickle out slowly.

The t-stat is a 180*. Like a complete dummy I didn't test it before putting it in. Does this sound to your guys like I've got a bad stat, or worse? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

(96' 4.0 Classic, btw)

 

Could be a bad t-stat or maybe it's in backwards?

 

just a thought try running it with out the t-stat and see if it heats up. i dont run a t-stat and it runs about 180-190. all so you might want to check you 2nd fan on it as well if its gone bad it will heat up as well. but the t-stat might be in back words as well

 

I appreciate the comments. I'm positive the stat is in correctly... I heard other guys talking about having it in backwards so I was sure to avoid it.

Is it a common occurance to see one fail? It's a Gates part... I really don't know much about their brand.

 

pull it and get another brand i have no clue how they are, even now im younger then most of you guys i have had my hands under the hood of a lot of cars, and i have never hard of them. im rebuilding a 57 chevy and a 85 elkmeno ( i know i miss spelled that) and we have rebuild both motors and never had a listing for that brand of part, i dont even think i have seen that brand for my jeep.


i stand behind pulling the s-stats out of all my cars puts a lil more stress on the block in the long run. but most race times dont run them so.

 

gates is a normal parts store brand. i have seen them. t-stats are bad from the shop just like anything else.

overheating on the highway sounds like a clogged radiator. does it cool down if you let it idle after the temps starts climbing on the highway?

does your gates t-stat have the weep hole in it? put the hole up or it'll trap air behind the t-stat and not let it open. if it doesn't, never mind then

 

Dude... you're right... that thing did NOT have a weep hole like the old one... Didn't even think about that. Can I just drill a 1/16" hole in it?

I feel like the rad's fine. Haven't had this kind of issue before now.

 

i don't know why you couldn't

 

i spent my last weekend doing the same thing you are doing. i was driving down the road and all of a sudden a steam cloud shot from under my hood and coolant was everywhere on the road..my water pump wasnt squeeling or anything so i replaced some other things first. first was my therm...cracked the stupid housing puting it back on..so a new one of those as well. but after replacing that i realized that no coolant was running through the block at all. so then i started looking at hoses and the radiator. all seemed ok...so my next guess was the pump...got a new one and a new radiator..just for the hell of it and replaced them both. then i realized that the water pump outlet hose-attachment was a POS so i went all around town to find out no one had one or could even order it for me...so i made my own from peices of pipe i had around. is working awesome and looks industrial!. lol. and after a aggravating weekend of under the hood i think i got it all figured out..but this past weekend i was doing a tune up, replacing my spark plugs and wires and some how my idler went to **** on me and my belt is shreding apart..prob cuz i didnt put it on completely right...oops... so now i have to go get one of those with the money i dont have and replace that. god knows what els is going to go wrong but im sure something will. something always does.

 

Crank it up and let it warm up. Cut it off so you can run your hand over the radiator that you can get to. Does it all seem to be the same temperature? It would be great if you had one of those lazer type temp. probes to do this with. If parts of the radiator are hotter than other parts chances are your radiator is clogging up.
Just changed a lot of parts on my In laws 2000 Dodge. He had a temperature probe like I mentioned and the top of his radiator was 90 degrees hotter than the bottom. It was clogged. His would just slowly heat up until it was over heating.
I am betting on either a bottom hose collapsing at highway speeds or a clogged radiator
I drill a hole in the outer part of every thermostat I replace. I think it helps with getting the air out of the system
clint

 

my 4.0 was running on red anyday that it was warmer then 70 degrees out side, changed the thermostat to the lowest temp kragen had, still gets warm, but not on the red

 

Hey fellas,

Thanks for the comments. I drilled a weep hole in the outer rim of the t-stat, bled the cooling system of air, and still have a slow over-heating trend while driving. I really don't think it's a radiator issue. Do the signs point to cracked head, or is there another cheap option you guys know of to try first?

 

if youve got a cracked head your oil would be a milky color, and in some cases you wont get coolant into the oil, it will do the exact opposite, any milky coolored anything in your cooling system, if you dont have either of these...i can almost 100% guarantee no cracked head. Have you tried going to a cooler TS?

 

if youve got a cracked head your oil would be a milky color, and in some cases you wont get coolant into the oil, it will do the exact opposite, any milky coolored anything in your cooling system, if you dont have either of these...i can almost 100% guarantee no cracked head. Have you tried going to a cooler TS? they