The other night my friend and i were headed home when out of no where i started overheating. we discovered one of the hose clamps on the heater control 'T' had given and was letting coolant out from the pressure of it boiling i guess. Does this sound like that was the only issue or do we think i blew the damned gasket again?

it did ping the 280 on the gauge, 2x, but after fixing the clamp it still overheated. im going to replace t-stat and see if maybe it just got stuck or something, i know its kind of a very open ended question, just trying to see what the general consensus is on what im looking at.

If it is a gasket, it wont kill me..done it 2x now and could probably do it in a day, but woudlnt mind not having to do it a third :P

also on a odd note, the part time light came on and it seemed as if it tried to be in 4h for the trip home, but it wasnt constant, just every now and then...and now any time i try to turn the blower onto the windshield defrost, the part time light comes on o.0

 

R u saying u've replaced the head gasket 2X? How old r cooling system components like the radiator, fan clutch, water pump, t-stat, hoses, etc.?

 

Ive only done it once on my own, and once on my friends. radiator is not original but not new, clutch is fine, pump isnt leaking, but no clue on age, tstat is about 3 months old, hoses brand new, new T sections, all new clamps...

 

Radiator is the heart of the cooling system.....how do u know clutch is fine?.....just because a pump isn't leaking doesn't mean it's pumping......think about it.

 

Those open loop systems need to be burped well. How much coolant did you lose? When you fixed the clamp, did you top the coolant off and burp the system? Air in the system reduces the ability to cool.

...After fixing the clamp it still overheated...
Based on what? The gauge or spewing coolant? The temp sender could be toast, giving you a false reading at the gauge. Once you've topped off the coolant and burped it, use an IR thermometer to figure out how hot it actually is.

As far as the electrical issue goes,

 

Burping and a new tstat fixed her right up - tested old tstat and it opened but took alot of force even at 212 it took a while to open