ok, thanks for all that good thermostat info. the truck has always run a little hotter with the heat on , but now its emptying about 25% of the radiator volume into the overflow tank and then all over the air filter box. after it cools down the overflow tank is full but the radiator is down 25%. the engine oil looks fine( no coolant mixing) and the coolant looks fine too. I'm droping it off to a trusted mechanic tomorrow, and will give him the article about the thermostat. Ill also ask for a compression test before he does a head gasket tear down.One other thing I did was a friend has a block tester that sniffs the radiator air to detect combustion gasses( carbon monoxide) and it checked positive --blue fluid turned yellow after about 5 pumps. also its dumping coolant with the heat on or off, when its off the temp gage never shows that its overheating.