After having no related problems with my truck, I completed a 1500 km drive today from Salt Lake City to Vancouver. There are quite afew high mountain climbs on this trip and the speed limits are generally in the 70-80 MPH range so I made sure to keep a close eye on my temp gauge in cash of overheating. My truck usually runs at 80C and will heat up to as much as 90C under highway speeds, uphill or low-range up hill etc but then comes back down. Not surprising my truck was running in the 85-90C range a good portion of this trip.
I stopped 3 times for fuel and each time checked my oil (looked fine) and can't recall if I checked coolant or not but don't recall any issues, if I did.
Anyway, I was pretty much highway speeds the whole trip so the +5-10C temps were normal but once I got back into Vancouver, I noticed they didn't go back down to 80C. This was unusual as they normally will drop right back down when I let off the gas, go downhill etc. I drove about 10 mins to my house and they stayed this way, but never increased over 90C.
When I parked in my driveway, I opened the hood and noticed that the radiator overflow was to the brim and it was wet around the battery tray. The top hose was rock hard. Sighs ....
After giving the truck an hour or so to cool, I went out and opened the radiator cap and got a strong hissing noise and coolant began getting sucked back into the radiator but not enough to fill it. I ended up using a funnel to pour the overflow tank into the radiator directly and got it full. I then added about 2 cups of water to the overflow tank to get it back to level.
To see if this problem was going to happen again I drove around the block about 5 times until I got back up to temperature and went a good 15 mins without it going above 80C.
From reading other threads thought it seems as often a head gasket or other problem inside the engine can go undetected at low levels as the radiator pushes the air into the overflow tank and sucks in liquid coolant from the bottom.
The easy solutions (i.e. rad cap) were going to be my first step along with an exhaust gas test of the radiator but as I was checking the level I heard a ticking noise .... After about 10 mins of looking I saw bubbles coming out of the #6 cylinder by the head gasket. I also checked my oil and I am now down a quart (from last checking about 200 miles earlier).
To me it seems like a foregone conclusion that my engine will be coming apart but maybe someone can talk me off the ledge? And just how my luck has been, I am worried its going to be more than the gasket. If the head is cracked or something along those lines I don't know what I am going to do ... I love my truck but there aren't really 1HD-Ts sitting in wreckers for parts.
I guess I don't really have a question but would love to hear some thoughts ....
I stopped 3 times for fuel and each time checked my oil (looked fine) and can't recall if I checked coolant or not but don't recall any issues, if I did.
Anyway, I was pretty much highway speeds the whole trip so the +5-10C temps were normal but once I got back into Vancouver, I noticed they didn't go back down to 80C. This was unusual as they normally will drop right back down when I let off the gas, go downhill etc. I drove about 10 mins to my house and they stayed this way, but never increased over 90C.
When I parked in my driveway, I opened the hood and noticed that the radiator overflow was to the brim and it was wet around the battery tray. The top hose was rock hard. Sighs ....
After giving the truck an hour or so to cool, I went out and opened the radiator cap and got a strong hissing noise and coolant began getting sucked back into the radiator but not enough to fill it. I ended up using a funnel to pour the overflow tank into the radiator directly and got it full. I then added about 2 cups of water to the overflow tank to get it back to level.
To see if this problem was going to happen again I drove around the block about 5 times until I got back up to temperature and went a good 15 mins without it going above 80C.
From reading other threads thought it seems as often a head gasket or other problem inside the engine can go undetected at low levels as the radiator pushes the air into the overflow tank and sucks in liquid coolant from the bottom.
The easy solutions (i.e. rad cap) were going to be my first step along with an exhaust gas test of the radiator but as I was checking the level I heard a ticking noise .... After about 10 mins of looking I saw bubbles coming out of the #6 cylinder by the head gasket. I also checked my oil and I am now down a quart (from last checking about 200 miles earlier).
To me it seems like a foregone conclusion that my engine will be coming apart but maybe someone can talk me off the ledge? And just how my luck has been, I am worried its going to be more than the gasket. If the head is cracked or something along those lines I don't know what I am going to do ... I love my truck but there aren't really 1HD-Ts sitting in wreckers for parts.
I guess I don't really have a question but would love to hear some thoughts ....
