Replaced radiator and thermostat now engine running hot? (1 Viewer)

[Pantingfish]

So I'm new to all this, I just replaced my radiator and thermostat today, I went to "burp" the air out, took the radiator cap off and heat defrost full blast, Ran the truck for about 30 min, never saw any bubbling coming out of the radiator at all, but thermostat gauge started going up and up, Any ideas? I put 2 gallons of coolant straight into the radiator, should I have put more? The cap on my coolant reservoir is loose, plastic is warped, could this be a reason? No coolant leaks from what I can see, all new hoses on there with clamps that are nice and tight. If anyone has any idea what this could be I would appreciate it,t hanks!

 

[mattressking]

Keep going. If you replaced radiator and thermostat, you'll need quite a bit of coolant. I believe the motor is roughly 17 quarts, which is about 4 gallons. Since you didn't do the block drain you'll probably need a little more than 2 to completely fill the system.

Elevate the front of the truck if you don't have the easy bleeder, fill the overflow bottle to the full line and let it idle with heat (front and rear) on high. Keep adding fluid and burping the top radiator hose to kick air out. Once you can't add more coolant, cap radiator and drive it around a bit. Let it cool completely and check overflow. If it's empty, you still have more fluid to add, so add more to that bottle and drive it around a bit. By this point the motor should be close to full. Gauge will fluctuate a bit until you've cycled the system to rid of bubbles. Last recommendation is once the truck is ice cold, loosen the coolant temp sensor then open the radiator cap, this will remove the bubble we believe exists under the temp sensor. After coolant flush.

 

[Pantingfish]

Keep going. If you replaced radiator and thermostat, you'll need quite a bit of coolant. I believe the motor is roughly 17 quarts, which is about 4 gallons. Since you didn't do the block drain you'll probably need a little more than 2 to completely fill the system.

Elevate the front of the truck if you don't have the easy bleeder, fill the overflow bottle to the full line and let it idle with heat (front and rear) on high. Keep adding fluid and burping the top radiator hose to kick air out. Once you can't add more coolant, cap radiator and drive it around a bit. Let it cool completely and check overflow. If it's empty, you still have more fluid to add, so add more to that bottle and drive it around a bit. By this point the motor should be close to full. Gauge will fluctuate a bit until you've cycled the system to rid of bubbles. Last recommendation is once the truck is ice cold, loosen the coolant temp sensor then open the radiator cap, this will remove the bubble we believe exists under the temp sensor. After coolant flush.

Okay thanks! I will have to go buy more coolant and do that.

 

[CaptClose]

It's normal to get high temp false readings after a coolant change. @Output Shaft did a doctoral thesis on this. Turns out that a pocket of air gets trapped directly below the temp sensor and until it is completely burped out of the system, that air gets super heated and is the cause for the high readings. An IR thermometer will verify that your actual coolant temp is normal. OS outlines the process to burp the sender properly, but in the end, he says a few weeks of driving will push it out of the system on its own.

 

[Elbert]

the temp sender does not read properly if the "probe" is not submerged in liquid, Have you confirmed your truck is full of coolant? Bleed the system and get a new radiator cap.

 

[Pantingfish]

Thanks for all the advice! I did just as MatressKing said and I'm all straight now, thanks!