Overheating and no heat

My truck is overheating and I don't have heat at all. My heater core makes an exhausting or bubbling sound (idk how to describe it) if i move the selector from defrost to vents vise versa. I have no heat at all extremely cold air blows out. My vents don't blow air either only defrost does. My cab has been been very moist and my wind shield has had water on it from inside the cab, but i dont have any major leaks or anything and that was the case before losing my heat, just figured i'd be as descriptive as possible. The lines going into the core are both cold. The heater control valve does have vaccum and is being actuated. So thats the symptoms on that, I'm more worried about the overheating than the heat in the cab though. As far as the overheating when i drive the temp is ok till it reaches operating temp and if i drive it for a min or 2 past reaching that or once i hit the highway the temp gauge pegs out to red and stays there. It has come back down 3/4 or 1/2 after driving for a few miles or slowing down but not often. I'm boiling coolant in the upper radiator hose. I just put a new radiator in the truck because the old one had a leak. After the job was complete I notice I was overheating and boiling coolant. So I pulled the thermostate out to make sure it wasn't causing problems. I am leaking a slight bit around the termostate housing now and i still havent put a new thermostate or gasket on yet because it wasnt the problem and i figure the more flow the better right now. when attempting to bleed system of air, once the engine reaches operating temp with no radiator cap on the coolant pukes out and then I fill it back up only to have it puke right back out. Before it reaches operating temp the coolant seems to steadily trickle out. The upper radiator hose is warm before boiling and the lower radiator hose is cool. The water pump was replaced a couple years ago but I'm not ruling it out. It may have a leak and I had water in the system with no antifreeze for a while because of leaks I had at certain times so when my radiator cracked when it was below freezing weather the impeller may have broken but I don't know. I do know that I remove the intake to change the gaskets out and there was brown crap in the two ports front and back of the motor that I cleaned out as well as possible. So yeah I have not been nice to the cooling system but I ran some flush through the system this past week to help and drained that out and put antifreeze in it but no luck still over heating. Also the coolant over fill is not bubbling either. So idk if it is a head gasket. I was gonna try flushing it with a hose next but I'm not sure where to put the tee at. It says on the inlet heater hose but idk which one that would be since they seem to run together. I could go before the valves and stuff but I'm not sure if that's what I should do. If anyone can help me please let me know. As of now I either think I have a blockage, my pump is bad, or I have some air trapped. If your have a product I can use to break extreme blockage or a way to be sure there isn't trapped air let me know. Oh yeah my radiator cap is new too. And i never put any gasket or radiator repair junk in it. And I have a 98 ranger 4.0 v6 2wd in case you needed to know.

well buddy sounds to me like you have a major bubble in the system. run the truck with the radiator cap off and after it starts to warm up a little pull one of your heater core hoses off from the firewall/heater core and leave it off until you have a constant flow of coolant coming out of it. then leave the truck running with the cap off until the coolant stops puking out of the radiator then top it off and you should be good (if you haven't blown a head gasket by overheating it)

The IN hose for heater core is the warmer one with heat setting on HOT.

I would like to say it's not a cracked head or head gasket issue, but.............it sure reads like it is.
4.0l OHV engines have a weak spot in the head casting, if overheated they crack between valve seats, so even if your issue was just air trapped in the system after a rad leak, it most likely led to a cracked head or blown head gasket because it did overheat.

Best way to remove air is, cold engine, remove one of the heater hoses from the firewall, fill system until coolant comes out hose, you may have to manually open By-Pass(the 4 hose connector) valve, if there is no visible lever put a vacuum hose on it and suck it open.


The troublesome part of your post is, radiator cap off: "Before it reaches operating temp the coolant seems to steadily trickle out"
A cold cooling system has no internal pressure, water pump isn't a "pump" it just circulates coolant, so can't add any pressure to the system, so there is nothing in a working cooling system that would cause coolant to come out rad cap opening when engine is running cold.
The only place pressure could come from is a Cylinder, 170psi cranking, 1,000+ psi when running.
It only takes a small crack or gasket leak for some of this pressure to go into the cooling system, this "air" displaces coolant in the head, so you see the coolant being pushed out the rad cap opening as soon as the cold engine is started.
This "air" stays high in the cooling system and will end up in the heater hoses because they are high, this causes an "air block" which prevents coolant from circulating to the core.
When the head metal gets hot enough, any coolant that comes in is flashed to a vapor(like steam) which increases iis volume greatly, and you get: "engine reaches operating temp with no radiator cap on the coolant pukes out"
Sudden exit of coolant, in spurts.

There is a very simple test that is free and easy to do that will tell you if you have a cylinder leak to cooling system.

The Glove test
Cold engine, drain a little coolant out if it is at the very top
Unplug Coil Pack connector, you want a No Start
Remove rad cap and overflow hose
Block overflow outlet with vacuum cap or short hose with bolt in the end
Put Latex Glove over rad cap opening and seal it with rubber band, a balloon or even a condom can also be used.

Cooling system is now sealed so you can test for pressure coming in
Crank engine
If glove bounces you have a cylinder leak, for sure
If it doesn't then you don't

If it does then you can find out which cylinder is leaking if you want to.
Remove 1 spark plug at a time, crank engine in between each removal
When glove stops bouncing last spark plug removed was from the leaking cylinder, replace spark plug to confirm.

If you notice less bouncing after one spark plugs removal, you may have two cylinders leaking, remember that cylinder and continue.

Thanks buddy i apreciate the feed back a ton!!! Instead of pulling the hose i'd rather cut it and insert a t bracket from the flush kit i bought. Which hose would be better for that? And are you saying to reconnect the hose/seal it if I add the bracket after i get fluid flowing through it and then focus on topping it off till it stops puking? I know this will also let me see how the pump is doing, but if im getting no flow to the heater core hoses what should i look at in terms of the valves before those two hoses? Should I be worried about the new radiator I put in not flowing well enough and causing the upper radiator hose to back up? And why is it puking so much? Is that air trying to force it's way out? I'm also pretty sure I need to get that thermostate housing sealed off for starters.

Oh wow that was a brilliant 2nd reply. I'm definitely nervous about my situation after reading that. However that is a test that I really appreciate you telling me about. I know it will be very helpful. I thought I might be ok since I didn't have bubbles in my over flow, but I was concerned that compression was forcing the coolant out of the radiator as well I just didn't know how to check for that so thank for that. I know I may get some negative responses about this (I took auto classes so I should and do know better), but if in fact there is a problem with either the head gasket, head, or block and i wanted to attempt fixing it (even if only temporary to give me some time) using a product what would you recommend if any. The truck honestly isn't worth pulling the head off or replacing the motor. I just want to ride till I buy something else (college budget).

Oh and Ron idk which hose is the inlet hose because I don't have flow. I know the hot hose is the inlet but they are both cold even with the heat on full blast. I know you talked about sucking the 4 way open, but do you know off hand which hoses is considered to be the inlet. I think I read somewhere that both hoses flow coolant in and out on my core on the ranger since the two hoses seem to come together, but that can't be right based on my understanding of a heater core. I don't really have an understanding of the flow to the heater core on my ranger honestly.

Skyman you do NOT have a blockage! What you have is obviously a crack either in a gasket or a head. What you said about the temp gauge being in the red and you were STILL driving is enough said!
When filling a radiator the preferred method is to make sure the radiator cap is the HIGHEST part of the cooling system and heater core. Fill it completely and then start the engine with the heater turned up to it's hottest setting. Then with the cap off f the radiator keep drilling more and more coolant into the radiator while the engine is running. After the engine reaches operating temp the coolant level should then, and ONLY then, reach a completely full level. Then the cap should be replaced and the coolant tank should be filled to the HOT or NORMAL level.
I'm doubting you put enough coolant in the system when you replaced the radiator. Then, I think, you took it out on the hiway and burnt it till it cracked something.
Big JIm

Could it be that the water pump impeller is worn out? Over heating and no water flow with the thermostat taken out.

Skyman24 I had a similar situation working on a Isuzu Rodeo that I just replaced the radiator in. Do me a favor and check the bottom hose and make sure water/coolant is flowing. What happened to me was the caps/plugs that they put on the outlets from the factory somehow a smaller one was inside the lower hose outlet blocking all the flow. This almost caused a major overheat. Didn't even get it down the block before it read HOT.