Question/help

[cooterdog]

Well to my suprise I now have cab heat so I guess its bad antifreeze mix, that thawed after truck was idle with a warm engine. Thanks a bunch to everyone that replied.

 

[Nhaz]

Does the engine temp gauge ever get into the normal range? Or takes a really long time? If this is the case then I would suspect a bad thermostat.

Bad thermostats do two things. They either don't open. Or they don't close. If they don't open what tends to happen is they have a small bar of metal that melts when the engine is too hot and they pop open permanently.(safety feature) In which case the coolant circulates constantly through the radiator and dumps its heat faster then it should.

In minus 20c or lower the engine needs to hold on to the hot coolant longer to Stay warm. Or it just stays cold and you get little or no heat OR it takes a really long time to warm up.

If you are letting it sit in the laneway to warm the vehicle this is Not a good test since there is little air moving over the rad. RAMMING SPEED! you need to drive it at 50 or 60k for 10 minutes and watch the engine gauge. if its dropping and rising your ok. thats the themostat opening and closing. If its dropping while you are moving and Never pops back up some I would suspect a thermostat. Be minded that the dash gauge is piss poor. it only tells me two things. thermostat is working by bouncing around some and if the engine is in the normal range.

Thermostats are reasonably cheap. Buy two summer and winter. They open and close at different temp. The winter thermostat will stay closed until a higher coolant temperature is reached before opening. This allows the engine to warm up faster and retain its heat in minus 24c weather.

 

[cooterdog]

Does the engine temp gauge ever get into the normal range? Or takes a really long time? If this is the case then I would suspect a bad thermostat.

Bad thermostats do two things. They either don't open. Or they don't close. If they don't open what tends to happen is they have a small bar of metal that melts when the engine is too hot and they pop open permanently.(safety feature) In which case the coolant circulates constantly through the radiator and dumps its heat faster then it should.

In minus 20c or lower the engine needs to hold on to the hot coolant longer to Stay warm. Or it just stays cold and you get little or no heat OR it takes a really long time to warm up.

Thermostats are reasonably cheap. Buy two summer and winter. They open and close at different temp. The winter thermostat will stay closed until a higher coolant temperature is reached before opening. This allows the engine to warm up faster and retain its heat in minus 24c weather.

I have seen no change as the truck warms up as the temp gauge peeks at normal and hold there. Will look into two thermostats now tho.