My F150 is overheating after an oil, coolant, and brake change. The upper radiator hose gets very hot, but the radiator itself is cool.

The only thing I did coolant wise was remove the radiator plug to drain it, and then refill the reservoir.

What should I do?

 

Whoa, you need to fill the RADIATOR, not the reservoir!!!! It will take about 2 gallons of properly mixed coolant, unless you have a larger radiator. Don't open the radiator cap hot!! When you fill the radiator to the top, start the truck and the fluid level in the radiator should drop as coolant is pumped. Fill it up to the top again & watch until the fluid level no longer drops. Then your radiator is full. Replace the cap properly. The reservoir should be filled to the mark.
Look up ChrisFix's video on 'super flushing your cooling system'. And for god's sake don't drive without coolant in the radiator!!

 

Thank you sir, I assumed the radiator would fill itself from the reservoir.

 

My truck was overheating also, if yours continues to over heat after changing coolant from radiator, the issue could be thermostat (old or jammed) or gunk in the bottom of your radiator. I just went ahead and changed thermostat, housing, hoses, and radiator to get it all up to par together. Only takes about a day and is fairly cheap.

 

Some 5.4l F series trucks (like my own 2001 F-250 5.4) eliminated the radiator fill cap and require that the cooling system be filled by the expansion tank alone.

 

Chris' video uses a setup that still has the radiator cap on the radiator itself. If the OP has a truck like mine (2001 F250 5.4L) then there is NO radiator cap on the radiator and must be filled through the reservoir. There are videos addressing this.

 

The thread is from 2016 and the OP hasn’t been active since 2018. A truck from 1987-1996 definitely has a cap on the radiator.