<TABLE width="100%" border=0 itxtvisited="1"><TBODY itxtvisited="1"><TR itxtvisited="1"><TD vAlign=top width="100%" itxtvisited="1">We just purchased a f-250 desiel and it was over heating as my husband drove it to work. We called the dealer they came and got it and they said that it was a bad radiatior cap. Can that cause that bad of a problem and we did not see anything leaking or any smoke. What else might we look for? </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

What kind of overheating? Did you see the temperature gauge going into red, or just some coolant splashing from bad cap?
What engine?

 

My husband said it was going into the red and the check engine light came on but truck did not lose any power. It has been working fine since the new cap was put on it. But it is one of those things what caused the cap to go bad. Is there a bigger problem we dont know about yet. Also thank u for any help or advise u can offer.

 

Maybe. My advice is to watch your coolant level for any signs of loss. Put a level indicating mark on the degas bottle when the engine is cold. Then check it every week for any signs that it is loosing coolant. If it is, you've got a problem.

 

Thank u I will do that

 

I hope it was just the cap, but I don't really believe it is. My guess is they just threw something cheap at it to get you out the door and past the return period, if you had one. But the key is whether it uses coolant, even if you can't see any evidence of where it is going. It won't be in the oil. It either burns it out the exhaust, or blows it out the cap.

Good luck with it. Also, our 6.0 diesel engine forum is an excellent source of info. Check it out.

 

I will check that forum out thank u again u have been a big help.

 

I am afraid that the bad cap just exposed some other problems. CEL needs to be explained, since not likely it was triggered by bad cap.
That said the diesels usually run pretty cool. I had cracked coolant tank this summer and drove 100 miles on desert with cap removed to avoid pressure. The truck never even raised the temperature while hauling load with close to 100F outside.

 

sorry my wife got a little confused the cel light never came on . it was the check gauges light. when the truck over heated it went fast like like less than 30 seconds it shot to just under red as soon as the check gauges light kicked on i look down seen the temp and shut her down running 55 and costed to the side of the rode. when the truck stop i turned the key over to run and it was reading normal. so i sat there about 5 mins to see if the gauge changed it didnt so i fired it up and sat there for prolly another 5. stayed at normal so i took off at that point im about 4 mins away from work go down the prolly 1/4 a mine it shot back up. at that point i was about 100 yards from work so i pushed my luck it made no problem. i let it sit in my spot at work runing it cooled right down i shut it and went in side and had my wife call the dealer. today i drove it around 60 miles or so and no over heating and no loss of water as of yet but im keepin y eye on it like a hawk.

 

So far so good we have had no more problems with the truck overheating. My husband did take ur advise about marking and keeping and eye on the coolent level. If u think of any other ideas I would be interested in ur ideas. Thanks for all ur help.