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That's pretty high if your temp sensor is giving you the correct readings. Mine is normally 200-202, but I have a 200* thermostat in. When going up pretty decent hills usually highest is 208-210, but that's also with a leaking head gasket issue.
What are your oil temps after the work has been performed?
You have to have a leak somewhere in your cooling system.
I recently worked on a 2005 F350 that was puking coolant and would get dangerously hot.
Upon close inspection, I found that the upper radiator hose had a small crack in it right above the thermostat. With the fan and stator in place, you'd never know it was there. The leak was such that it would cover itself up and would never make it to the ground, especially since the coolant was green and not red.
After checking the other hoses, replacing the water pump, flushing the system, and refilling with ELC, the truck stopped getting hot and puking. This is why when you're replacing the water pump, it's always suggested to replace the hoses.
I am not losing any coolant and only one very minor sign of any puking on the overflow tank.
Oil temps remain usually within 5 but up to 10 for short periods when temp rises. I have a coolant filter which has recently been changed and run rotella red ELC coolant.
Lights have been on there forever. Radiator was only cleaned from outside with purple power and hose (not a pressure washer to avoid damage) and really wasn't particularly dirty.
And you're not blowing smoke of any color out the exhaust, right?
Have you changed your degas cap in a while? I know you say you've only had one evidence of puking, but mine had a definite head gasket leak and only puked when I drove through the mountains at high boost for a period of time. It would go months without puking if I wasn't under heavy load for a while.
And the gas test isn't always conclusive. I'd tee into the return hose from the radiator to check pressures while under load. Or at the very least drive around to get it up to temp, slowly release pressure at the degas cap, close it up, then drive around at same coolant temp for about 10 minutes. Then slowly open the cap again. If it releases pressure again your head gaskets are most likely leaking since you have a new BPD egr cooler.
I did hav e some black smoke under hill acceleration but put that down to leaking Y pipe. Haven't seen any smoke since remedial work but don't guarantee its there. Certainly the boost readings are in line with pedal demand since Y pipe replacement.
A little bit of a hijack, but depending on who's coolant filter set-up you're running it may have a plug on the side like mine did. Most of the parts stores have these Mr Gasket 0-15.5psi gauges for about $11. I needed an adapter bushing but it's a common size. Makes keeping an eye on the coolant system pressure easy. Quick install. It's sold as a fuel pressure gauge but I've had it on there a few months with no issue. Kinda cool tip.
I did hav e some black smoke under hill acceleration but put that down to leaking Y pipe. Haven't seen any smoke since remedial work but don't guarantee its there. Certainly the boost readings are in line with pedal demand since Y pipe replacement.
Mark
I really suggest you do the quick pressure test I mentioned. Drive until up to temp. Loosen degas cap slowly to release pressure. Tighten it back up. Drive around normally for a bit again and then release the cap slowly. If there is additional pressure released pretty sure you have a headgasket issue.
Also, if there is no pressure release after the initial warmup your cap is not holding pressure...or pressure is venting somewhere else.
Ok finally have got to the bottom of this. Truck majorly overheated on a big climb up the Fancy Gap pass into VA. Turns out the radiator had a crack just to the left of the return inlet. One of the many diagnostic things that I had tried at the suggestion of an earlier post here was to have the radiator cleaned but I guess he just cleaned the fan side and never removed the radiator to clean it as evidenced by the photo that I wil try to post.
Truck runs at 185 to. 205 in most normal circumstances but will spike up to 220 on a climb (not towing) which I stil find odd but it will fairly quickly drop back down to normal levels
Thanks everyone for all the help and suggestions. I suspect the cracked radiator was secondary to the dirt as it did not show up under pressure testing while trying to diagnose earlier.
Just wanted to thank everyone who chimed in to help solve the problem and shed some light on what the problem turned out to be in the end. Hope that this is the end now
