Hey y'all. My 96 300 i6 has been giving me issues with its temperature lately. Upon startup, the truck will warm up until the temperature gauge is just past the H before coolant circulates through the engine and then it goes back down to normal for the rest of the drive. The first time it did this for a couple days until I burped the system a little and then it warmed up like normal. Normally the needle never makes it past the L. Yesterday I was doing some minor towing, 2,000ish lbs, and driving all day without issue, but today driving to work the truck did it again. This time a belt or something started to squeak right before the temp went back down. Any ideas? Could be T-stat but I don't want to go replacing parts without knowing what's up. Thanks

 

Change the thermostat. They're cheap. And honestly, people don't replace them nearly often enough.

 

Yeah that's what I was thinking. Just didn't want to do it if there was another issue that was glaring at me. Thanks

 

Do not cheap out on the new thermostat. Get a good quality version AND test it before installing. Very common to be DOA right out of the box even when you spend some extra bucks.

 

This is also true, I'm fighting this very issue on my next door neighbors honda as we speak.

 

Gives you a chance/reason, to make sure it has a 195* in it also.

 

Is your idler pulley original? I ask because I had the pulley seize when the plastic sheared right around it and it basically resisted turning a lot so the belt would have been slipping more than likely. So no water pump turning. I replace the water pump as it sprung a leak and replaced that idler. But now my tensioner isn’t spring loaded anymore it just lets you put it on a spot and it holds it(eventually it will not hold tension on the belt)
check your tensioner check your idler. See if you have any other pulleys starting to give out and are hard to turn. Air pumps to my understanding have been known to do this?

once you check those, what’s your belt look like? A glazed and old belt won’t keep a pulley turning for the life of it, especially the water pump which has a smooth pulley. Then, what’s your fan clutch up to? Can you spin it with truck off? Is it have some drag? Is it like a easy to turn bearing? Should have drag.

hows your fan shroud? Bumper splitter still on?

check your cap lately? 13psi isn’t a lot these days but it’s enough to make the boiling point of coolant a lot higher than atmosphere pressure. Boiling coolant doesn’t transfer heat very well because it’s hard to move it into a radiator. Otherwise boiling would be a great way to kick the heat out of the coolant but it’s hard to water pump steam.

then of course your thermostat. Don’t break your housing they are cheap as hel and don’t like to stay not broken. But the replacements are also cheap. You need a way to secure the thermostat to the block then safely put the housing over it and not so the thermostat pushes against it. Otherwise you break the housing. Ask how I know lol.

hows your coolant looking?

last tip. Take your overflow hose off. Both ends. Blow some air through it. I had a blockage at my overflow apparently it couldn’t get past it I guess. Didn’t overheat just didn’t suck coolant in or purge to it much.