New in my saga... Just got the truck to where is was nice to drive and all the little stuff fixed, tires, rims, brakes, lights, body, IP, gp's, batteries, etc. Have been driving it for about 2 months straight now. Out of the blue, it started to heat up on me. Just one day, after a 7 mile drive, the gauge hit about 3/4. The next day, It hit close to that after 5 miles. Now, I can only drive about 4 miles before it gets WARM (3/4 temp gauge). Today, I took it to a shop, they told me the radiator was plugged. I called around and found one. Turned out the big radiator I have is actually the small one. So, I am sitting with my truck in the shop, my snowplow sitting outside and we got 10" snow today and another 4 on the way. The shop owner let me work on my truck there tonight, I took the water hose and flushed my old radiator out. Lots of crap and gunk came out. I ran water through both ways, and even shook the thing to loosen more crap up. The water would come out as fast as I put it in. Should be ok ? I put the radiator back in, filled it with 50/50 mix and backed out and put my plow on. I drove 6 miles and again, hit 3/4 mark and the cap vented and lost a gallon of green stuff. Here is the thing, I have weak heat untill the temp gauge rises to 1/4 and higher, then I have NO heat at all in the cab. The top radiator hose was firm and hot, the bottom was cooler. After it cooled down a bit, I took the cap off and fired the truck up. There was seeming good flow for a few seconds, then it kinda petered out and the level just came up a bit. I really could not tell if there was flow or not. My thought woud be that mix should be pouring out.

Could it be a stuck thermostat ? and how hard is that to change. It looks like a pain.

 

Check your lower hose for a spring inside just try to squeeze it flat........ Could be a bad tstat.......too. You should also backflush your heater core..... Don't forget the SCAs with the 50/50 mix. Always use distilled water not tap water. Top hose will be firm and hot as the coolant has pressurized to 13psi if the rad cap is good. Check your upper manifold check ball, see if it will rattle if you squeeze the upper hose (cold) and release. You may have trapped air in the block.

CAUTION:
The specified/required thermostat does not contain an internal bypass, since the bypass is located in the cylinder block. Whenever the thermostat is replaced, it is mandatory that only Motorcraft E5TZ-8575-C or Navistar 1807974C94 thermostat be installed.

CAUTION:
Do not attempt to repair any thermostat. It should be replaced if it is not operating properly.

Check the any new thermostat before installing it for correct opening temperature. Before suspending in boiling water, with a flashlight check where the rubber and the flat metal flange meet for bad seal. Tstat should start to opening barely at 180-192f, fully open 200-212f, allow to cool and check for rubber seal again.

Removal: Disconnect batteries, drain 4+ gals A/F, remove: as required, fan belt, alternator set aside, alt bracket, remove filter support from fuel filter then e/block. Disconnect upper rad hose at rad, remove tstat bolts and housing. Clean both faces, depression and holes in block, ensure check ball in goosekneck is clean, free and rattles "do not remove".
Installation is reverse proceedure, I do not use sealant on gaskets and faces. REMEMBER the tstat pellet(copper end) goes into the block. I do use a "very small amount" of sealant on the edge of the tstat face when installing into the recess, now go for coffee, allow sealant to setup, this has saved me from tstat slippage when the gasket and goosekneck are installed. Replace all items in reverse order......

Manifold bolt torque......... 20ftlbs

 

No heat at all in the cab sounds like as plugged heater core.
This may be unrelated, but, how does it act temp wise without the plow on?
If it acts the same, I'd be wanting to test that thermostat. If it runs normally, your plow is killing the airflow through your rad, and you may have a weak fan clutch that isn't able to make up for it.
I know my truck runs at normal operating temperature all the time with no fan... Can leave it idling for hours with no issues, but, at this point in time, I don't work it very hard. If I was towing or plowing, I'd be willing to deal with it running cold most of the time...

 

AH HA!! Got it fixed today. Turned out it was a plugged radiator, plugged heater core and physically broken tstat. I help my mechanic finish it up tonight and preceded to plow snow for 3 hours with it. Never got above the O in normal, but after a good run, the temp settled down to the N part and stayed there. Now I got fantastic heat and the truck runs great. The best part is, my friend has a 3/4 ton Chevy with a plow and he asked me to TRY to move some heavy snow that he couldnt. Not only did I move it, I pushed his piles back another 20 feet for him.

 

Ahhh, jeff, be careful pushing the piles back. That 44 IFS front axle likes to break U joints and stub axles.
Don't ask how I know.

 

Dont worry, I dont ram piles. If I cant push it by gently shoving into it, I dont even try. The piles I moved I just crept up to them and pushed them. No ramming at all. I learned that a few years ago with my f150 rig. BUT, that does not mean that the axels wont break under stress.

 

Gotta love my dana 60 . If I break it I was doing something I had no business doing ...lol.

 

You don't have to ram the piles to break a U joint with a diesel.
If your truck is a regular cab it has a 44 unless someone special ordered the 50 in it.
If your truck is an extended cab or bigger it will have the 50 which has much heavier axles and U joints.

We had about 30 inches of snow with a layer of ice that came down first. You could not move when you dropped the plow.
So I put chains on all 4 tires.
Went to my first customers lot, a tire shop in town.
The city had plowed the road in front of their lot.
Shifted into 4x4 low range third gear, dropped the blade and drove into the snow wind row 1500 RPM.
The blade made it 6 feet into the snow wind row, almost to the sidewalk when I twisted off the right front axle on my 44.
No chains on the front axle while plowing snow, it costs to much.

Yes, I love my 60 front axle now.
I hope we get a decent snow this year so I can check out limited slip in both axles.

 

A little snow would be nice . I'd have to put my top on my Samurai and play ..lol.
Drive my truck , Samurai is my playtoy . My future plans are to put a diesel in it .

 

Mooringsport, isn't that on the gulf?
Do you all get snow down there?

Come on up to WV, we don't have much right now where I am at, but I know where we can find plenty not to far away. But if we go there you better bring your truck, we might not be able to find the Samurai till next June.

 

i would be embarresed to mention that I owned an import..... I go out of my way to make sure I buy American made whenever I can. I even took of the sumitomo tires that came on my car and put american made tires on it.

After a healthy dose of diesel system cleaner and cetane booster, the pronounced loud diesel noise has subsided. I ran a full tank of fuel out in 1 day pushing snow, and at home I have some nice snow piles for my kid to play on now.