I have absolutely no idea. Like I said just guessing. But from what I have seen you can manage to get a serpentine belt on wrong. Not sure if it can be done on our trucks but I have seen it done on a friends car once.

 

I remember reading in another post about someone having overheating problems after changing the thermostat and it turned out he put the thermostat in upside down.

Stuff happens every now and again

 

Well, if it can be put on wrong I'll be the one to do it! LOL
Yep, I've had one come into the shop with the belt routed wrong. It wasn't overheating....the belt kept flying off, the owner said it need a new tensioner.

 

Ok, Today I replaced the thermostat (with a, F4tz-8575-cb from Ford) for giggles, I ran the bleed down procedure (cap open on overflow tank) and while the truck is running and heated up to allow the thermostat to open the coolant level in the tank rose and droped very slightly maintaing a relatively even level in my oppinion. I was pretty satisfied that I bead the system of possible air locks. I took the truck for a drive and watched the guage as the temp began to rise it appeared as thought the stat was opening and closing. I tried a few very slight inclines here and it began to heat up again, I pulled off to side opened the hood to find that the once squeezable upper hose was so tight it could pop. I slowly decrease the pressure by unscrewing the resevoir cap and left it open and drove back. I tighten the cap in the garage and let the truck run at idle for a while the pressure never built back up into the hose as before.

I have talked to a local mechanic here who said in some cases if you have a gasket blown or leak (when the stat is open and your up to temp.) you should see the bubbles trying to escape through the coolant resevoir. In my case I do not see a rush of air or bubbles in the tank.

I know the transmission coolant lines run into and out the radiator as well as through the external cooler in front of the A/C condensor, and Radiator. I checked the tranny fluid for odor and am of the oppinion that I need to change the fluid etc. This being said, do you think that the temprature of the tranny fluid (if hot enough) would be such that it could cause the radiator to begin to heat up prior to the thermostat and cause this increase in pressure in the upper hose and radiator before the fluid begins to circulate (and as the tranny works harder) continue to create so much heat that the coolant doesn't cool in the radiator?

When the tranny fluid runs into and out of the radiator does it run up and through the cores like the coolant or does in take another path?

Ok if I have to do leak down I need to pull covers and go through the glow plugs. I paid to have the gp's replaced as well as the wire valve cover gaskets and was told they only use the Ford GP's so I return my autolights, so i should have the original Ford GP"S in place now.

The routing of the belt was correct so the water pump is flowing correct. Not sure on, if it can be different but i'm betting it's possible. he he

 

The transmission cooler in the radiator is nothing more than a copper coil that is in the lower tank of the radiator. As far as a transmission causing your truck to over heat probably not . I cooked the transmission on a 96 f350 we use at work while plowing with it one night and I did get a strong smell of transmission fluid for a while before the thing got so hot it started to puke fluid out all over the ground and from what I remember the temp Gage for the engine did not budge.

P.S... Do you have a new radiator cap?

 

Ok yes to having a new cap, the radiator is totally enclosed. It has one overflow hose going to the resevoir about 3/8 or so and 1 lower larger diameter hose going to a T in the lower radiator hose, the cap is part of the resevoir tank. I replace both resevoir tank and cap. The upper and lower hoses go to the water pump top and bottom from radiator. I tried placing the old cap on the tank and I still built up this pressure in the upper hose.

The more I try and get around it the more things seem to keep going back to the head gaskets I guess. I'm still stumped, I guess the next logical step is the leak down tests.

Does anyone have the do and the don'ts on the head gasket replacement?

I read on one of the listings , since your in there might as well replace the push rods?

If so probably the lifters as well I guess? any in put?

The parts guy at Ford couldn't find a gasket kit per se' does anyone know of a complete valve grind kit that contains the intake gaskets as well?

Thanks for your time CPJ

 

I thought of the upside down thermostat thing but it's impossible to do on ours as the hose neck wont except the stat at all up-side down.

 

Water pump -- Any wobble in the pump shaft or seepage would call for replacement. In some instances, a pump can cause an engine to overheat if the impeller vanes are badly eroded due to corrosion or if the impeller has come loose from the shaft. The wrong pump may also cause an engine to overheat. Some engines with serpentine drive belts require a special water pump that turns in the opposite direction of those used on the same engine with ordinary V-belts.

 

I replace the water pump just to be sure. I had replaced it about 5 years ago with a lifetime warrentee. I did bring in the old one and matched them up exactly to make sure they were the same.

Thanks CPJ

 

I think I miss spoke earlier, I went back to the post on head gasket s and re-read it.

Looks like the guy there says if you blow a gasket and are going to replace it, pull the motor and replace the connecting rod (it could be bent) or it may cause similar or worse problems down the road. Ok so any thoughts on this little bit of info?

Thanks CPJ

 

PS : it appears I have the necessary stuff needed to make my leak down tester so there's a plus! Thanks to craftsmans old air compressor gauges etc. ,and the guy who discarded it.

CPJ

 

Sounds extreme to me. How would a leaking head gasket cause any or all connecting rods to bend? Can you post the thread? Just curious about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leak-down_tester

 

The guy that said replace the rods if you have a head gasket go was Luke Cline. rods break due to hydrolocking is very common. If they don't break right then they bend and break later.

 

Anybody know if the sca coating that is left on the cylinder to protect it can build up so thick over the years that it could cause over heating? I remember somebody saying that you have to use a coolant flush that is strong enough to remove the coating on the cylinder.

 

So coolant leaking into the combustion can cause hydro lock. OK but wouldn't coolant in the combustion chamber cause massive amounts of white smoke out of the exhaust? That happened to me with a gasser once.