Well... Long Story...

I had a block heater and at one time it fell out. I put a expendable freeze plug in its place.

The other day I took a road trip and all of a sudden I saw smoke. I was kind of hard on the throttle at this time so I thought that was what it was until the High engine temp light came on. I stopped and realized that the plug had come out draining the coolant all over I45.

I replaced the plug, but my coolant seemed to not be leaving the radiator. After I filled the radiator up it kept getting hot. I got the truck home and pulled the thermostat. I boiled some water and put the thermostat in and it did not open.

I went to Ford and ordered the motorcraft thermostat. This thermostat looked very different from the old one. I replaced the thermostat and not it is still not working. I refilled the coolant and let it idle for a while and it did not get to hot. There was a huge amount pressure in the top hose, but it didnt get warm at all. When I backed off the radiator cap a little bit, the coolant just ran into the overflow. It sounded like it was boiling. I dont know if it has air in it or what.

I drove it 2 miles to my brother's house, and the temp gauge got up to hot. I shut it down for about 5 mins, then looked at the temp gauge and it was back down to the o in normal. I drove it home, and on the way over the gauge said it was hot again. When I pulled in I shut it down and popped the hood. The top hose was very hot and had very high pressure in it, and the bottom hose was stone cold.

Now I am confused. What should I do?

Sorry for the long post, but I am so confused on what to do.

 

If it helps any here are pictures of my old tstat vs new.







Seems like a very big difference to me.

 

You've got big air pockets in the cooling system. When You had the thermostat out, did You check the air check ball? It should be in the thermostat housing and should move freely. This is the device that allows You to fill the system with minimum air.

 

try pulling the thermostat and leaving it out and see if it stops the heating up issue.i have seen many brand new thermostats turn out to be bad from the git go.its ok to run without a thermostat during nicer temps.and if that doesnt help you have deleted one possible problem.did you burp the system after you refilled it?

 

I second the check ball, but this sounds dumb but I have seen several times the thermostat be put in upside down.
We used to be neighbor knash I used to have 4 acres on the trinity the other side of midway.

 

Sounds good star. Why did you leave the great state of Texas? I put the thermostat in with the dome part sticking out of the block, and the rubber part going in. How do I burp the system? The air check ball is there, but is kinda rusty. can I hit it with a shot of wd40? Lastly, I have heard that it is bad to run our engines without the thermostat, but is it okay, at least temporally?

 

Okay it is not upside then and you can run temp without any problem. by rusty is the check ball able to move freely there.

 

I think it can. I will try to pull it all off and check. I am very worried about the high pressure in the top hose. Oh... I think I forgot to mention that the heater hoses do not get hot either.

 

Is the check ball supposed to be able to come all the way out off the outlet tube?

 

What shape is the radiator in?

As I sit here reading this, I see a hot top hose with pressure.
That tells me that hot coolant is getting passed the thermostat.

Is the bottom radiator hose hard like it also has high pressure?
Are you getting any pressure in the heater hoses?

A blown head gasket could put pressure in the radiator.
A blocked radiator core would put more pressure in the top hose than the lower hose.

Normally the ball does not come out.
But with the age these motors have now, it may come all the way out.

 

The bottom is as hard as the top.

I pulled the thermostat and put it all back together and ran it. I think I saw blow by coming from the radiator.