need advise overheating

badmood

badmood

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I was driving to work today and the truck overheated. I let it cool down and checked everything and the radiator was pretty much empty. I just had the oil changed 2 months ago and the radiator coolant was fine. I keep an eye on my fluids regulary and it has been fine. It sat for the entire month of December in garage with no visible leaks. So I filled the radiator up with water to get it to the dealer. They just called and advised they can not get it to overheat. I replied that because I put water in it. There has to be an issue because all the coolant doesn't just vanish does it. Could it may be a head gasket. I only have 26k miles on it with no issues till now. What should I watch for from the stealership. Thanks
 
badmood said:
I was driving to work today and the truck overheated. I let it cool down and checked everything and the radiator was pretty much empty. I just had the oil changed 2 months ago and the radiator coolant was fine. I keep an eye on my fluids regulary and it has been fine. It sat for the entire month of December in garage with no visible leaks. So I filled the radiator up with water to get it to the dealer. They just called and advised they can not get it to overheat. I replied that because I put water in it. There has to be an issue because all the coolant doesn't just vanish does it. Could it may be a head gasket. I only have 26k miles on it with no issues till now. What should I watch for from the stealership. Thanks
Click to expand...
Ask them to test for a head gasket leak.
 
At normal operating temp feel the upper rad hose and the lower rad hose. If the temps feel about the same your thermostat is good.

Immediately after this shut down the engine and take out all the spark plugs. Do a compression test on all cylinders. If you have a blown head gasket where the coolant is being burned in the cylinder then you would find a higher cylinder pressure reading in one or more cylinders where the head gasket would be leaking from.

Ideally you should have the same pressure readings in all cylinders within 15 PSI of each other. If you get 30 psi difference between cylinders then your rings or valve stem seals might have issues. If you have one or more cylinders that have 20 PSI over the highest normal reading then you would most likely have a blown head gasket between the coolant and cylinder part of the head gasket.

Also you can verify a blown head gasket by seeing little bubbles in the radiator with the radiator cap off.
 
Also a lot of the times the water pump propeller gets rusted causing a lack of circulation in the cooling system. Our trucks use a waterpump that has a plastic propeller.

Viper Engine
The viper engine waterpump is on the left as you look at the pic.

BTW also check the waterpump ball valve to make sure you don't see any water residue from bad waterpump bearing that will leak during normal operating temps. You can also check the bearings by seeing if there is any play by wiggling the fan blades.
 
if you have a head leak check you oil for water or coolant and check the level.
 
I love this web site it has to be the best car(truck) forum out there. Thanks for the response. I will keep an eye on the dealer to make sure they are checking these things.
 
DevilDawg3097 said:
if you have a head leak check you oil for water or coolant and check the level.
Click to expand...

Yes that is another thing a blown head gasket could do but it would not cause your engine to overheat. Your engine would most likely spin a rod or main if you had water in the oil.
 
I did check the oil for water and it check fine. I am think it is a head gasket what would that cost if I didn't have a warranty. I hope that a head gasket is cover.
 
but if it sat for a month and the gasket was blown all the water in the jackets could go into the block and not noticing then when it over heated he added what he may have lost in the block, thats if the oil even had water in it.
 
Just to double check, you didn't flush the radiator lately correct?

I believe our radiators take close to two gallons of water/coolant. How much have you put in?

And ditto to the above, don't drive it if you feel it is a blown head gasket.

The good news is if you pull your heads to check, you have most of work done by removing them, to port your heads!
 
No it hasn't been flushed. I put approx a 1 1/2 gallons in it and then drove to the dealer approx 3 miles.
 
If you lost that much coolant to a head gasket leak, would it not be putting a cloud of smoke out the tail pipe...
 
You would think a big pretty blue cloud. Goodyear does the oil changes. They are pretty good and only charge me $15 for labor. I bring my on oil and filter.
 
Dealer called advised they drove it 17 miles and it didn't overheat. They checked coolant levels and it was a little low approx 1/2 gallon. They also advised they did a pressure test and it checked out no leaks. So my next question is. Should I flush the system and put new coolant since it moslty water, or wait about a week and see if overheats again and if doesn't flush it then. Thanks guys I know a little about cars but probally just enough to get me in trouble.
 
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The best way to test for a blown head gasket is with a leak down test. You pressurize the cylinder (make sure cam is on back side of lobes so valves are closed) with an air compressor at about 100 PSI. This does a couple things...First it will tell how long the cylinder will hold the pressure once it has been charged from the compressor. This will tell you valve seal, piston rings, and head gasket condition. If there is a leak, then you can maintain pressure from the air compressor to find it. With head gaskets that are blown into a water jacket port you will see lots of bubbles coming up through the radiator. If it blown into an oil return galley, you typically see pressurized air coming from your breather or oil fill port on the valve cover. Bad valve seals result in air coming back out the intake or out through the exhaust (depending on the valve).

If the dealer ran it through a couple warm-up cycles and there is no water in your oil, no more coolant loss, and no overheating, then I doubt you have a head gasket problem. Something seems fishy regarding the service you had done at Goodyear. It would not surprise me if they drained out some anti-freeze so they could get some repair business from you. Wouldn't be the first time a Goodyear was busted for unethical business practices.

I would definitely change out your coolant with a proper fresh mixture.

-Muzzy
 
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