Author Topic: Off Topic Cooling Issues (Read 1629 times)

Matt · « **on:** March 27, 2005, 10:14:38 AM »

I have a sneaking suspicion that my temp gauge is faulty in the truck, I was driving home last night and my wife complained that it was cold, but the heat was on?!?!? I quickly realized I had no coolant in the system, but my gauge read normal. I found the nearest gas station and topped up the system with water, here's the issue I have with the gauge.

the gauge reads like this, lowest number is 40....middle number is 100....and red number is 125. The truck has always run around the 70 point, give or take a few, and it was still at that point last night.
When the key is off, but the lights are on the gauge read 125, as soon as the key is turned on it read 70 again. I just checked it this morning, and the gauge will not move at all when just the lights are on like it did last night.

Second issue I have is where the hell did the coolant go? there's no visible leakage, and the oil looks and feels normal. Could just a constant overheating, boil off what was there? Would overheating make the truck stumble at highway speeds?

sorry for the long post guys, I'm hopin someone could help.

Matt

Chris · « **Reply #1 on:** March 27, 2005, 10:20:19 AM »

any stains on the road where you park it? Some leaks only occur after running the vehicle, and then stopping the engine.

Mike Scott · « **Reply #2 on:** March 27, 2005, 10:34:23 AM »

Hey Matt,

Was all the coolant gone? When was the last time you checked it? Maybe you have a slow leak somewhere in the system under pressure. The dripping coolant lands on something hot and evaporates. Also, I have had head gasket problems before without any coolant ever making its way into the oil system. The rough running could be cause by coolant making its way into the combustion chamber. Or, you could have a pinhole in your head that leaks coolant directly into an exhaust port. Normally burning antifreeze has a pretty particular smell and the car obviously smokes / steams.

I would say remedy the guage problem, fill it out with coolant and run it, watch for leaks and get James over to smell the exhaust.

slammedbus · « **Reply #3 on:** March 27, 2005, 11:11:55 AM »

Ok Matt: Here ya go. Fill it up while running. Watch the guage. If not normal I would usually suspect the sender not the guage. (cooling fan cycling will let you know if everything is working correctly) If you need to look for a leak you would usually use a pressure tester that will pressurize the cooling system. With the pressure you can almost always find the leak. I would say with a car that is overheating with no heat that the thermostat is to blame but if there is no coolant in the system then there is nothing to heat the air within the car.

Chris · « **Reply #4 on:** March 27, 2005, 11:25:01 AM »

Doh, I just had this problem with my work truck, another fine chevy work truck, anyway, it ran a little rough, and eventually started to smell bad, and then I noticed the constant steam out of the exhaust and found outit was the head gasket, I also pretty much ran it dry

Matt · « **Reply #5 on:** March 27, 2005, 02:51:10 PM »

I didn't suspect a head gasket leak as it was not smoking at all. It turned out to be a leaky water pump, I guess it just bit the bullet big time last night. I still need to figure out the temp gauge/sender issue though. and the high speed stumble. Thanks for your input fellas.

I was thinkin of calling James to sniff the ass of the truck, but realized his big ego wouldn't fit under the rear bumper! :lol: :lol:

James Buchan · « **Reply #6 on:** March 27, 2005, 04:43:54 PM »

HUH?