Straight Six Running Hot

[tanman]

Okay, this is a little embarrassing. I'm confident the engine is running hot, I can see vapors in the dash vents. When driving the temp gauge would drop to the middle but when idling, it was increasing to the right and I could see the vapor start coming up the dash vent.

Anyway, I was letting the truck idle to get it up to temp and when I looked in the radiator, all my coolant was gone so I added more. I cold see it swirling but now when I check the gauge it's right in the middle and no more vapors.

So, long story short I don't think I had enough coolant in the truck! I guess when I filled it cold, a lot of it stays in other places after running.

I have a small leak at the heater core housing under the hood but it didn't leak a half jug of coolant.

I think this may be pilot error but I got a lot of help, a new tool, and some new parts that will probably break one day anyway.

Thanks everyone for your help, I'm very new to working on my truck but I learned a lot from all of your posts. And of course, Trucky thanks you too.

[Gary Lewis]

Join the crowd.  Been there, done that.  Don't feel bad.

Bill/85lebaront2 says you can get all of the air out of a system by pulling the heater hose off and, with the radiator cap off, filling via the heater hose until the coolant comes out of the radiator.  But that doesn't work for me.  It is better, maybe much better, than just filling up the radiator.  But I still have to make sure the recovery reservoir has plenty of coolant and drive the thing, let it cool and suck coolant back, drive it, let it cool, etc for several times.  Eventually, the next morning I find the coolant is right were I left it before driving the day before, and I know it is full.

[old55pete]

No offence, you say that there is vapor coming from the vents and defroster, this says to me that your heater core is leaking. You might want to feel the carpet under the heater to see if it is wet.

Unless you just did some major work on your pickup that required you to drain and refill the coolant, you shouldent loose that much during normal driving unless you havent checked it in years.

[ArdWrknTrk]

The fact that the system isn't holding pressure will allow hot spots in the heads to boil.
Which pushes more coolant out of the high spots in the system.
Eventually the water line gets below the sender.
And away we go!

heater cores aren't expensive, and if you have AC not difficult to change.

If the hoses look swollen or soft at the ends it's time to change them too.
Buy 10' of 5/8 hose from the commercial desk of your LAP, and be sure to get the core with rounded tanks not rectangular.
I number of members have run into this recently.

[Machspeed]

I’m with Steve, check that heater core!

[tanman]

Checking back in! Replaced the heater core. It was definitely the source of my coolant leak. My truck has aftermarket AC so of course I ordered the wrong heater core. Mine is in the engine compartment and not right behind the glove box. They’re definitely different parts. Long story short, cleaned everything out, no more vapor in the dash vents, no more stinky smell, heater and defrost are working great! Thanks everyone for being so helpful.

[grumpin]

That’s great!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Glad you got that fixed!  

As the weather gets colder the fog on your windshield gets more difficult to deal with.
If you still have a film of glycol on there I say that alcohol works better than Windex for getting it off.

[Gary Lewis]

Cool!  Or maybe "warm"!  Glad you got it fixed.

So, what's the next layer of the onion to peel?  

[tanman]

Ha! The saga continues. Next is fixing the fuel leak where the filter connects to the carb. Then valve cover gasket.

[Gary Lewis]

These trucks are like onions.  We peel off a problem/layer and cry.  Then another layer/problem.  But soon we have enough to have a mess of onion rings, or maybe even a Bloomin' Onion.