My heap is overheating!

[matt351]

A few days ago my truck started overheating driving down the highway. After letting it cool down I finally made it to where I was going. It was dripping coolant from the thermostat housing I recently replaced. I figured my thermostat was stuck shut, so I changed it out at a NAPA in the middle of nowhere. The truck is still doing the same thing. Now I'm leaning towards the water pump being bad... Am I on the right track here guys? The truck is acting like as soon as the coolant gets warm it shoots straight to overheating.

 

[lobo411]

Is there a reason why you're leaning towards the water pump?

 

[swshawaii]

It was dripping coolant from the thermostat housing I recently replaced.

:scratch: Fix the leak first.

 

[matt351]

Well I figured the thermostat housing was just barely dripping ever so slightly, so I figured as long as it was topped off it would be okay. The thing that got me was how quick it wants to overheat.

 

[lobo411]

Is it using coolant? Is there coolant coming out of the water pump weep hole? Take the belt off and rotate the water pump shaft by hand. Does it feel "wrong?" Better yet, use a mechanic's stethoscope to listen to the WP bearings.

 

[acabtp]

if it's dripping, it means that the system can't pressurize which makes it less efficient... which can lead to overheating. fix the leak.

 

[matt351]

Roger that. I just warrantied the thermostat housing I just replaced out at O'Rileys. The inserts that they use kept slipping in the housing keeping it from tightening down properly... that and one of the sensors actually managed to do the same thing. Gonna slap it back together in a few minutes. How much torque should the upper thermostat housing bolts need? I'm almost afraid to tighten them now for fear of making the threaded inserts come free.

 

[Flash]

I used a washer on top of the thermostat bolts to hold everything down.

Apart from losing system pressure out the leak, make sure there's NO air in the system.