phorunninduke

These mornings have been rough going at 0degrees... But this morning was particularly bad and the truck didn't warm up in the usual 10-15minutes. About half way out I realized I forgot all my stuff and turned around... temp gauge didn't go up until I was home and as soon as i stopped my truck had become a smoke bomb.

I thought I blew a head gasket, but it was just coolant blowing out of the heater core valve thing... It didn't strike me odd yet because I was able to tighten the clamp up with my keys and stop the flow.

I started the truck back up ran inside to get my things, came back out and the temp gauge was near the red.. WTF it is in the negatives here. Must be an air bubble.. Temp only creeped up as a blipped the throttle a little. Shut her down and investigated. Coolant res was full, but the rad was nearly emty - or instantly evaporated when I opened it. It didn't look like I lost a lot with the loose heater hose - but again it could have evaporated quickly with the steam I guess.
Doesn't- look like I have any in the oil now, and didn't seem to be burning any - although it is harder to tell in the cold weather. But I can usually smell it.

I don't have any coolant on hand, too cold for that much water imo. Battery is dead anyway ( havening a charging problem too- brake and charge lights come on when it is charging and go off when it is not - at idle (( on car tester says it is working fine)) i think something in the regular or alt harness is up )

It is just too dang cold to fiddle around with it so I wanted a little input as to what you guys thought before I go back out into the cold to charge and fill it up...