My bet is still on air in the cooling system. I feel like I always hope it is a thermistat, but it never is, but who knows.

 

haha yea i hope it somethin that don tcost me any money to fix

 

id try replacing the t stat and purge the system one more time

 

alright thanks Elton! im gonna try to do it wednsday

 

I agree here...give the stat a shot and get the air out...You gotta have a bubble somewhere.

 

I read all of the replies to your problem and I believe all of the suggestions are great but how many rows does your new radiator have? If it is a 1 row that is not a good radiator. It should have at least 3 rows and I would go to an electric fan. A 2 speed electric fan would be good (old Ford Tauras) because they move alot of air and are easy to find in junk yards. Your shroud exit (discharge) opening centerline should be on the centerline of your engine so air blows over the engine. Centerline of shroud includes vertcal and horizontal centerlines. I run a 180 degree thermostat. I drill my thermostat's by-pass out to 1/4" (thats the little hole with the metal flapper valve located on the outside portion of the thermostat). I have a 285HP motor and it never runs hot even in traffic with 90 degree plus outside temperarures.

 

in hand..
bud light

check..
rad cap
all hoses
clamps
t-stat
w-pump
fan clutch
fan blades
belt

test..
pressure of rad
sniff for odd smelling coolant

try..
flushing it really good
parking on a hill faceing up or jack up the front while running heater and motor to help it burp more easy.

there is another reasion it was running hot in the first place. you'll figure it out.

 

this is'nt a hot rod. one row rads work just fine for our trucks. i had a single row in a 93 s10 blazer with a 400 small block. the stock rad worked just fine in it. as long as you can pull the right amount of air from it. corvettes run a single row, my gto has a single row, my toyota has a single row. single rows take heat away just as good maybe even better then a 3 row...

heat off 1st row flows to 2nd row then to 3rd row. i had a 3 row in my 454 suburban... did'nt cool as well as the single.

just my 2cents

 

for chits and giggles... did you mess with timing? make sure thats spot on as well.

i have..
new rad
t-stat
fan clutch

fixed my cooling issues even with ac blowing ice pops threw the vents wont run hot in 100* temps at idle at a red light in sun shine on a sunday..

sounds like your cooling issues are spot on what my semptoms where.. i ran it in the red a few times... ekkk. used the heater to keep it cool at times till that did'nt help. lucky me did'nt blow a h/g.

 

ok thanks guys for the replies. so to get the air bubble out( if i have one) jack up the front of the truck, turn on the truck, take teh radiator cap off and turn teh heat on full blast right? how long should i do this for?
also my stock rad cap wouldnt work on the new adiator, i had to get a difernet one. could this be a problem? and when it overheated on me the other day, before i left work teh coolant was low. i had to put in about 1/4 of a jug of antifreeze. before i put on the radiator i was having to pu tit in quite often. but i never seen where it leaked.

 

thanks suncomb for your reply. jsut curious.. whatda ya go tunder the hood of your ytoa?

 

How about you describe the conditions when it overheats and when it doesn't.
... driving style, etc... use complete sentences and proper puncuation (and a spell checker too) please.

 

haha ok abe here goes..
before the body lift and new radiator:
This was in December, it would overheat with just normal stoplight to stoplight driving. Some days it would do it after i just drove it for 5 miles and some days i could drive 30 miles at a time, with the speed limit anywhere from 25-65 miles per hour. so we replaced the T-stat. fixed the problem. Then in about march or so when it started getting hot weather it would do the same exact thing in the same conditions. I could flip the heat on high and watch the gauge drop back down. Then turn off the heat and it would be fine. one time i just turned the truck off for about 5mins, fired it back up and it was fine.
After bodylift and new radiator:
i just got out of a 45MPH zone into a 35. It overheated. More than it used to but still just a hair under the red. the outside temp was about 80 or so. Then my truck shut off twice while i was driving it and it was overheating. checked the coolant bout 9 s later and had to add 1/4 of a jug of antifreeze.

 

you replaced both lower radiator hoses?

 

If the temp gauge went almost in the red & you were STILL DRIVING IT you may have blown a head gasket. Check your oil for coolant.

 

no i didnt replace neither of the hoses.i just drove it maybe 2minutes tops while it was running that hot. thats what i was afraid of to but i done checked the oil and its fine

 

A small HG leak may not give you oil in your coolant. My 3vze engine was running hotter than normal and was losing coolant slowly. My oil and water looked good. I wasn't getting obvious bubbling at the radiator either. All of those symptoms of a blown HG will definitely appear as the leak gets worse, but won't necessarily manifest at first. I started getting the radiator fluid smell at the tail pipe and I knew what that was for sure! Minor HG leaks won't manifest all the signs until they get big enough. You should certainly check everything else, but that missing coolant is going someplace for sure. I wouldn't rule out a HG leak because you aren't seeing oil in your water.

 

thanks nobrainsd. man i really hope its not a HG. i have a big wheeling trip planned on thursday. if i didnt have bad luck i wouldnt have any

 

If it overheats and you drive it for 10 seconds while it's overheated, you can blow the HG. When an engine overheats, you should shut it down IMMEDIATELY. ESPECIALLY the 3vze. I hope that's not your problem, but I'm beginning to wonder now....

 

craaaap. thanks rabbit im gonna check everything weds day on my day off and hopefully find out its not a HG