Second time this has happened and today it scared the crap out of me. On the way home I glanced down and the temp gauge was a little higher than normal. After about 5 seconds it climbed up and pegged well into the red, basically the gauge was pinned as high as it would go. As I tried to make a quick turn off the road and get the rig shut off the gauge came back down to normal.

Now in searching there are a couple of things it could be.

1) The SR5 guage pod I swapped in could be bad or a little off but it did this one time before with the DLX gauges that were in there.

2) T-stat sticking closed. I'll be replacing it this week.

3) Air in the system....... I'm leaning more towards this one since it is also a culprit in the "high cold ide" catagory and I have that issue as well.

I read on how to burp the system after I get the t-stat replaced so that's a non issue. I also don't think it's the cap since the rig doesn't actually get hot, just the gauge reading freaky.

So t-stat and burp should do it right?

Thanks in advance.

 

Why not take it in and have it checked out to see if the temp is really getting that high? Then fix yourself.

 

Add a different temp gauge, if nothing else, for temp.

 

maybe your gauge is faulty; I've got 2 for sale if you need one

 

I ran out and grabbed a t-stat and antifreeze and will be doing the change over in about an hour. The reason I don't think it's actually running hot is because the gauge will spike in just a couple of seconds and then drop back to normal. After I switch out the stuff today I'm going to burp it and put a digital thermometer (spelling?) in the truck so if it does it again I can pull over right quick and meter the motor/radiator and hoses. It's one of those infrared ones that you aim at stuff and it reads.



I'll let you know if I need to send you some money for a gauge there bleeder although I'm not sure if I want to help fund a truck that's already better than mine.

 

lmao

all proceeds will go to help in the rebuild of the tired 22re with 295k + miles in my truck

 

Sounds like a plan Junkers!!


I know that on my SR5 cluster, and usually after start, my gauge would do that. It warmed up and be where it usually is and then BAM! It would spike to red and back down to below where it normally rides. All within the 5ish minutes or so after start up on the road. I would tap on the cluster and it would rise up to "normal." I'd replaced all the usual stuff so I figured it was the gauge on the cluster. That's why I put in my aux temp gauge where I can functionally see the t-stat opening a closing.

 

mine hasn't done that yet

of course I haven't even had the SR5 cluster in for a week yet

 

fffffssssfffffsss...

 

Got it all back together and burped the best I know how. I'll keep checking the coolant for the next week or so just so I can top it off again if it needs it.

As far as the gauges go both of my rigs will go from dead cold to operating temp in the first few seconds of start up and then back to cold. This was only the second time the one in the runner has gotten above normal.

We'll see what happens.



Oh and as an odd side note I had a black ball of what looked to be very old oil float to the top of the coolant while I was topping it off, motor running. The motor was rebuilt (according to the PO) but he didn't tell me why. I checked the oil and there isn't any water in there and I didn't see any more stuff in the coolant after that one chunk (about as big as Lincolns head on a penny). I might be getting the radiator cleaned later on just to be sure there isn't anything else in there.

 

Might not have been oil. Could have been excess sealant used on the upper rad hose fitting.

I had that issue.

 

or even an old t-stat housing gasket; I've heard of that happening as well

 

I'm gonna buck the trend here and say t-stat is sticking. If the temp's "suddenly" drop from way hot to normal, that suggests to me the stat isn't working right. Could also be a radiator issue if it was running hot on the freeway then dropped to normal after slowing down, but there's not enough to make that judgement yet.

When you replace it, if you don't get the two stage or one with the jiggle valve, drill a small hole, maybe 1/16-1/8 in it.

 

I grabbed a "premium" OEM replacement with the jiggle valve and the "fail open" option.

This morning it warmed up quicker than it normally does but the gauge is still moving around a bit. I'll continue to burp it this week and check the sending unit.

 

I'm tell'n ya man, you need a new gauge

 

HA! Isn't there someone on here all ready selling some "used" gauges...

 

I don't know, is there?