So I drove my truck about 12 miles... got home, and changed my oil. yes, amsoil. its lovely.


anyways.


why is my lower radiator hose and lower part of the radiator cool after it had been running at tempature according to the guage?

 

How long had the vehicle been stationary before you noticed the temperature of the hose and rad?

 

Well... Pull the truck in the garage... get a 12mm and 14mm socket, get the ratchet, get an extension...



Pull the skid plate, pull the drain plug, and then go for the filter... 5 minutes tops.

 

5 minutes? Um....that's pretty fast.

Well, all I can figure is that your guage is off or the thermostat is not opening up. Probably the latter.

 

I'd test the thermostat. Kind of pain......having to drain coolant and all, but if the thermo doesn't open you know what happens next. ???

 

If it were a gentle drive over flat ground, chances are you thermostat never opened. I would monitor the temp gauge as if the thermostat is stuck closed, it will overheat.

 

That's definitely a consideration that had not escaped me. The thermo not getting warm enough to open, that is.

Maybe take it for another drive. A longer one. See what happens then.

 

Is it cold outside?

Was your heater blowing warm air?

 

I have been told that the way those cooling systems are run, that often even though the core temp and thus your gauge are running normal, the t-stat opens and closes until the entire system reaches running temp. Something to do with a cooler line running in right before the t-stat which cools it off. I don't know for certain, but I've noticed this before on mine, and that was a reason that was given to me. This was after I had tested my t-stat.

 

12 miles... yeah that's a consiberable run....
thermostat should've opened at least once, but that doesn't mean the radiator didn't cool the water down enough to make the lower radiator and hose cool.
if the heater was on, that's yet another place the coolant was cooled down in

 

Ya, I like to drive with the window down and heater blasting. I'll play with it more today.

 

Your lower radiator hose is your water return. If its cool, that means your radiator is doing a good job of cooling the water going through it. Congratulations.

 

If it is an auto tranny, is this where the tranny cooler is?

If it is a manual, the tranny cooler might still be here, but not be used

 

that would be my thought too......

 

If the heater was working the water was hot. Your cooling system is working fine.

 

ok sorry to hurt everyone and dont know why noone else saw this but here it goes

ok if the t-stat was stuck closed then the motor would have over heated in about 20 minutes of just idlesing not ever driving and forsay it is stuck closed then it would heat up and cause alot of things to go wrong but like mine was


t-stat is stuck open causeing the motor to run very cold no heat and both the upper and lower hoses were cold to the touch cause the water was just flowing though the motor and not heating up and thus the motor was almost in a warm up fuel state i say everythings normal for a 12 mile run the lower hose will be colder then the rest of everything if it would get super hot why would it be so close to the alt heating it up so it wont charge anymore so just a though everythin gis normal and you just freeked out over nothing man have fun on that oil its alot of fun when the oil hits the front diff

 

What was that...

 

That was Allan. Might get used to it.

 

Alcohol is bad mmmkay?

 

so are paint chips