If it doesn't use any coolant after a couple hundred miles I'd say the heads are still decent.

Never heard of water out of a hose that warm lol. But maybe it's just geograpy

 

It took me 16 days of back and forthing and some of it pretty unpleasant to get the RMA so it was more like hemorrhoids and suppositories than peaches and cream, and it got pretty darned unpleasant there at about day 14 or so. I'd decided that if the tex port drone got the least bit snippy with me just one more time I'd be talking to his boss and speaking my piece plainly, but then the guy got right and the rest was smooth sailing.

Heck, they could have told me that having been a cheap SOB who got the thing at half price from some random fleabay dork I'd have to take it up with the seller, or they could have told me that to get warranty service I'd have to return the whole kit and kaboodle (which I wouldn't have done anyway), but instead they said they'd honor the warranty even if it turned out to be already expired and would replace whatever I sent back -- if I sent back the box and the dash button but not the microphone or wiring harness, they'd replace the box and the button. If they walk that talk I'll be thrilled.

If the replacement unit works as advertised, meaning just like the one I'm sending back but without the intermittent failure, I'll be so tickled that I'll write up a DIY and maybe help them to sell another unit or two. The thing's really great when it works, and living where I do it's nice to be able to stream music because we get only three radio stations reliably. One's NPR news and information which I like just fine but can't make into a steady diet, one's god music, and the last one's some kind of redneck caterwauling. I ain't into gods or rednecks so have spent the last three plus years doing most of my driving with the radio off, and often enough wondering when road tripping what the GPS just said that I missed because I had the window down or the radio up.

Time for me to STFU, ain't it?

 

drove it around.

Had no eat. Guess i should check the coolant level when it cools down. IDK where that shat keeps going?

also, I replaced my rear "drotors" the other day. Parking brake works much better now

 

Filled it with gas. Getting a whopping 10MPG up here. Also, a crack in my windshield spread to a chip about a foot over. It's getting pretty frosty her, had a few snowfalls, which made me contemplate a new set of tires or about 500lbs of weight and some tire chains for emergencies. I will be travelling back home in a few weeks going up and down 10% grades, that stretch for about 5-15KM. New truck is in order soon, so I don't want to dump a grand into tires, that I'll only use for a short while. Been looking at those new Raptors, hmmm. Roughly same mileage, but twice the HP and torque lol.

 

In summer, the house has hot and warm running water... there is no cold.
This time of year, water in a black garden hose is still pretty warm... the point was the temprature differential between what was in the engine and what was being added was not that great, compared with adding from a northern fall hose and an off the gauge hot block.

It's got ~200 miles on it now, and it hasn't used any water... fingers crossed.

 

The elusive all-ali CSF 2969 radiator arrived today... a nice looking piece indeed.

I order a new TPS today also... a sometimes high, sometimes erratic, sometimes just fine idle, and an Airtex TPS drove me to order a Delphi part from RockAuto... the Airtex has ~15k on it... RockAuto was $51 shipped, the stealership was $87 +tax.

 

Fueled up the farm trucks for the month and cashed in on the .40 per gallon discount from Kroger. K.

 

Truck had been running well lately after all the work I've been putting into it over the past few months. I enjoyed driving it again as it's a lot roomier than my 4Runner. I was even going to spoil the old ***** today and get it some new boots. Found some 06 Chrome OEM Ram 20's with decent tires for cheap (I'm in dire need of tires before winter anyway). The seller is about an hour from me, and I was going to make the trip, then the left rear wheel cylinder went out. The truck is testing my patience. Back to the Yota.

 

Installed the all-ali CSF 2969 radiator this morning.
The job went easy, no drama.

There was no loss of coolant since the temporary fix a week ago, so I seem to have dodged the cracked heads bullet.

I noticed a score on the back of the top radiator hose, so I'll be replacing that, just because, even though it is not down to the braid.

Whilst I had the radiator out, I changed out the loud SPAL fans (2024CFM ea) for some very quiet Derale fans (1980CFM ea)... they are less CFM, but one SPAL was keeping up fine, so the I wasn't concerned... as it happens, one Derale also keeps up fine, just runs a little longer... I have a connector to change, and both fans will be working.

 

Tossed the steering column out of my van into the bed...... getting ready to take it over to a buddy's garage to tear it down. Wife got home this morning, couldn't get the van in park, and couldn't turn it off either......