I need some help. I have had my Dak for a year now and in that time I have replaced my thermostat, radiator, upper hose, filler neck, cap. It was doing fine up until Saturday I was on my way home, It was a 45 minute drive on highway and interstate. When I pulled into my driveway and shut it off. I can see steam boiling from under the hood. It looked to be coming from my overflow, but I didnt overheat driving it.


Next problem is my airbag light has just recently started coming on.

Any help would be great on this.

 

First, I'd try another Thermostat, their cheap and DO fail.
Also, DON'T use well- water. Or for that matter, use only
Distilled water along with your antifreeze mix. The mineral
deposits can reek havoc on your system over time.

 

yea thermostat would be a good start since they are inexpensive and easy to change. i know people that are religious on changing them yearly or even before every winter and summer, which actually isnt a bad idea.

and not to hijack the thread here, but what coolant is best for our trucks? pre-mixed, the stuff you have to mix with distilled water, what brand, etc?

 

I would think Pre-mix is ok but,
my only thoughts would be does
the manufacture use distilled water
in their mix? Prestone is what I use.
With the well-water I have at the house
MAKES me use distilled water. ( I can't even
wash my cars or trucks with the water I have
coming out of the tap),.. And that's filtered!!

 

I buy full strength Prestone because I dont trust the 50/50 mix. I dont know if its actually 50/50 or 75 water, so I do it myself

 

You only really need about 1 gallon of 50/50 and the rest can be distilled water. I use 1 thing of 50/50 and fill her up with distilled then add 2 bottles of "Water Wetter". Works perfect, and its cheaper. I did flush my system about 5 times before I started to do this to get all the nasty **** out the the last owner had in it.

http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=74&pcid=10

As for the steam coming out, check the small cracks around the area, also your temp gauge on your truck is not 100% accurate. I would flush the system and refill it, if your seeing steam out of the overflow that means your low on coolant and its getting to hot and causing it to turn into steam, which will also expand and give you small cracks around the pinches of the radiator.

Replace the thermostat, pull the upper and lower hose and check inside of the hoses for build up around the springs if they are rusted I would replace them. Flush the system and refill it using distilled water and 50/50. The more water = better heat transfer = cooler temps, but don't put to much that it freezes over in the winter lol.