I thought about the temperature sensor....does anybody know where it is located and how hard it is to swap out on the 4.7l engine?

 

also how much coolant have you put in if you drained the block I think should be in the area of 13 liters or so

 

12.3 liters, including .9 liters for the expansion tank.

The sensor should be visible almost right in between the a/c compressor and the alternator.

 

Well it is looking like I figured it out. Turns out it was the thermostat all along. It was the first thing I swapped out but apparently the one I got from napa sucked and didn't work. The way I figured it out was that I still wasn't quite convinced that the thermostat was working since the coolant was never flowing through the system like it should. I got the original thermostat and tore out the coil and gate and essentially just had the seal left over. I filled er back up with some coolant and turned the truck on without the radiator cap and instantly I could see the coolant flowing through the tube. I drove it around for 15 minutes and it never got to running temperature, it only got to about 1/4 heated up. So this told me the thermostat was never opening. I went ahead and bought an oem one, threw it in, and now everything is fine Not real sure if I should be pissed or relieved since I finally figured it out and it had nothing to do with the block but at the same time I should have had this fixed last week in an hour rather than a week and $250 later. At least I know the radiator and water pump will be good for a while now.

 

Glad you found it.

I'm noticing lately that OEM is the way to go on some of these parts. The quality of aftermarket parts is just not there compared to a few years ago.