yesterday i was driving to tampa from melbourne which usually takes two hours and when i was about fourty minutes into it my truck kept kicking in and out of overdrive and wouldnt hold speed unless i revved it to 3k rpm then i look down at my gauges and he temp is reading 220 then i start smelling something burning about 30 seconds later and see smoke from under the hood i checked my guages and the temp has jumped to 260 so i pull of of the interstate and let it cool i popped the hood and the coolant was boiling up out of the radiator but the cap never popped and i checked the hoses and the upper was hot and the bottom was cool after about 30 mins the engine was cool i went to crank it and the battery i just bought two weeks ago is dead[:@] so after about 3 hrs someone finally stopped to jump me and when i cranked it it was like it was when i had tried to crank it w/o havin someone jump me so after about 2 packs of cigs half a can of grizzly and much swearing i got someone to come get me

i was following a semi most of the way and was thinking the lack of clean air caused me to overheat, because i never get past 220 but i also noticed that the trans cooler is almost the same size as the radiator is this normal? as far as the electrical im pointing my finger at the alternator but im not sure

any help or ideas would be greatly appriciated the cost of repairs is startin to get to high and i might have to sell it and get somethin else

 

You need clean air, not you truck. Dirty air cools just as well as clean air. You've got a clog somewhere. Start with pulling the tstat and testing it, but they usually fail in the open position. Then I'd have the Rad/cooling system power flushed at a shop. If you try to do it yourself, use distilled water with the antifreeze.

Good guess. Especially if you've already replaced a battery. Are you running any heavy electrical components?

 

Taking it step by step. Your trans. will not go into overdrive if it gets hot. It's a fail-safe thing to prevent really screwing it into the ground. The overheat condition is what gave you the loss of power so it must have gotten REALLY HOT! The 'smoke' you saw was most likely steam if the radiator was boiling over. Obvious question here, but, is the belt still there? That could explain the elec. loss at the same time as the overheat. But, I'll assume you still have the belt and that the generator not charging the battery is either collateral damage or coincidence.
How did it run on the trip TO Tampa? How was that oil pressure? Are you sure you HAD oil pressure? If it ran OK on the 1st leg of your trip, I doubt that the radiator developed a clog. T'stat could have failed. Trans. could have been low on fluid and got too hot. Belt missing or slipped (check tensioner). Head gasket? Check oil for signs of water or side of engine for leaks. (Compression/leak down test)
I think I'm done for now. Good Luck

 

i flushed the radiator before i did the head gasket and the trans temp never came on the belt is a 90 replacement that ive had on for 2 weeks and it is still there and i got on i95 and it ran all the way to sr-528 fine and then about 20 miles down 528 thats when it first started happenin and i heard a whistle so i kinew the truck was hot then i was by mile marker 35 and i couldnt find an exit so i parked it there (and its till there hopefully) theres no t-stat in it so i know that aint it my head gasket is fine as i just replaced it at the end of january

aim4squirels- wat i ment by clean air is a decent airflow like in nascar when there talkin about the leader havin a clean airflow and the cars that are in a pack have "dirty" air or a bad airflow and when i flushed it i got 3 gallon jugs of dasani water and flushed it with

 

your talking high performance engine vspassenger truck, no comparison. NASCAR doesn't use EGR.

Or were you referring to aerodynamic wind properties? Still shouldn't be an issue.

 

yeah i know it was just a thought im puttin it up for sale because i cain tafford to keep fixin it and i dont think itll make it to tennessee

 

and i was talkin more about the aerodynamics part of it but i put it up on craigslist for 1400 im just tryin to make as much money back as i can it kills me though[&o]

 

Your selling your truck for $1400? Can't be that bad can it? Seems like a good buy for someone assuming it's in decent shape.

 

i was considerin it bur two people wanted it and one offered me 1800 so that might be what im goin with