The t-stat I have has a small bleeder hole it in as well. I tried the ramp trick too. Ima buy a flush kit one of these days, but I really need to repair/replace the tar board that's next to the radiator.

 

Checked the oil this morning and it looks the day it went in.Allthough I didnt have the chance to check anything else. Truck runs top,it never smokes.Did see some fluid that resembles coolant on the driver side wheel well.

 

don't mean to hijack the thread but it is right up my alley, 2 weeks ago while driving to work I had a freeze plug go to **** on me... (sucked cuz i had lost my cell phone the day before and had to walk 5 miles home to call someone cuz i had no phone) anyways, i replaced the freeze plug, as well as getting a new thermostat filled it up without the t-stat to make sure of no air pockets and put it all back together.

(also my oil pressure went nothing the day I overheated it, and I was told I got it so hot it broke the oil down to almost a water like substance, so I also changed my oil... it wasn't "milky" or anything... just black)

I then topped it off with coolant and attempted to start it... (1st try) Once it got warmed up the gauge was pegged on the red line, so I preced to check the t-stat. I boiled it for about 15 mins and it never opened so I got a new one... tested it first and then popped that one in.

Again I follow the steps, fill with coolant, then put t-stat in, and put everything else back together. I warmed it up and the temp gauge read right above 200 which at the time pleased me. (Lots of smoke at idle the entire time, I was told it would eventually burn off).

So I decided to take her for a tootle down the road, I get about a half mile away from home and smoke billows out of the tailpipe, and the temp gauge is riding the redline again. I turn around and attempt to make it back home when all of a sudden I find myself pressing the pedal to floor and the max speed is 20, with engine rpm up around 2800-3k. So I stop. Coolant played a dissappearing act as well, I had a gallon of water with and was able to pour the entire thing in the radiator just after I filled it up... after waiting awhile I was able to start it up, but the idle was erratic, it was idling low and would die if i didn't give it gas. I got a tow and with the engine running and tranny in neutral it still died. (quite a show the entire time due to the billowing smoke as I was getting towed)

Thats all I have done, my resources say my heads may be shot and I'm looking at an expensive repair, but I came here to get other opinions.

Sorry for the length of the post as well.

Thank you,

RamOwna

 

I was going to say that when you initially overheated the engine you blew a head gasket. I'll say right now to plan on pulling the engine and doing a bottom-up on it.

 

whats the the likelihood of the problem being something other than the heads being shot? slim to none? also, If a rebuild or new engine is needed, would you suggest a crate engine or getting it rebuilt... with a little saved up either could be doable.

 

Pull yours and tear it down. I'm betting that the oil sludged the hell out of your internals and to top it off your catalytic converter probably needs to be replaced as well. You can rebuild and refurbish what you have for probably half of the cost of a crate engine provided you do a lot of the work yourself. It's not difficult it just takes time.

 

Sorry wrong thread...please delete.

 

I have a similar problem as far as the coolant dissapearing in my '02 4.7. To start my radiator had to be replaced cause it cracked on the side. I replaced it and about a week later the temp red lines and truck stalls. I let it cool down added some coolant and it ran fine. fast forward a couple weeks same thing happens so I replaced the tstat did a flush everything good. went a week and red lined again, pulled over and it stalls open the hood steam coming out of the caps. I put some water in the reservior and it took it all down the motor shook then boiled the water and shot it back up and out of the reservior. after 15 mins it cooled enough to put home,which it didnt like. I checked the oil and it wasnt milky I dont know what else to do besides bringing it to the stealership. Any ideas on what else I could look for? Thanks in advance.

 

first of all - stop letting the truck get hot or you're going to ruin the engine. until you find out what is wrong, you need to fill the truck up with coolant every day, more often if that's not enough.

have you got any visible leaks, steam, wet spots, green stains, drips, or wet spots on the ground. any weak, bulged, cracked hoses. check for drips at the water pump pulley.

if no obvious leaks, run a pressure test on the cooling system and a compression or leak down test on the cylinders.