See if you guys can help me figure this out: I'm not a mechanic.

1. heater started going out, with gurging and overheating
2. I bought a new thermostat and radiator cap.
3. Then I broke a bolt there in the receiver while putting in the thermostat.
4. Took it to a mechanic, he drilled and re-threaded the hole
5. Mechanic put everything back together. $335
6. Halfway home, the temp gauge was in the middle... 200F or so
7. Then the temp gauge started to wobble... never seen it do that before.
8. Then a very loud screeching noice came out of the engine
9. Simultaneously, the temp gauge dropped to zero.
10. The temp gauge stayed at zero while screeching all the way home (8 miles).
11. I checked for leaks, thinking the screeching could have been steam escaping somewhere, but did not see evidence of a leak
12. Truch was not too hot, I was able to take off the radiator cap when I got home.

any ideas?

 

More observations:

I'm betting the screech is from AF on the belts.

it increases when I turn the heater fan up, and almost stops when I turn the heater off.

Temp gauge: My theory is that maybe the wire got bumped hard, I'm going to look up where it is to see if I can't wiggle it back to life.

 

What year is your truck.

 

It's a 1997. I see that the sensor is right there... good chance it got bonked.

 

You have two sensors. One for the PCM, (two wire) and one for the gauge. (one wire) On mine, the one for the gauge is over by the heater hose. (passenger side of engine.) Just wiggling the wire a bit made the gauge straighten up, and fly right.

 

Sounds like my kind of solution

 

I absolutely love the easy fixes.

 

Yeah this whole thing was supposed to cost me under $10 and 30 minutes... Grrrr. I can take all the easy I can get all this point!

 

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.