I don't think so. Haynes manual says in order to check the temp gauge wire, ground the wire and do a key on engine off. If it's good then the gauge should max out and it maxed out. The funny thing is I THINK that I'm the only Air Gap guy that shaved down that part of the manifold that the temp sensor goes in in order to expose more of it.
Edit: odd enough, I hooked up the sct to scan my comp and it came up with P1243 which is weird because that code doesn't pertain to me.

 

I'm at a loss and I'm about to blow my top!!! So on Drew & AIMS advice, I bled my truck...again. This time, I found a steep incline, bought a ABS pipe tee and spliced into my upper rad hose. I then added a 2 foot section of ABS pipe going up like a smoke stack, added coolant so that thats the highest point then turned my rig on for an hour with the heater full blast. I got a few BLIPS but nothing major. My rig goes from cold to 215* in about 8 minutes. I'm gonna bled it again tomorrow and see what happens. BTW, I noticed that the upper hose is pretty hot and the lower one is pretty cool. Could it be that either my rad is plugged or just busted?

 

might wanna run some descaler thru it...... see if that makes any difference.

 

Is there a brand that you've had success with?

 

I used the prestone and it worked good. I may have missed it but did you verify that your gauge is reading correct? I mean with a infrared thermometer.

 

No, I didn't since I don't have an infrared. I did, however check the gauge via the Haynes method and everything checked out fine. I THINK I just have a stubborn air pocket but my methods haven't proven so. That's the only logical thing that makes sense.

 

hows the truck running with the airgap you like it so far ?

 

Yeah, I gave it good low end, however that damn air pocket in my colling system is overshadowing that. I think I know why they call it the Air Gap. It's not because of the air gap it has below the runners. That's just a coincident. It's because of the air gap it leaves in your colling system that won't go away!

 

you're going to think I'm nuts...

0 to 215 in 8 minutes? did it do this with the stuck open stat too?

I'm thinking you have a stoppage in your radiator if it does it like that with the stat stuck open..

as silly as this sounds, go fire it up with the heat wide open and the defrost on.. that should allow you a little better cooling property than just the radiator, but if it is significantly less, I'd guess your radiator is blocking.. if you don't have heat and the engine is 215, you have a backed up heater core, or one heckuva sneaky bubble in there.. this certainly isn't scientific, but it is a start..

 

Drew...I like how you think...because I was thinking the same thing today. I'm gonna clean out the system but I'm trying to see what you guys recommend as far as cooling system cleaners are concerned. I've heard people recommend CLR, Cascade dish soap. Then I've heard prestone super cleaner as well as Bar's super flush. What have you guys had success with?