I'm back from the dealer. I have to wonder if I didn't call them, would I have heard from them.... (but that's a different story). The guy that wrote the service is on vacation this week.
I went through a quick checklist before leaving the dealership... Heat, A/C, Quick look for leaks, drove it a bit and all seems well. If they put new oil in, they didn't change the oil filter. So, i'm going to do that by weeks end. Just for my own piece of mind.
The service reciept reads like a who's who of car parts.
Included in the repair... (or at least included on the paperwork)
thermostat, heads, radiator, fan clutch, coolant sensor, new anitfreeze,
along with necessary gaskets, valve int and exh (whatever those are),
And other various screws and oh, new spark plugs.

All that, for a grand total of $248.00. 200 deductable & I had to pay for the plugs. Let's not add in the expense of a rental car for the time being also.

Once again, Thank you ALL for your very valuable input.
See ya soon, hopefully to give advice, not to receive it!!

Snax

 

That's a good deal. You got the whole top end of the engine replaced for $250. Should be good for at least another 100K miles

 

^This haha.

Good deal man, I saw this thread back up top AGAIN and I was like damn this guy STILL doesn't have this resolved yet?!=[

Glad to see that's not the case, and that you didn't drop retarded amnts of money to them to get it done.

 

No doubt,
I could only imagine what this would have costed, had I not extended my warranty back in March.
As for keeping an eye out for any leakage... I guess there will be SOME sort of residual antifreeze spillage on the cross member below the pulleys, huh ? At least that's what it looks like. Going to wipe it all down best I can and see what develops.

 

I did some searching here on DF after I pulled my radiator cap off today. My coolant is brown. I took a look at it before I left Utah (16 July 10) and things seemed fine. We then loaded about 1100# in the truck, and I towed my wife's car. So I went and bought some water wetter to help things out, because it seemed to be running a little hot...but I pulled the cap and noticed some oily looking buildup on the cap, and the coolant was not the nice red color that the stuff in the overflow tank is.
I wonder if my high temp hill climb (w/load) did the trick? We went up a 5% grade and I saw the temp warning light come on after I had stopped the truck to cool (SC 3815 said 257 for the peak!). Kept it idling to let it cool down to about 210 then continued. Hit 240 and stopped; waited for 210 again then finished the hill. Never went above 220 after that. Learned once we got to OKC that my GCVW was 12400. It also seems my prototype aero kit limits airflow out of the eng compartment, which didn't help during the hill climb.
I have not tried feeling the radiator while the truck is warmed up. The truck only has 26k miles, but it did sit for a year while I was deployed. It hits about mid-temp gauge (212 according to the SC), but doesn't go farther, even though it's 100+ in Wichita Falls and I have the a/c on. My first thought was the head gaskets had a leak, or that I warped the heads. Regardless, I'll be footing the bill as my warranty was up in January (36 months). My plans are to do an oil change and coolant flush, and see if the coolant did a repeat color change. I have a CEL, but it is a 455/456 for GASCAP/evap.
Thoughts anyone? Thanks.

 

Well, I tried feeling the radiator after shutting down the engine, and the top was hot and got cooler as I went towards the bottom. No strange cold spots. Checked the dipstick and no trace of coolant; it just smells a bit like fuel.