I was driving in stop and go traffic a few minutes ago and i tried to turn on my heater but no heat was coming out. I also had my lights and wipers on at the same time. I fiddled with ***** a while and just left it on hoping it would kick in. However i looked down and my temp gauge was red-lining! I turned the heater off and it went down about a minute later. I turned on the heater again and it red-lined again. I accelerated a little and the gauge went up again. What the hell is going on? The oil should be fine and i just put new coolant in about 2 months ago. Please HELP!





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It just stopped raining so I went to look under the hood and found that I had NO coolant at all! I guess there is obviously a leak somewhere. I'm taking it to the stealership in the morning. But still, if anyone has any similar experiences or info, please let me know. Thanks.

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As I read your post, I was thinking you had no coolant

If your engine was built prior to 1/15/98, then this TSB does apply. But, if it's a '98 you'll only need to be concerned with the lower intake, not the engine front cover. There should be a sticker on the driver's side valve cover indicating when the engine was assembled.

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The coolant must be going somewhere. If you don't have any puddles under the truck, smell coolant in the cab or burning up on the hot engine, then it is likely burning up in the combustion chamber.

Also: If the dealer says that the head gasket has failed, ask them how they know it's not the lower intake instead. The symptoms are virtually identical. I know a few head gaskets have failed on this engine but I also fear that techs have misdiagnosed the lower intake failure as a head gasket failure. Replacing the head gaskets can cost twice as much as replacing the lower intake gaskets, so be careful.

 

Thanks man. Unfortuanately, I didn't get to see your post until after I just took it in. One dude there says that it could be the thermostat. He said that the coolant could be bubbling over from, well, I can't remember where he said it was. But anyway, they should be calling me later today so we'll see.

 

It figures. The dealership said that there was no problem. They pressure tested it and there were no leakes. They said that the coolant bubbled out somewhere and/or the thermostat got knocked and suddenly kicked back in. I guess this is a good thing so long as it never happens again.