Just bought a 1988 F250 5.0 with 112k

drove it from Sandusky to Detroit (120 miiles) w/o a glitch.
I let it sit over the holiday weekend, only to discover the plug at the bottom of the rad. was leaking.

The I fixed the plug....drove the truck about 5 miles....still no cooling or heat. I can hear the water circulating through the system...(trickling and gurgiling after shutdown)

cooling hoses showed no sign of high wear, they were warm, attached properly, and seemed to be full at shutdown

no strange noises...i.e. bad water pump

No immediate leaks where noticed....

Can no cooling be due to one of more of these problems...any suggestions?

System has not allow new coolant to fully circulate in such short distance (5 miles)

Thermostat is shot

Water pump?

....any others

Thanks

 

Could you be a little more descript in what is happening? I'm not sure what you're asking.

 

the cooling system was working...

a leak appeared....(radiator plug)

I plugged the leak

coolant level were returned to full

cooling system is not working now.... (overheating and no heater)

 

Put a thermostat and a water pump un it.

 

If you can hear gurgling behind the dash board then you probably just have air in the system. That air pocket can cause the overheating. I usually run the truck for a while with the radiator cap off untill the coolant gets hot and starts to overflow out of the radiator, then shut it off, let it cool for a couple minutes, top off the radiator, put the cap on and make sure there is coolant in the radiator you should be good. I have a neat little funnel that attaches to the radiator neck so you don't make a mess. You can find them at some parts stores, or you can just make a mess and hose it off later.

-Jon

 

If it went 120 miles with no problem, and now boils over after only 5 miles, I'd suspect a stuck t-stat.

 

When you swap that T-stat besure not to over tighten those T-stat neck bolts...broken ones are bad!