Ok Gents & Ladies,

I have a 2000 F-150 Sportside 4.2 standard tranny with 126,000. Been rock solid til my recent issue.

Once engine warms up to standard temp and i get on the Freeway it starts to climb to the red. If I put in neutral it will start to immeditally start to come back down. It does not do this when doing in town driving. temp stays in the middle like normal. So seems like at high RPM for any length of time it starts to climb.

Here is what I know. I had the heater core replaced by a friend that works at a raditior shop and has for quite some time. Felt confedinet in his knowledge to do the job. Got the truck back and heater was working great with no issues. The only thing I did notice was a faint boiling water sound or like blowing bubbles through a straw in a drink glass sound. Friend told me my coolant was very dirty and needed a flush, so i took to firestone to have service done and hoping the boiling water sound would go away. It got better after that service, but not gone completely. Still at this point I had no isssues with over heating for about 1,000 miles.

The first time this occured I took to firestone shop to diagnois the problem and they ran a pressure leak / Block test and all checked out good. Then they discovered radiator was full of leaves and dirt at the bottom of it and cleared it, but said I probably need to replace radiator, thermostat, water pump to be on the safe side for the tune of about $900. I drove the truck after they cleaned leaves and such out for bout another 2-3 weeks 600 miles or so with no issues.

I have no prob with replacing the 3 listed above IF that is the true problem, just trying to get some insight if anyone has had this similiar problem before I start spending tons of money trying to fix this issue.

If those things are on the fritz wouldn't it over heat more then at Highway speed? I would think at idle rpms it would get hot if these were going out and cool down when getting max air flow on Highway? Any help would be greatly appreicated?

Coolant level is good and no leaks visable, been block tested and passed, new coolant put in.

Sorry of the long post, just trying to give as much info as possible.

 

If it's working now, the leaves and crud were probably blocking the radiator. This is more of a problem at speed than at idle. Drive it. If it stays good, you're $900 to the good. If it keeps acting up, find a DIFFERENT shop. It sounds like they want you to pay them to fire the parts cannon at your truck and hope something sticks. If the water pump were bad, it would probably leak, but as long as the impeller has not fallen off(unlikely and wouldn't move water) it's good. If the radiator were bad, same thing.

 

After it warms up check the temp on the radiator at the top and at the bottom. If it's cooler at the bottom then it is plugged up or headed that way.

DO THIS WITH THE MOTOR TURNED OFF! Don't want you loosing any fingers.

 

Might have air in the system. since the heater core was replaced. a lot of times you get air in the system when you change the heater core.

 

I had that issue with a Silverado. Keep filling the overflow and checking it to see if it keeps going down. That was something you did not mention was the overflow levels.

I myself would say to replace the radiator and thermostat, but considering you basically have a blender blade for a water pump impeller, I doubt there is anything bothering it. So long as the weep holes are not discolored from it leaking past the bearings, I would not bother the water pump. Trying to get that off may invite a leak from the front timing cover, which is what I am battling with my 97.. along with all my coolant magically disappearing.

 

I'd stop driving you '97 and get the updated gasket so you don't hydrolock....

 

Yeah, I already have. It is now sitting on ramps in the back yard waiting for me to get home again and have enough money to do a few changes. New lifters, rocker arms, and push rods, along with the new intake gaskets. I also have one injector to change out from stock to a replacement one.

So yeah, I will have some work to do, and I plan to make easy access of the engine before doing any of that. Stuff like removing the front fenders, grille, radiator support and various other pieces.

 

I have found some Ford vehicles with water pump impeller badly eroded away but not leaking. They gave all kinds of weird overheating problems. Coolant was not excessively dirty but volt checking the coolant indicated a voltage which should indicate a need for coolant change. On every one of these cars I found weak engine grounds causing electrolysis in the cooling system. Volt drop test engine ground should tell you if you have this issue. I would probably pull the pump in any case and change the stat as impeller can still corrode without this issue. All problems found have had 90 to 120k. This task is well within the ability of the average do it yourself person. No need to pay ridiculous Firestone price.

 

I bought a head gasket kit but apparently I can't post a picture attachment until one of the admins enables that option on my account, or I reach a certain number of posts.




Are these the updated gaskets?

 

Those aren't head gaskets. The bad gaskets are the lower intake and front cover gaskets.

 

Didn't he say it was a 2000? Those don't have the bad intake gaskets do they?

 

The original poster has a 2000. Simply another hijacked thread.

 

Yeahhhh.... tell me about it...

 

Well EXCCUUUUSE US!!! No one was trying to hijack anything. but now you guys are by making this a thread about hijacking threads...

I was asking about the updated intake to head gaskets and if anyone knew a specific way to identify them.... Which is why I posted up that picture.

As far as anyone else's post, I have no clue.

 

You should have started your own thread to avoid confusion.