Just to start I'm not looking to fix it, I'm sure the cost will exceed the value of the truck. It has 182,600 miles and slowly has turned into a rust bucket but not as bad as some vehicles.
What I am interested in is anyone has an idea what else could cause the problem other than a blown head gasket or warped head. If it is then I would be inclined to work on it.
Starting as early as December 2014 I had a problem with the coolant reservoir tank over-pressurizing. I would get a whiff of coolant smell in the cab and would check the coolant tank and of course coolant was blowing past the cap. I loosened the cap to relieve the pressure and afterwards every time I tightened the cap till it clicked resulted in the same over-pressurizing. So I drove the pickup for years with the coolant cap loose to no ill effect. I think after I changed the coolant in the summer of 2016 I lost maybe a cup to a pint of coolant until recently.
With the overnight low temperatures getting into the 40s and 50s about a month ago I noticed on my way to work that I would have heat, then lose it, then have heat again. Didn't smell any coolant, but when I got home I probably had lost about 3-4 quarts. As the nights got colder the problem got worse to the point where the temperature gauge would rise normally, then peg to hot. I would stop and coolant was going past the cap, even loosened. However once the air lock worked its way to the top the temperature immediately dropped and ran like normal. Being that it is an old pickup I tried the mechanic in a bottle head gasket sealer in combination with a new thermostat. Surprising at first, it worked until I had to actually drive it somewhere. I tightened the cap down and it would not leak, but at one point the pressure was high enough to leak past a freeze plug and drip down the side of the block.
So what I have decided to do is drive it until it dies. The coolant level is low, only maybe 1-2 inches from the bottom of the tank, I run with the cap loose and I only lose heat for maybe 30 seconds to a minute and it comes back until I turn the truck off. When I lose heat and check the coolant level, it has grown to around the marks for where the coolant is supposed to be when cold. But as I continue to run the truck the air will work its way out of the system and it drops to its original level and the truck never runs hots. The truck also never pegs to the hot mark, it stays in the normal temp range.
Other than that, the trucks runs like I would expect it to. No coolant in the oil, and only the slightest oil film in the coolant tank that probably has built up since 2014. No white smoke, no hesitation, no rough idle, plenty of power.
Any ideas?
What I am interested in is anyone has an idea what else could cause the problem other than a blown head gasket or warped head. If it is then I would be inclined to work on it.
Starting as early as December 2014 I had a problem with the coolant reservoir tank over-pressurizing. I would get a whiff of coolant smell in the cab and would check the coolant tank and of course coolant was blowing past the cap. I loosened the cap to relieve the pressure and afterwards every time I tightened the cap till it clicked resulted in the same over-pressurizing. So I drove the pickup for years with the coolant cap loose to no ill effect. I think after I changed the coolant in the summer of 2016 I lost maybe a cup to a pint of coolant until recently.
With the overnight low temperatures getting into the 40s and 50s about a month ago I noticed on my way to work that I would have heat, then lose it, then have heat again. Didn't smell any coolant, but when I got home I probably had lost about 3-4 quarts. As the nights got colder the problem got worse to the point where the temperature gauge would rise normally, then peg to hot. I would stop and coolant was going past the cap, even loosened. However once the air lock worked its way to the top the temperature immediately dropped and ran like normal. Being that it is an old pickup I tried the mechanic in a bottle head gasket sealer in combination with a new thermostat. Surprising at first, it worked until I had to actually drive it somewhere. I tightened the cap down and it would not leak, but at one point the pressure was high enough to leak past a freeze plug and drip down the side of the block.
So what I have decided to do is drive it until it dies. The coolant level is low, only maybe 1-2 inches from the bottom of the tank, I run with the cap loose and I only lose heat for maybe 30 seconds to a minute and it comes back until I turn the truck off. When I lose heat and check the coolant level, it has grown to around the marks for where the coolant is supposed to be when cold. But as I continue to run the truck the air will work its way out of the system and it drops to its original level and the truck never runs hots. The truck also never pegs to the hot mark, it stays in the normal temp range.
Other than that, the trucks runs like I would expect it to. No coolant in the oil, and only the slightest oil film in the coolant tank that probably has built up since 2014. No white smoke, no hesitation, no rough idle, plenty of power.
Any ideas?