Always an adventure. Got the F350 back together. I put about 50 miles on it since I replaced the passenger side head gasket. No issues that I could see. Wasn't using any coolant in those 50 miles / numerous heat cycles, had way better power than before.
I thought I did a good job bleeding it, but maybe not? The upper hose was getting rock hard. Not instantly, but once the engine got warm, it would get rock hard. To the point I was afraid to touch it and it would explode. I did notice there was coolant misting out of the upper hose at the thermostat housing onto the hood but not a lot of pressure coming out of the pressurized bottle when opening the cap. I tightened up the upper hose and continued on with my day. There was normal modular engine condensation on the oil cap. No overheat reported via the OBDII scanner - the gauge on these runs off of the coolant crossover which could get an air bubble and not report. The OBDII reports from the sensor in the driver's side head.
Had to go about 25 miles to retrieve my Jeep and tow it home. Was keeping an eye on the temp gauge and it was doing good. Almost there, the lower hose burst off. I looked down and saw that it was pegged out and then went into 4 cylinder "failsafe" mode. Pulled over. Looked around and saw that the lower hose was off.
Initially I thought the hose was lose, but I had to back off the clamp a ton to get it back on. That makes me thing that it made a massive amount of pressure and blew the lower hose off.
I also noticed that nothing was not. The coolant that was still dripping out of the lower hose coming from the engine was luke warm. Ambient temperature was 20 degrees, but I've had overheated engines before - everything feels warm.
Unfortunately, there was a plow behind me that had to get through so I dumped a gallon of coolant in .. which did nothing. Took off, overheated, shut off and costed. Did that 2 or 3 times until I got where I was going. Ended up coming in too hot to a driveway and put it in the ditch with the trailer.
At this point, I was just done with the whole thing. Nothing felt not. Oil didn't taste sweet, nor did the condensation on the oil cap. Found a Spigot, put 4 gallons of straight water in.
Then to get it out of the ditch I figured I was going to send some parts flying. That poor 5.4 saw the rev limiter for a bit trying to get out of the ditch. But it got out.
Loaded up the jeep and headed back. I was not nice to it. I was just done with the thing. I ran that engine harder than it's been run before. Foot to the floor as much as possible. Every shift at the rev limiter.
The weird thing was - no overheat. Temperature via OBDII didn't get above 200. In fact coming up the hill to my house I stopped right at the top and grabbed the upper radiator hose and it felt normal. Some pressure but not rock hard. No coolant bubbling. Oil was clean. No condensation or milkshake on the oil cap. It also stopped misting out of the upper hose.
So is it possible it was air locked bad enough that it would blow the lower hose off? I've heard of it happening before but don't quite understand how it works. Also hoping I didn't damage anything but a few momentary overheating events on such a cold day. Nothing felt warm.
I thought I did a good job bleeding it, but maybe not? The upper hose was getting rock hard. Not instantly, but once the engine got warm, it would get rock hard. To the point I was afraid to touch it and it would explode. I did notice there was coolant misting out of the upper hose at the thermostat housing onto the hood but not a lot of pressure coming out of the pressurized bottle when opening the cap. I tightened up the upper hose and continued on with my day. There was normal modular engine condensation on the oil cap. No overheat reported via the OBDII scanner - the gauge on these runs off of the coolant crossover which could get an air bubble and not report. The OBDII reports from the sensor in the driver's side head.
Had to go about 25 miles to retrieve my Jeep and tow it home. Was keeping an eye on the temp gauge and it was doing good. Almost there, the lower hose burst off. I looked down and saw that it was pegged out and then went into 4 cylinder "failsafe" mode. Pulled over. Looked around and saw that the lower hose was off.
Initially I thought the hose was lose, but I had to back off the clamp a ton to get it back on. That makes me thing that it made a massive amount of pressure and blew the lower hose off.
I also noticed that nothing was not. The coolant that was still dripping out of the lower hose coming from the engine was luke warm. Ambient temperature was 20 degrees, but I've had overheated engines before - everything feels warm.
Unfortunately, there was a plow behind me that had to get through so I dumped a gallon of coolant in .. which did nothing. Took off, overheated, shut off and costed. Did that 2 or 3 times until I got where I was going. Ended up coming in too hot to a driveway and put it in the ditch with the trailer.
At this point, I was just done with the whole thing. Nothing felt not. Oil didn't taste sweet, nor did the condensation on the oil cap. Found a Spigot, put 4 gallons of straight water in.
Then to get it out of the ditch I figured I was going to send some parts flying. That poor 5.4 saw the rev limiter for a bit trying to get out of the ditch. But it got out.
Loaded up the jeep and headed back. I was not nice to it. I was just done with the thing. I ran that engine harder than it's been run before. Foot to the floor as much as possible. Every shift at the rev limiter.
The weird thing was - no overheat. Temperature via OBDII didn't get above 200. In fact coming up the hill to my house I stopped right at the top and grabbed the upper radiator hose and it felt normal. Some pressure but not rock hard. No coolant bubbling. Oil was clean. No condensation or milkshake on the oil cap. It also stopped misting out of the upper hose.
So is it possible it was air locked bad enough that it would blow the lower hose off? I've heard of it happening before but don't quite understand how it works. Also hoping I didn't damage anything but a few momentary overheating events on such a cold day. Nothing felt warm.
