Intro - Oregon guy

[Robyn]

A DS4 equipped truck with a 6.5 needs a flow of around 35 Gallon an hour.

The 6.2 with the DB2 will not need near that much flow.

20 GPH is likely fine

I am using a Racor 230R2 on the DaHooooley truck.

Not too big to be handy to fit in easy.

Robyn

[Supurpan]

I have a set of new seals for the rear doors, but I'm not sure I understand how to adjust the door in the opening. The driver's side door is definitely not in the opening 'squarely'. There is a much larger gap at the top than at the bottom.

I'll do a little searching here, but the only adjustment I see is front to back, not left to right...

[DmaxMaverick]

Sounds like time for hinge pins or hinges (yours are bolt-on). They wear out over time, and probably a long time ago in your case (and mine). Hinges, pins, striker bolts and latches are not uncommon items. LMC Truck should have them.

[Supurpan]

Been slowly correcting the little stuff wrong with this truck. Got all new dash bulbs in, and what a difference that makes. Ordered new door switches and strikers from RockAuto and now I've actually got a light that comes on when you open the door, and a door that doesn't constantly rattle when you're driving.

So, here's the issue I just found: There is water coming in the front section of the cab when the truck is parked. It usually sits in a level driveway a couple of days at a time. It hasn't rained hard here but the front floorboards, on the driver's side especially, are wet. It looks like it's dripping down about midway (front to back) on both kick panels ahead of the front doors. Is this a common problem? Is it just a poor seal/rusted lip on the windshield, or is there a vent or something that gets full of crud and rusts or overflows? The windshield is nearly new, but I know the lower flange corners were a GM problem area.

I am planning to reinstall the headliner, but as any PNW'r knows, if it's damp inside it'll just fall down again.

Thanks for any advice, I will eventually get some photos up

[Supurpan]

Still no pics, I know, that's lame.

Swapped in a new T-stat last week, and now the temp gauge is all over the place. The old thermostat was stuck open. It was running right around 190-200F when it was working properly.

So a couple of questions on what I might have done wrong. I drained the coolant from the petcock on the rad until is was below the level of the thermostat. Pulled the housing off, replaced the t-stat and gasket. Put it back together, and put the coolant I'd collected from the rad back in. I also added about 2 additional quarts of 50/50 to top off the radiator.

A couple of days ago, I noticed the burp tank was about 3/4 full (it had been just below the COLD line), so I drained that tank thinking I might have overfilled it on reassembly. I was thinking it was probably the 2 quarts extra I'd added.

Today, it ran up to nearly 260 before I could shut it down. Once I did, I checked the upper rad hose and it was only warm. Opened up the rad cap and the rad was 2 quarts low. The coolant level was just above the sensor, and the burp tank was almost full.

In the cab, the truck warms up to about 190, then over a bit and you can see the new thermostat open. From there it's all over the place. No heat in the cab unless the truck is moving, which makes me think the heater core has air in it...

So, maybe I've got a head gasket going, but it sure doesn't run like it has any compression issues. It has never blown any sort of white smoke, or smelled of coolant at the exhaust. No drippy water crap at the pipes either. I think I must have just forgotten to burp something and have an air pocket in there somewhere.

Today I put a new rad cap on after rechecking for any leaks (had a small drip at the T-stat housing and on one heater hose), my thinking being the old one might be sucking air. Didn't seem to make a difference, although the system is holding pressure better. It spews way better once it warms up and you pop the cap.

Advice? I know with other rigs, I've usually run the car up to operating temp with the rad cap off after a new T-stat. I think I forgot to do that this time. Is that all I need to do? I'd sure like my heater back.

[Robyn]

When the engine warms up, check the upper radiator hose, it should not be really hard, if it is, the situation is likely a leaking head gasket.

Hate to bring up such a nasty thought, buttttttttttt, this generally the cause.

With your surge tank overfilling itself and all, plus the temps going way up.

Here is how do diagnose the issue.

Drain the system down far enough to get the coolant crossover off.
Fill the ports in the heads up to the top with coolant.

Remove the waterpump/fan belt
Start the engine and observe the two coolant passages.

You will likely see bubbles coming up to the surface.

The side that has the bubbles is the troubled side.

What can happen with a leak thats not real bad "YET" is that with the failed T stat the air leaking into the cooling system cam flow to the top and then blow off the cap and escape.
With a good stat in place the air is trapped and then forces the cooolant to back down away from the top of the engine and up and out the overflow into the recovery tank.

Now this said, if you find bubbles, indicating a head/gasket leak, with an older rig, do both sides.

You will need to replace the head bolts when doing this as they are a one time use bolt.

Best deal is to use a set of 6.5 late style heads gaskets as they are better than the 6.2 gaskets.

Oh just a note here. With this type of leak, there is nothing short of new gaskets that will fix the issue. The stop leaks and coolant tabs will do little if anything to stop this sort of problem.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Robyn

[Supurpan]

Thanks Robyn.

After doing some more research, I am going to get another T-stat. I didn't boil this one before I put it in, and the upper rad hose never gets hard. It almost acts like the T-stat is physically blocked. Last night it ran up to 240 and then opened. If I run it like that, it's bound to bake something. Since I need to drain the system as far as the thermo housing anyway, I'll check the crossover/heads before I get too carried away.

The primary thing I've noticed while messing with this is that the cooling system has been severely neglected. It's really full of crap and the coolant is dirty. I plan to back flush it regardless, and then fill it with distilled water and coolant. I think all I've got here is Prestone. There are about 3 diesel shops right next to my house, plus a truck stop with a service department. Should I see if they have recovered 'big rig' coolant instead? Or just put some DCA4 in with the Prestone? Money's super tight after Christmas and I'm crossing my fingers it's not a head gasket.

Is it possible the water pump is involved here? It only seems to pump heat into the cab when it's moving (higher revs). Could the pump blades be thin/bent/missing due to neglect or cavitation? I've only diagnosed water pump failures by checking the weep hole, and this one's not dripping.