engine temp switch

[Grover 1]

I'd try rodding out the old one before I bought a new one.

[Irish_Alley]

yeah test it while our at it also

[74chev4x4]

came home today to work on the truck and radiator is down about 1/3 of the way and I topped it off last time I ran it, tried flushing the heater core and it was fine hooked everything back up and topped the coolant off again.  Ran the truck for 5 min and up to 210 degrees felt the hoses and they had very little pressure at all finally at 220 degrees they when I squeeze the top hose I can feel some coolant kinda surging through not a steady flow, but also not enough to really pressurize the hoses.  Checked the exhaust and has a little white smoke, but wasn't sure if this is because the truck has only been running for 10-15 min probably about 45 degrees outside.  Not totally sure but the exhaust on the pass side almost smelled a little sweet but not 100% sure what it should smell like if burning coolant.  If I give the truck any gas the temp climbs really fast 230 or so.  Is it the head gasket?  I was driving it the day I noticed the cooling system was not working correctly.  Has the 305 heads on should I just change them out for some decent rebuilt 350 heads how much work and how much $ will this be?  Or should I just get another cheap 350 to get me by for now?  Thanks

[Irish_Alley]

it almost smells the same as coolant out of the bottle if you put a tester on it while its running the gas pressure would cause the reading to rise and you should see allot of bubbles in the rad while its running. Make sure since you saw it was 1/3 down that there’s no leaks in any connections or in the rad

[beastie_3]

45 degrees out? You know its summer.....

[Irish_Alley]

45 degrees out? You know its summer.....

was

[74chev4x4]

have not seen any bubble while its running.  The coolant just sits there.  Yesterday when I was running it the rad did get very hot on the drivers side and was cooler on the pass side, but why would it only do this with the tstat in, it flowed through the rad fine it seemed when there was no tstat in?

[74chev4x4]

FINALLY GOT IT, it was the dang heater core.  Thing was leaking and I just sat there and filled the rad and it kept taking it and then I saw coolant coming from inside the cab.  Blocked the heater core off and new 160 tstat new coolant took filled her up drove it and stayed right at 170.  Got on it really hard once and it went to 210 then dropped super fast back to 170 and stayed there.  Thanks for all the help.  Now I just have a bad leak from the new oil pan and gasket at the back so sorry to say I will probably have a new thread in a day or two.  Thanks again.

[Irish_Alley]

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