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OK, well this is very inconclusive info, please bear with me. I took readings at several locations, the first time when the truck had been warmed up by driving five miles and was back in my driveway, with the in dash gauge reading at about 40 percent up the guage (it is running a 160 degree thermostat). Then I drove for about 15 more miles at 60 to get it to start reading high. It is a cool day today (60 degrees), and eventually it went up to the very top of the normal range, then I parked again and took readings. Bear in mind with this IR thermometer, you can get dramatically different readings if you move the gauge just a few millimeters, pointing at the relatively same location.So I tried to point as close to the first location as I could.The only reading that seemed much higher was at the top of the radiator , near where the upper hose comes in, but if you moved the laser dot just a bit the readings were several degrees different . The top of the thermostat housing was hotter too, but again, you could move the laser dot just a hair and get a much different reading.The other readings didnt seem much different , in fact some appeared LOWER when I got back from the longer drive than when I took the first readings, when the in dash gauge was reading normal. I think it's going to take installing the aftermarket gauge, or even just a new temp sensor , to tell if there is overheating, but Im starting to think it's not overheating at all. I sure hope so. Here are my chicken scratch notes, 

DSCN9919.JPG

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By the way, I wasnt sure of the location of my temperature sensor for the actual in dash temp guage, as opposed to the temps sensor that goes to the ECU for the fuel injection. These pics show I do not have any sensors that attach on the thermostat housing, there is a cluster of sensors underneath that area that you can see in the top pic, I tried to highlight them with a drawn circle.Hope you can see it. I took some readings from the sensor on the far left.DSCN9918.thumb.JPG.1a408328bd687aed1e202e1cae137541.JPG

DSCN9917.JPG

Edited by deadflo
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I had the shop put in a new sender for the temp gauge. I had the after market set, but wanted to see if a quick change of the sender ( much cheaper to do than install a set of gauges) would change anything. It didnt. 
I drove home in 80 degree temps, 15 miles to my house from the shop. Im out in the country and have to climb a big hill about two miles from my house, the gauge climbed to above the normal range, but not into the red. I cranked the heater, and that brought it down a bit.
Sorry to say at this stage, Im not getting much help from the shop Ive been going to. There is another guy who does imports just down the block I have had do lots of work for me before. I told him about my issues with this rig, and he didn't seem to have too many idea, as I ve done pretty much all that everyone recommends.

The summer camping season is here, but there is no way Im going to be using this rig.
I've become disillusioned and feel I made big mistake buying it.

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Weird Sh*t list.

Bad "new water pump"

The lower radiator hose is collapsing, it should be VERY stiff or have a big coil spring in it.

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8 hours ago, WME said:

Weird Sh*t list.

Bad "new water pump"

The lower radiator hose is collapsing, it should be VERY stiff or have a big coil spring in it.

Good ideas! I especially like the one about the lower hose. It is brand new, so pretty 'stiff". It would be cool to know a way to check and see if it is collapsing at higher RPM.s

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow, this has become the worst ever experience I have ever had with a vehicle in my whole life. I feel humiliated that I even have to tell the rest of this story,
My mechanic became convinced that the reason for the overheating was corrosion in the water jacket of the engine. The last bit of info that convinced him of that was determining with an IR thermometer that the rear cylinder was running at a whopping 400 degrees, while the other three seemed much cooler. He assumed that crud in that cylinders water jacket was causing the whole engine to overheat.eventually, after it ran for about 20 minutes, or 15 or so miles on the open road at 60MPH. Futher, he noticed that when he was running it in the shop at about 2500RPM, it was blowing blue smoke. I had not noticed the blue smoke in the month I had owned it. He stated that the oil ring the bakc cylinder was going, even though the compression must have been OK , as it showed good compression , when he was checking to see if it was the head gasket.

Ok, this is where my stupidity, allowed him to convince me to have the engine pulled out and get it rebuilt. I had him pull a  freeze plug after he got it out, and he said there "was corrosion, but not as bad as he thought it would be."

The engine and head came back from the shop this week, and they installed it. I dropped by to see how it was going today, and he said they couldn't believe it, but it was still overheating!

OK, it's a"new " rebuild. New head gasket, freshly cleaned cooling passages, all new cooling system which I changed out to begin with.He said he drove the car to his home last night, which is about 12 miles form the shop, out in the country near me, in an effort to track down the problem. He also specifically looked at the radiator hoses to see if they were collapsing, and said that was not the case.

I feel sick that I was so stupid to authorize the rebuild. At this point I have a fantasy of just parking this POS on my property. Maybe I can sell the rebuilt engine for cost or something. I don't know WTF to do. I had been looking for a Toy camper for a couple years, and this was supposed to be my wife and I's fun camper rig as I hit 60 years old. If anyone has any other ideas Im open to checking them out. If someone wants to make me an offer on the rig or the engine, Im willing to talk as well.

 

This really sucks.

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Sorry to hear the news. 

Hang in there. This can be solved.

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts I'd call the Texas Car Doctor show this Saturday on KSEV Houston, Tx. Or call direct the best mechanic I know & on he's on the show. Robert, owner of AutoTectronics in Katy Tx. He'll talk to you or your mechanic if you call his shop. Just appreciate he's running a business & appreciate his time. He may have to call you back.

I called the radio show a while back for you. They gave some ideas & wanted to know if solved. One that comes to mind is clogged exhaust. Don't recall if you've tried to run the motor with exhaust disconnected.

Call him. It will cost you only your time.

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I really appreciate you helping me the way you did, and the 3 ideas they came up with are all things I had already tried. The exhaust system is brand new, it was the first thing i fixed on it.

 

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4 hours ago, deadflo said:

Wow, this has become the worst ever experience I have ever had with a vehicle in my whole life. I feel humiliated that I even have to tell the rest of this story,
My mechanic became convinced that the reason for the overheating was corrosion in the water jacket of the engine. The last bit of info that convinced him of that was determining with an IR thermometer that the rear cylinder was running at a whopping 400 degrees, while the other three seemed much cooler. He assumed that crud in that cylinders water jacket was causing the whole engine to overheat.eventually, after it ran for about 20 minutes, or 15 or so miles on the open road at 60MPH. Futher, he noticed that when he was running it in the shop at about 2500RPM, it was blowing blue smoke. I had not noticed the blue smoke in the month I had owned it. He stated that the oil ring the bakc cylinder was going, even though the compression must have been OK , as it showed good compression , when he was checking to see if it was the head gasket.

Ok, this is where my stupidity, allowed him to convince me to have the engine pulled out and get it rebuilt. I had him pull a  freeze plug after he got it out, and he said there "was corrosion, but not as bad as he thought it would be."

The engine and head came back from the shop this week, and they installed it. I dropped by to see how it was going today, and he said they couldn't believe it, but it was still overheating!

OK, it's a"new " rebuild. New head gasket, freshly cleaned cooling passages, all new cooling system which I changed out to begin with.He said he drove the car to his home last night, which is about 12 miles form the shop, out in the country near me, in an effort to track down the problem. He also specifically looked at the radiator hoses to see if they were collapsing, and said that was not the case.

I feel sick that I was so stupid to authorize the rebuild. At this point I have a fantasy of just parking this POS on my property. Maybe I can sell the rebuilt engine for cost or something. I don't know WTF to do. I had been looking for a Toy camper for a couple years, and this was supposed to be my wife and I's fun camper rig as I hit 60 years old. If anyone has any other ideas Im open to checking them out. If someone wants to make me an offer on the rig or the engine, Im willing to talk as well.

 

This really sucks.

Man I feel your pain,sorry your going thru this.Just bought mine in December and it had a misfire and I went thru heck trying to figure it out replacing parts etc.I know your feeling sick to your stomach after spending that money on a rebuild and it not fixing the problem,I'm sure you feel like its the shops fault and they are just like oh well my bad but in the meantime they got their money and your damn problems not fixed and you cant do shit about it and your feeling very disheartened about the whole situation. I pray you find a resolution to your problem quickly.

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Im disheartened all right, but I havent paid the shop yet. The guy is driving home at night now to try to track it down, I'm imagining he feels somewhat sheepish about something that should be an easy fix that he hasn't solved.

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2 minutes ago, deadflo said:

Im disheartened all right, but I havent paid the shop yet. The guy is driving home at night now to try to track it down, I'm imagining he feels somewhat sheepish about something that should be an easy fix that he hasn't solved.

Well good luck to you I hope he can figure it out,bad news is your still going to be out the money for the rebuild that it looks like it didnt need{I dont see no way shop will eat it}but good news is if you figure out the overheating problem your engine should be something you dont have to worry about for a few years.

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With all the things that you have done and it still  running hot on the highway is baffling. Back in my dirt track racing days I ran the mini stock class these where 4 cylinders . ( pintos.,mustangs, vw rabbit  ect) My engine had some mods done but nothing big anyway it was a fresh motor.  The track was a 1/4 oval . Most of the cars where 4 speed manual  transmission and we used 1st and 2nd gear at 7,000 rpm probably doing 50 to 60 mph . The engine was running a little warmer than it should like 220 to 240 degrees.  I had a regular thermostat in and I took it out ,still running the same temp . Bought a bigger radiator ,still running  the same temp . Put the thermostat back in still running the same temp.  At this point I didn't know anything else to do but if I keep running at this temp I was sure to damage  my motor . Got to talking to some other racers and they said that your coolant is not staying in your radiator long enough to disapate the heat from the coolant  in other words your coolant is circulating to fast need to slow it down . Went to the hardware store and got some washers that would fit in my thermostat housing with different sized holes For The Coolant to flow through . After changing some out I found the right one. My engine ran at 190 degrees . I know your rpm isn't 7,000 at 60 mph but it sounds like a circulation issue coolant flowing to fast or to slow .  Hope you get I figured out soon 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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