Brook Green
06-20-2005, 22:19
I bought a 1991 gmc 3x3 crew cab 1ton 6.2 diesel 4x4 a few days ago for 1500 american dollars. 83k on the odometer, but very high hours I suspect. I digress.
After I got the thing home I noticed a glycol smell. Upon further investigation I discovered a light drip coming from the drivers side of the radiator. Stop leak worked for a day or so, but the leak came back.
Here is where I have to admit how ashamed of myself I am for not doing a more thourough investigation before purchasing the vehical. The low purchase price, and the low number of miles on the odometer "slightly" clouded my judgment. (since the purchase date I have replaced the passenger side knuckle [egged out tre hole], drivers spindle [wasted spindle bearing took out the bore], drivers inner and outer axle shaft [damaged from the bearing failure, (I swaped out the entire axle assy because I had it laying around)], the drivers locking hub, the drivers outer wheel bearing cup and bearing, the radiator, and pretty soon I will be replacing the ring and pinion in the rear axle, AND the front drive shaft. OH! and the tranny pan. oh, Im digressing again...
So, back to the topic at hand. I replaced the radiator with one I pulled from and older (early 80's 6.3 crew cab 1 ton 4x4) chevy I had laying around, and while I had the coolant out I went ahead and replaced the thermostat with a replacement I got from the local Car Quest. ($23!!!). Now the thing wont get up to operating temperature unless I am power braking it for a 45 seconds or more. It hovers around 150* or less, according to the stock gage. Sure, I dont trust the gage to read an accurate temp, but I dont see any reason why it would read differnt now than before I swapped the rad and t-stat.
After driving it like this for a few days I swapped out the temp sender in the radiator, but that made no change.
so I have two questions.
1) Did I put the t-stat in backwards, which is causing the coolant to flow too freely through the radiator?
2) What does that temp sender send to?
Sorry for the rambling, and thank you all for such a great forum!
Sincerely,
Brook Green
www.akfabshop.com (http://www.akfabshop.com)
After I got the thing home I noticed a glycol smell. Upon further investigation I discovered a light drip coming from the drivers side of the radiator. Stop leak worked for a day or so, but the leak came back.
Here is where I have to admit how ashamed of myself I am for not doing a more thourough investigation before purchasing the vehical. The low purchase price, and the low number of miles on the odometer "slightly" clouded my judgment. (since the purchase date I have replaced the passenger side knuckle [egged out tre hole], drivers spindle [wasted spindle bearing took out the bore], drivers inner and outer axle shaft [damaged from the bearing failure, (I swaped out the entire axle assy because I had it laying around)], the drivers locking hub, the drivers outer wheel bearing cup and bearing, the radiator, and pretty soon I will be replacing the ring and pinion in the rear axle, AND the front drive shaft. OH! and the tranny pan. oh, Im digressing again...
So, back to the topic at hand. I replaced the radiator with one I pulled from and older (early 80's 6.3 crew cab 1 ton 4x4) chevy I had laying around, and while I had the coolant out I went ahead and replaced the thermostat with a replacement I got from the local Car Quest. ($23!!!). Now the thing wont get up to operating temperature unless I am power braking it for a 45 seconds or more. It hovers around 150* or less, according to the stock gage. Sure, I dont trust the gage to read an accurate temp, but I dont see any reason why it would read differnt now than before I swapped the rad and t-stat.
After driving it like this for a few days I swapped out the temp sender in the radiator, but that made no change.
so I have two questions.
1) Did I put the t-stat in backwards, which is causing the coolant to flow too freely through the radiator?
2) What does that temp sender send to?
Sorry for the rambling, and thank you all for such a great forum!
Sincerely,
Brook Green
www.akfabshop.com (http://www.akfabshop.com)