At work we have an lly with 190k miles, all stock but worked hard its whole life.
The low coolant light is on intermittently but I'd say most of the time. The hose is hard most times but not 100%. Last winter it blew coolant out the overflow everytime I'd fill it due to the low coolant message but this winter it doesn't seem to blow it out but the coolant still disappears. If you open the reservoir it has lots of pressure and will blow out coolant. There is no noticable smoke or smell at exhaust. It also blows small bubbles into the overflow tank.
Truck does not overheat or run hot even towing in summer if low coolant message comes up. Thermostats were changed last year with no effect. We've tried bleeding it through the bolt on top of the tstat housing multiple times and it flows solid coolant through there.
The most annoying part, being a plow truck, is it won't make heat unless driving or revving the engine. It will get to operating temp and a few minutes after stopping and idling heat gets cold and temp comes down. As soon as you drive it again the heat comes right back.
So is this the inevitable head gasket or could it be something more simple I'm over looking?
The low coolant light is on intermittently but I'd say most of the time. The hose is hard most times but not 100%. Last winter it blew coolant out the overflow everytime I'd fill it due to the low coolant message but this winter it doesn't seem to blow it out but the coolant still disappears. If you open the reservoir it has lots of pressure and will blow out coolant. There is no noticable smoke or smell at exhaust. It also blows small bubbles into the overflow tank.
Truck does not overheat or run hot even towing in summer if low coolant message comes up. Thermostats were changed last year with no effect. We've tried bleeding it through the bolt on top of the tstat housing multiple times and it flows solid coolant through there.
The most annoying part, being a plow truck, is it won't make heat unless driving or revving the engine. It will get to operating temp and a few minutes after stopping and idling heat gets cold and temp comes down. As soon as you drive it again the heat comes right back.
So is this the inevitable head gasket or could it be something more simple I'm over looking?
