Whatever happens let us know and good luck, don't forget about that tranny cooler hate to see you buy another one. A buddy of mine went though four trannys before he found out the cooler was plugged!

 

The original problem occurred when the lower radiator hose blew off, I lost all coolant in the middle of nowhere, not knowing that is what happened, I continued down the road until I could stop at a store, running about 230 or so, this is what I was told caused the tranny to overheat. Both hoses are pressurized today when I was taking it back in, the lower hose does not seem to be hot to the touch either time when I was putting it back on after blowing. My oil looks good, so far, no water in it. This is the second 03 I have owen and I have never been able to keep coolant in teh overflow, I ride through rough pastures and Im sure that it gets dumped out. I did not notice loosing a significant amount of radiator fluid, I just flushed it about 6 months ago, and checked it regularly for about two months after that. I did not check it again until after the initial radiator hose blew off. I do all my own oil changes and have never seen anything abnormal in the oil.
The temperature does not continue to rise until the the hose blows off, it does fluctuate at about 195 - 200, back and forth, it has done it since the intial radiator hose blew off. Today it was fluctuating, then jumped to about 205, hotter then it has been, I pulled over and the top hose was super hot and pressurized, I released the radiator cap and water plus steam came boiling out for about 7 seconds or so the stopped. Screwed it back down and drove the remaining two miles to the shop, temperature remained at about 205 -208, did not get any hotter. Boy, guys, I sure appreciate the help, I owe you guys some beer or something!

 

No news today, didnt get much done! I will keep you informed.

 

Third Gen has 2 coolers. The Rad and one waffered between the intercooler and rad. If they did it in 2003, there is also a Power Steering cooler. That's the larger hoses under the rad.

Last time I was down there in the glades, I had to stop at a hydrospray and clean out the heat exchangers. Picked up a bunch of grass, couple of gators, swamp rats and an Oger. LOL

 

Ya, we got a few bugs down here. This season was the worst for Love Bugs, you couldn't get in or out of your house without letting 200 of them in there.
Turns out that all they did today was install a new lower radiator hose, after they did this they lost heat in the cab, which worked yesterday, so now they are replacing the thermostat. I dunno, I'm sick over it. I wish they would stop throwing parts at it and just find the darn problem.

 

No heat in the cab means they have an air pocket in the block. Tell them to pull the thermostat and fill the block up from there.

 

Well it had heat yesterday, today it magically disapeared, but I will tell them, not that they listen. Thanks again guys for all the help!

 

That could be a head gasket too.

There's a guy in Clearwater I can suggest to you

 

They seem to keep thinking that it isn't a head gasket, although everybody I have talked to seems to think it is. There suggestion is to add some stuff that will seal the head gasket, they say it works just as good and much cheaper, but I'm not for that, especially when they want to charge me 600 for the gunk that may or may not work. Still hoping it is something simple, but if that what it turns out to be then I will definitely get up with you, they quoted me $3500 to do the head gasket which is way high in my opinion.

 

Who's they? The dealer?

 

I lifelong family friend that owns a transmission shop, the same ones that rebuilt the transmission. My family has been taking trucks there for a long time, they seem to be really struggling with mine, to say the least I am not impressed.

 

They may be good with transmissions, but really. What do they know about diesel engines?

I'm leaning more towards the head gasket because of the other symtoms. The no heat is the kicker. A leaking head gasket will force an air bubble into the water jacket. What probably happened was the engine was filled probably and over time it replaced the water with exhaust gas. You should be able to tell if you look at the water in the rad. If you can see some oil in there then you have a gasket or head problem. You can also get a block test done. Another thing you can do is run the truck with the cap off and see if you have bubbles coming up in the rad.

I charge by the hour. LOL

 

They said they can do it all, I guess we will see, but I am leaning towards your statement. We did both, tested the radiator fluid with about 200 miles on it and no trace of any other fluid in it, I ran the truck with the radiator opened and saw no bubbles.

 

Good lord.... Find someone else. They don't have a clue.

 

Well...it fixed. Will pick up tomorrow and see what happens. Repalced the lower rad hose and thermostat and ran it all day with no problems. We will see, I will report back after I giver her the once over. Again, thanks guys for all the help, I will continue to keep you informed in case this ever helps anybody else out.