And believe me, as soon as I can I will check all the electrical connections between the two batteries!!!!!!

 

yes and add coolent if needed.

Have to coolent ready, pop the cap, turn her on and warm it up and add coolent as needed?

 

Yea, I poped the cap, didn't see any bubbles, coolant level was normal. Gonna drain/refill w/new and just replace the thermostat. But I don't want to get too outta control on this thread being off-topic so.........

On the subject of the "overcharging" problem though. I do have a lot of corrosion on the passenger side battery, front terminal. Do I know if that's the positive or negative terminal, no , why, cause I'm a......no, can't say that here. And by the time I got home last night the temp was in the 20's again, with a hour + drive and the volt meter in the cab was reading better than half way between 14 and whatever the end of the green indicator is before the red indicator at 18.

Oh, by the way, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes but I can add. And if the lower number is 8, and upper number is 18, how the heck can 14 be in the middle????????? And there's more than enough room for numbers at the ends of the "OK" indicator arc so why not just put them on there....I mean, jeeze, am I asking too much? And sorry to say, I'm not the type of person to document every little thing about a vehicle when I'm driving them, plus I switch between 3 vehicles (6cyl, 4cyl, 2cyl) throughout the year so I can't tell you things about them like some guys can, but I'm pretty darn sure I would remember that charging indicator being that high. I do know between 12 and 14 volts output is normal for a 12 volt battery, well, at least what I've seen and been told, actually if memory servers 13.2 on a fluke is just about right. I was gonna take a picture of it last night and post it here but I think I described the voltage position pretty good. So....maybe I take it in and see if I can scam a free diagnostic check at a local shop, or if my buds are free this weekend buy them some suds and hang out and take care of both problems all at once. I'd do it at home but I have a normal size 2-car garage and the one time I squeezed the truck in but then I couldn't get out.

But thanks to everyone once again for trying to help another mechanically challenged guy. You guys are the best.
Rob