Hi people. I have a 2001 2wd 4.3 Sonoma. I was driving yesterday when my rpms shot up to around 1500. Looked down and saw my temp gauge was pretty high. Probably around 240. My AC was on, but the fans were not on at all.
It was around 100 degrees out when this happened. The coolant levels are fine. I’ve had a transmission line pop out of my radiator twice in the last couple months (I’m pretty sure the clip holding it in was a bit stretched and I think I fixed it the second time putting it back in). The transmission fluid was a couple quarts low. when my truck overheated yesterday.
Well today I was trying to see if I could get my truck to overheat in my garage which was 95 degrees. I couldn’t get it passed maybe 205 even when revving the engine and running the A full blast. When I was done I noticed black sludge on the floor. under the engine. It looks like oily charcoal. I just changed my oil. Does any one have any idea what that could be? Might it just be sludge melting off the engine? Thanks for any input.
The sludge could just be some grimy oil soaked dirt that fell off if it has a gritty feel to it.
With a bowed condenser and transmission fluid lines popping out I tend to think the radiator might be a bit bowed also. With the ATF being down a few quarts that can lead to trans failure if you are not careful.
When it comes to the A/C what needs to be known with A/C issues is static pressure along with both high and low side pressures at idle and at elevated RPMs. I don’t think (guessing here) that unusually cold would be a problem unless the evaporator is freezing up.
I suppose it’s possible that the bowed condenser could be causing the high side pressure to be a bit abnormally high due to a slight restriction and which could make the pressure drop into the evaporator a bit more dramatic. That could cause an abnormal coldness. That’s just theory. Without knowing pressures there’s no way of knowing what is going on in there. Hope that helps in some way.
Thanks for the response. I just took it on a drive and it didn’t overheat at all, but the line popped out again. I’m going to concentrate on my transmission for now. I put a new radiator in about two years ago. I think it’s the second radiator that’s acting up. Do you think it could be a worn fitting to the radiator? Do they give out? I tried to look it up but couldn’t find any mention of it.