Yet Another F150 Overheating

This might not prove a good water pump, and your running mostly water argues for a corrosion problem.

You are dealing with a seventeen year old truck

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Yes, you are right, but I had to until my check came in, then flushed and put in 50/50 mixture. And Gpierce you are also right, sorry everyone, I’m just frustrated.

Not getting heat from the heater core suggests you may have an air bubble blocking the flow. There are other possibilities, but air in the system is a common cause for that. You know how hard it is to push a beach ball under the water at the swimming pool? The same thing happens if the air isn’t all bled out of the cooling system. The water pump just doesn’t have the force it takes to battle pushing an air bubble downhill. This affects the flow through the heater core more than other cooling components b/c the heater core is usually one of the lowest points in the cooling system. If you have an air bubble blocking the heater core, you may have other air bubbles in the cooling system. That could cause the unexplained overheating. Suggest to ask your shop to do the recommended cooling system bleed procedure for your truck.

As far as the transmission being the cause, you’d have to take the truck to a shop with automatic transmission expertise for an evaluation. They can easily measure various pressures in the hydraulic system, so they should be able to measure the fluid temperatures too. They might be able to do that just with a Ford scan tool.

Your truck shouldn’t be overheating. I seriously doubt the problem is with the design of the truck. There’s something amiss, and you just need a shop with the proper experience to figure out what it is from the host of ideas presented here.

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Ty. I took it to a radiator shop and they told me it was partially blocked, so I told them to flush it, he says he did, meanwhile when he put in new coolant,(and charged me) it looked like the old stuff a light green. So I ordered new radiator and installed it myself saving $350.00 and still overheated. So yesterday I flushed it myself, bought the Zerex G-05 coolant, did a 50/50 mixture with distilled water, put it to the test without camper hooked on it. IT PASSED WOOOOHOOOOOO, Today is the big test as I will attempt to tow my small camper, I will let you know my findings.

WOOOOHOOOOO FIXED! It was partial radiator blockage and coolant mixture. I flushed it, put 50/50 Zerex G-05 Coolant/distilled water, tested towing, works fine now, thank you all for your help. It is appreciated.

Congrats on your cool running F150. Please explain what the final configuration turned out to be. You say above you replaced the radiator, but it still overheated. Then you flushed something yourself, but not clear what you flushed. So what was the mix of fixes that worked? New radiator? Or are you now using the old radiator, the shop flushed it once, and you flushed it again; i.e. double flushed?

I flushed engine and new radiator so it was clean, then put in G-05 50% coolant, 50% distilled water. WALA. Thank You all for your help.

In the original post you stated that you replaced the radiator, why did you have to replace it twice? Was there a warranty?

OK, I think I understand. You replaced the radiator, but it still overheated. So you then flushed the engine, replaced the coolant with new, and that was a magic that did the trick. Good for you for sticking with it. Usually with car repair stuff if you just continue to calmly pound away at the problem eventually you’ll get it to work. You offer proof that it works. :wink:

Exactly, and thank you sir.

I don’t want to be a wet blanket but anytime I hear of the heater blowing cold, I think head gasket having been there. For a whole winter the only time I would get heat would be when I’d get up over 30 mph, otherwise cold air because of the head gasket. Finally hobbled into the shop with the radiator cap off so the temp gauge wouldn’t peg hot. So I hope you solved it, but if the problem was an air bubble preventing flow of the coolant, and you fixed it by flushing the system and getting it full again without the air bubble, my fear is it will be back. We’ll hope for the best but those pesky head gaskets can be troublesome.

TY I will keep close watch on it.

I drive a 27 year old truck! Age means nothing, maintenance means everything. Engine shows no signs of dying anytime soon


A 2000 F150 would be 17 years old, now had to give up my 93 f250 manual trans with plow for brake lines and exhaust manifold, miss that old rattle your fillings teeth loose truck, due to stiff ride, 3 years gone, the 93 would have had it’s 24th birthday this year.