Ok went back out and tried to figure it out again, used what they call an anti-spill funnel for filling rad. I got it from snap-on and it's like a small bucket the fits on top of the rad. with an adapter so the water/coolant going in will be higher than the engine (air pocket problems) thought this would work for sure but it idled for about 5-7 mins then it blew coolant everywhere out of the bucket! This really [censored] me off, I use the bucket on Hondas and this never happens. I refilled it with water and ran it again without that bucket deal. Checked the hose temp. with a raytech infrared thermometer. Upper hose was around 178 at the top hose right around the upper outlet, lower was around 156 before going into the waterpump. I thought that the rating on t-stat's was at max. (like 180 was when the coolant reachs 180 it's fully open). I'm confused, I replaced the brass sender in the cylinder head last year and it worked fine. I'm ready to make the wife angry and start boiling t-stat's and sender's on the stove in a pot.
fyi, not losing any unless I turn the truck off, it then overflows a little. my truck never had a overflow bottle, it just has a tube down the side of the rad. to the ground.
The gauge is original and it seems to work fine, it gradually increases until it's in the middle.
When I removed the old t-stat it was a 180 but it was stuck open.
Hoses(new) have springs in them and haven't collapsed, the fan is original and the belt is new, the fan turns fine. It seems to do better at idle then on the road....
