'95 powerstroke overheating

[spacewrangler]

So my truck was going along fine when the rad blew, I fixed that, now it overheats. The truck acts like there is air in the system, but it won't bleed out. It more acts like there is air geetting pumped into the system. Under a load now, it will blow some white smoke. I am thinking it is the headgasket. the truck has 250k on it, but has never been worked hard. I would really appreciate any help in diagnosing the problem and the difficulty of r&r' ing the headgaskets. Thanks very much for your help.

[djsdiesel]

You may just have air in the system. Pull the hose that comes out of the top of the waterpump when filling the radiator, when coolant comes out put the hose back on then finish filling.

If it is a headgasket then you should be seeing bubbles in the coolant when it is running.

[spacewrangler]

Thanks for the idea. I tried pulling the hose and filling it just like you said, with the thermostat out and water would go into the resevoir. I also put one of those hose fittings for flushing the rad system in between the outlet of the heater core and the h20 pump because it is the highest point in the system and still no change. Since I posted the originalpost earlier, I hooked a hose up to the aforementioned fitting and ran the truck and the resevoir looked like a pot of boiling water. So any more ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[gbear]

Have you checked or changed you thermosat to see if it is sticking? To check it put it in a pot of water on the stove and see if it opens when the water boils. And if it is the stat I would use a motorcraft OEM stat for replacement. Have had some problems with other aftermarket brands. (especally the zone!)

Jim

[spacewrangler]

The thermostatis out of it right now, so unless that could cause major cavitation, the thermostat isnot the prob.