Can someone give me an idea on what's going on with my truck? Today my engine light came on and my trucks temperature gage sky rocketed and felt like it was running on half it's cylinders. The code I got was P1299 cylinder head over temperature protection active

 

Thermostat hung up maybe.

 

The thermostat is a good check and I'd check that right away. You don't want to run so hot again that you warp a head. Big dollar fix then.

 

I had coolant coming out of the reservoir also. I called the shop this morning and they suggested that coolant might be getting into my cylinder head. Maybe a gasket or cracked cylinder head. I don't know, is this something I could do on my own? The shop said just the labor alone only to see whats going on could cost me $2,300.00. That just crazy!

 

At the least, find a different shop. Their talking worst scenario, & ID ing that condition is not that difficult. I vote for a stuck thermostat also....Radiator shop should be able to help ID your problem.

This could have potentially catastrophic consequences if not address sooner than later. Yes. an $8 thermostat could lay your engine to waste!

 

If the thermostat hangs up the engine will run hot, and water will be pushed back out of the radiaitor. Thus filling and spilling over the reservior. The thermostat is an easy fix. Or it used to be anyway. If you can get to the thermostat housing, just take the two bolts loose, lift the housing, take out the old thermoatat and replace it with a new. Make sure you put the new one in correctly, just look at the old one and the new goes in the same way. You'll see what I'm talking about if you do the job. If you take it to the shop, just tell them to replace the thermostat. If that doesn't fix the problem then you can look at other things. Start cheap, and go from there. Good luck

 

agreed that it is most likely the thermostat. The truck felt like it was running on half the cylinders because it was. The F150 goes into fail-safe mode when it overheats and alternates cylinders to try and create as little heat as possible.

Pull your dipstick and check for milky residue, as long as the oil looks fine you probably have something simple like a thermostat going bad on you.

 

If it's burning coolant you might see a lot of white smoke out of the tail pipe.

Head gasket sometimes you'll see bubbles in the coolant.

If you pull the stat might as well change it anyway when it's out but you can check to see if the old one was working by sticking it in boiling water - it should open. When you reinstall the stat housing make sure the mating surfaces are clean and don't over tighten the bolts.

 

Look for low coolant causing overheating. Pin hole in radiator hose, heater hose, or bottom of radiator seepage. If your cooling system pressure tests and hold pressure, you not seeing any leaks figure thermostat or head gasket/intake manifold gasket worst case. Also look for expansion plug leak when psi testing. It ain't fixed until it holds psi. A simple radiator cap seal leak can cause migranes. You got to love bowties, you cant get em off and when you do you got to buy another $40 one. But thats another vehicle and another problem.

 

I appreciate all the advice and I'm starting on it tomorrow. Thanks. I'll keep u updated.