So my youngest son (just turned 16 in June) took on a job helping my buddy get the interior of his Bronco back together. It's been sitting in his garage for years and he's finally ready to just be done with it. Offered my son $25 p/hr to get it back together for him. He told him whatever you need in order to finish it, let me know and I'll buy it. So we were heading to the junkyard to pull a few pieces off that he needs when I got a phone call from my wife. She was taking my truck to get the emissions test done on it since tags are due this month. She said she was waiting in the line at emissions when the oil light came on and the truck started shuddering badly. She turned it off and said it was smoking pretty bad. We were about 25 mins away, so we turned around to go meet up with her. Some of the workers helped push the truck out of the way and she said there was coolant everywhere. She called again to tell me it was out of the way and while I was on the phone with her, I asked her to turn the key to on and tell me what the temp gauge said; she said it was topped out. When we got there I started looking around and found a stick that was between the condenser unit and into the radiator. Thinner than a pencil, but strong enough that it pierced through both; almost looks like it was a tumbleweed but I didn't see anything else that would have been a part of it. Seems the truck lost all of the coolant and overheated, or was well on its way to overheating when it started shuddering. I slowly relieved the pressure from the radiator cap over a 15 min time frame; that sucker was crazy hot. Dumped some luke warm water on the radiator top and it was boiling on the fins. We called roadside assistance and had it towed to the shop I generally use for any repairs I'm just not in the mood to do myself. We told them what happened and they said they'll check it out, run pressure tests on it, etc.

I've only ever had a vehicle overheat on me once in my life, ended up costing me the motor on my 87 5.0. The day I bought it (used) and brought it home, it overheated. Turns out the temp gauge was faulty/inaccurate. Warped heads, etc. So my fear is the same with this. I checked the oil while we were there (just changed it 2 weeks ago) and it looked clear. I didn't notice any signs of coolant in it which doesn't make me feel any better, especially since she most likely lost all of the coolant leading up to this anyway. I was able to start it after having it sit for an hour and it fired right up. Let it idle for about 10 seconds and didn't hear any odd noises coming from it. Seemed to be idling like any other day.

Thoughts on what else to have them look at when doing the testing? They know it overheated, they know there's a stick in the condenser and radiator. I'm expecting the worst at this point, only because it's happened to another vehicle. I really don't want to drop the money into it for a new motor if it comes to that. I work from home so I don't technically NEED a vehicle. I love this truck. I bought it June 2020 with 73k miles on it and now I'm up to 86k. My last tank of gas lasted me from 26 May - 15 Jul and that was only 183 miles of driving. I don't drive it a ton these days since I don't leave the house much, but it's nice having the extra vehicle when needed. Truck is in great condition, but throwing a couple more grand at it just doesn't set well with me.

Always up for an outsiders point of view. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

 

Wait and see how it is. However, any overheat is bad, because it overcompresses head gaskets and makes the head gaskets prone to leak in the future. If it's a 20-year-old truck, just drive it until it needs something. It ain't like you got much to lose.

 

Not sure what the Bronco story was all about. LOL

Truck probably did not overheat. Sounds like your wife shut it off in time and it was at idle which means it saw high heat for very quick period (assume she shut it down right away).

Just get the radiator replaced and whatever else got damaged.
The luke warm water could have been too cold -I'd be most concerned about pouring room temp water (or slightly above) into a motor that is max temp. If you didn't pour a lot, you are probably okay as the block had to have some water left (again assuming it was not run for an extended period of time).

Good luck with the Bronco. I mean F150.

 

You're in the 97-03 sub-forum so it's probably a 97-03. Read up on "fail-safe cooling". The truck did exactly what it was supposed to do to save the motor. You're biggest concern right now is getting ripped off by a shop that realizes that you don't know about fail-safe cooling. It's in the Owner Manual. Good luck.

https://www.ford.com/support/owner-manuals/

 

Much appreciated BareBonesXL. I wasn't aware of this feature within our trucks. After reading up on it, it sounds like it had just started shutting down cylinders when she turned it off. Sounds like it should just be a condenser and radiator replacement, if all went well, and the system saved the motor. Not sure if they'll have time to get to it today or later this week but will post up when I hear back.

 

My local shop just called, said they got to the truck this morning. They found the stick and removed it. Pressure tested both the AC system and the cooling system. Said neither one had any leaks in them. Said the stick appeared to push fins out of the way when penetrating through both, but no visible leaks and the systems both hold pressure. They believe the t-stat is sticking and that's what caused the overheating while the truck was idling in line. They added some water to the cooling system and took it for a drive, said they came across zero issues and no leaks on the drive. Recommend a new t-stat, new reservoir cap to be on the safe side and a coolant flush. Should be ready later today for pickup.

 

Glad to hear that the problem turned out to be a minor (and inexpensive) one. A rig with low miles look yours should have lots of life left and I hope you get many years out of it.