Hello all,
91 Silverado, 350, Short bed.Early this spring the side of my radiator blew out and I replaced it (same # of core radiator), the t-stat, cap and hoses. since then the thing takes a little longer to heat up (to about 195). But, once the t-stat opens up, the gauge drops to about 160 in a couple seconds and then run steady there. If I idle for a while (a few minutes) it warms a little (maybe 170), but as soon as I drive, it falls back to 160.
I burped the thing really well. I was on about a 40 degree slope and let her run for almost an hour with the cap off. There was never a time that I stuck my finger in the coolant and wasn't anything more than luke warm... I also had the cooling system flushed at a shop, twice.
Now that the weather is turning colder, it is becoming more a nuisance. I have changed the t-stat 3 times (Napa, AutoZone and Advance) with no change.
I am thinking that maybe my water pump is on the way out. My humble theory is along the line that it is not broken, but maybe only pumping say 50% of the coolant it should. This means the water is in the radiator twice as long as normal and gets cooled off more. And as I recall, there was no tremendous flow in the rad even though it did suck the water down during the burping.
And so, I ask the free flowing fountain of knowledge in the group to flow forth and flood this dry post with the liquid of insight. Thanks.