Lee_H
Well-Known Member
Bought a 2003 Eddie B. with 5.4L engine for a spare vehicle. Pulled codes for miss fire, replaced sparkplugs and coils all around (Motorcraft). Ran it for a week to work, no problem. Second week started to over heat. Slowly at first but by the end of the second week barely made it to work. Ride is about 20 min. combined highway and stop n go. Replaced fan clutch and thermostat (180). Still over heating. Took old thermostat cut away valve and put back in. Still overheating (about 15 minutes to boil over). Replaced water pump (from NAPA). Left blank thermostat in. Old water pump spun but was seized in engine, took chisel to pry it out. Condition: rotor was eaten away, looked like it was attacked with acid. Cleaned and lightly coated the new pump with antiseize, no apparent leaks. Ran this morning for about half hour before it started running hot. Code reader in live data mode said 200F for a bit then climbed to 240F and then boil over at 250 plus. Running vehicle in Low 2 to increase rpm doesn't help that much. Although I bought the lower hose (in case it was collapsing) (It is really long) I don't see the lower hose failing since the over heating has it fully pressurized. Before jumping to head gaskets, is there anything I missed? It did not have heat when purchased, assumed the hot water valve failed since the truck ran with the temp. gage centered the whole time. No miss firing now, it actually runs strong and fun to drive. Did not back flush radiator since it seemed to be working at time of purchase.