SlowAndHighTBI

I just finished up a swap in my 89 k1500

The donor LQ4 and ecm is out of a 2003 express 3500

My problem is this, The truck will not warm up past 160*f. I'm getting my readings from the 89 coolant sender. I also tried swapping in a 3 wire f body sensor and it was showing the same thing. It has a brand new 187* thermostat, and the water pump seems to be circulating fluid fine. This is the weird part...The lower radiator hose is cold.

When I added the antifreeze, I filled up the block first via the upper rad hose. I even had the steam vent disconnected to burp out all of the air. I ran it at idle with the cap off for about 20 min and got a few little bubbles. I even jacked the front end up and left it in the air over night with the cap off to try to burp out more air.

The only reason I'm concerned is everything else is getting pretty damn hot. Seems like it's hotter than 160? Does anyone have any suggestions?

garys 68

iTrader: (1)

There was a post over at pro touring. The problem was the surge tank was hooked in the heater hose and bypassing the thermostat. Any chance you've got the same issue?

SlowAndHighTBI

No, my surge tank is hooked up to the radiator, near the top.

Thanks for the idea though

snook

iTrader: (1)

I like these on all cars, they make bleeding easy, while its running
http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performan...51155/10002/-1

SlowAndHighTBI

If there was air in the system, wouldn't it get way hotter than 160?

Sarg

iTrader: (6)

depends on where he is taking the reading.

snook

iTrader: (1)

Mine did the same thing on the run stand till I found a way to bleed it, though it had all the air out, it didn't. It literally took two minutes to get coolant to the bleed screw. The lower hose was cold, everything else was hot

tnob

Sensors don't read air temp(air in system>) only water temp. If there isn't coolant/water to read you get a bad reading.

SlowAndHighTBI

Thanks for the pointers guys. I'm going to give it another whirl tomorrow.