Monday night, I had the thermostat on my 2000 Sierra 5.3 fail in the *closed* position. I had been driving for about a half an hour, with the A/C on, and I got a whiff of something that didn't smell quite right. I shut off the A/C and rolled down the window, and smelled more of what didn't smell right.
I took a look at the temperature gauge, and it was at 230... and rising quickly. I pulled into a parking lot, nosed it into the wind (it was a very windy out), shut it down, and put the hood up. There was nothing leaking, and it was full of coolant.
Once it had cooled down, I drove it the 6 blocks to a friend's house and left it in his driveway. Barely made it there, before it the temperature gauge was heading past 210, yet again.
Assumed one of three things.... thermostat, water pump, or a fan clutch. When it was hot, the top radiator hose was tight... and had noted that the fan appeared to be working properly. Start easy first, as always... so that meant the thermostat. I found that the thermostat had failed shut.
Factory thermostat, 18 years old with 130,000 miles. Came close to costing me an engine.
I'm going to place an order with RockAuto, and make plans to slap a new water pump, belts, hoses, plugs, wires, coolant, oil and filter on it as well, sometime in the next few weeks. Seems like it would be an excellent Memorial Day weekend project.
I took a look at the temperature gauge, and it was at 230... and rising quickly. I pulled into a parking lot, nosed it into the wind (it was a very windy out), shut it down, and put the hood up. There was nothing leaking, and it was full of coolant.
Once it had cooled down, I drove it the 6 blocks to a friend's house and left it in his driveway. Barely made it there, before it the temperature gauge was heading past 210, yet again.
Assumed one of three things.... thermostat, water pump, or a fan clutch. When it was hot, the top radiator hose was tight... and had noted that the fan appeared to be working properly. Start easy first, as always... so that meant the thermostat. I found that the thermostat had failed shut.
Factory thermostat, 18 years old with 130,000 miles. Came close to costing me an engine.
I'm going to place an order with RockAuto, and make plans to slap a new water pump, belts, hoses, plugs, wires, coolant, oil and filter on it as well, sometime in the next few weeks. Seems like it would be an excellent Memorial Day weekend project.