Any others that are of better quality and for this car?

 

That grey one be the best turd to fit. Other option is an inline and do away with the bypass system

 

Thanks, everyone. New tstat is on its way. I'll update when I install it. I also may need to retorque my water pump bolts. I put a new one in and for some reason every time I torqued up a bolt, when I went back to it after torquing all the others I still could get another 1/4 to 1/2 turn before the wrench clicked. Not sure if this was because of the gasket or what, but it may have spurted a bit and sprayed **** on my fan, which would have blown it everywhere.

BTW dusty I like your avatar. Just saw "Don't legalize it", and it was awesome.

 

So a small update: I installed a new tstat and retightened all hose clamps. I noticed today after driving a few miles some coolant in the same spots, only a smaller amount. So I am a bit perplexed.

A theory I have is a coolant leak in the front cover, as I have a small stream of coolant I can see on the front part of the oil sump coming from the front driver side of the engine. Do you think this leak could get caught by the fan, spraying coolant on my battery cover and fan shroud?

 

pull the black cover off the top of the radiator and make sure the small return line or the top of the radiator is not bad. The plastic tank on the side of the aluminum will leak as well. Run your truck with the cover off...

 

yes
are you sure it is not coming out of your water pump? maybe the weep hole or gasket

 

I originally thought it was the water pump and/or gasket so I replaced them both. Same leak on the sump.

I was just outside with the engine on, got it up to temp, and I found a puddle of coolant behind the water pump and under the AC compressor. Not sure how long this has been there, but I figure this puddle would splash on to the fan causing a spray over the shroud and batt cover. I didn't see any leaking from the water pump from what I could see with the fan and pulleys in the way. Also checked the hoses from the Tbody and no wet spots.

I'll retighten the water pump bolts this weekend in case that is what is causing it. Hard to spend a lot of time when it's 5F degrees and snowing outside. We're going to have a heat spell - 32 deg. F on saturday and 38 on sunday

 

You need to pressure test the system....

You could have a pin hole in one of them there hoses above the t-stat spraying on to your shroud. Looks like the water spray is above the fan on the shroud (Not sure if that makes sense how I write this?). but the fan is burried inside that shroud, water would have to turn and go around and land on top of the shroud if it was coming off the pump and hitting the fan? Maybe you have anti-freeze bouncing back off the hood? idk MO

 

I like uv dye as well. makes for an easy trace

 

Ive have never tried the dye...

I have a mini LED flash light, it has a bluish light to it, and when it shines on green anti freeze, the water glows bright. Works kinda like a dye would i suppose.