I was making my hourly commute this morning when I noticed about midway that my truck was no longer blowing hot air, but cooler air. It seemd to be acting like a hot water tank where I had to keep turning the temp up higher and higher in order to get any heat to come out. By then end I had the heat set at 82 and it was lowly reverting to cold air. I am not a wrench at all, and I am an hour away from home, I am can deal with a cold ride but just want to make sure I'm not ignoring a much larger problem. All my gauges are reading fine, no lights on. I do have to add antifreeze every so often as I must have a leak, but I just recently topped it off.

Advice?

 

you have a leak which has know turn into an air pocket it sound. You need to fill your system, purge it of all air. and then preausure test the cooling system to locate your leak. And yes to are doing damage driving it that way, i would stop driving it until you have done the above and located and repaired your leak.You are losing heat because there is not enough coolant in the system to make heat,then there is not enough coolant in the sytem to cool then engine. Also if there is not enought coolant in the system then the guage can not read the tempurture.

 

Thanks,

I am in Boston, I have an hour ride home. I wouldn't feel comfortable just going to any mechanic this way. Is an hour ride disastrous?

 

I would add coolant to the system while it is cold. Check for any visible leaks while the truck is running to ensure that it's a small leak (dripping) and not a pin-hole (squirting) althought both can turn bad quickly. If you can't see anything leaking or it's a small leak you may be able to make it home safely. If you see a leak that's faster than a drip, I would take it to a shop vs driving an hour. I would hate to see a $100 hose repair turn into a $4,000 engine replacement.

 

while its cold open the bleed screw and fill it the best you can. where in boston are you and which way are you heading.

 

You have lost enough coolant to be below the level to even keep the heater core full. The thermostat is in the steam room at the top, but that steam is nothing like the hot water that is somewhere in the engine trying to carry the load for the missing 1 gallon or more. One guy had to put in two gallons. In a 13 quart system. Even if you don't have coolant you can use bottled water in an emergency, don't leave it parked outside with just water. May have to pull off and add some on the way home as well.

 

there is a place Rover of Boston or Boston Rover they are located on A street in South Boston.
He is an indepedent shop and has been there for at least 20 years that I know of.
I had him look at a problem with my truck, unfortunatley he could not help me with my wiring problem, but he did not charge me for the 2-days he worked on it either.

So that alone says a lot about the guy to me, he could have handed me a bill for $800-$900 for dianostic testing like i'm sure the dealer would have and i would have paid it.

 

Took it to my mechanic apparently I have a leaking front water gasket says labor is a lot to get in there and parts are around 100$. Says total will be 650ish....


Not happy...

 

Be more specific, what exactly is leaking?
Have you already up-graded your upper radiator hose to the new style with the bleed screw mounted on a tee instead of molded into the hose, if not, that should be changed along with a new t/stat and flush the Dexcool coolant out of the system switching to one of the better green coolants like Peak.

 

I also live in Boston. My mechanic has a shop in Saugus right next to the Square 1 mall. He is very reasonable.