2 questions, rough start&heater issues

[Talisman]

Hey guys two problems presented themselves yesterday morning.
First, I started my truck and the starter kind of dragged like a low battery, it still fired fine, but then after about a second it stumbled and died. I then refired it and she ran fine and acted like she always does. Could a low battery cause the stumble?

And second, my heater is acting up. Sometimes its hot, sometimes its cold. But if I'm accelerating at all it acts normal. It gets cold under idle sometimes. On a side note my temp gauge is freaking out, it'll sit at about the 180 mark, then jump to 210, then 225, then back to 180 and sit. I changed my thermostat yesterday to no help, and the truck has a newer radiator and water pump. Could I just have a bad temp sender? And could that be at all related to my heater issue?
PS coolant levels are fine.

 

[DRAGGIN95]

I would have a look at the battery cable that runs to the starter first, I have seen them get in really bad shape, while you are there also look at ground's, and on the temp issue, you could have a bad temp sender or it could also be the gauge in the cluster itself. Do you have and infared temp gun?

 

[Talisman]

I just performed the big 3 on the battery when I changed my starter last weekend. I could have a bad connection however so I will look.

I do also have a temp gun, was considering using it and pointing it at the temp sender to be sure I wasn't actually over heating.

 

[DRAGGIN95]

Yeah I would use the temp gun and point it at several spot's on the heads and block and see what it say's.

 

[Talisman]

Will do! Is it worth pulling the battery to have it load tested? It's been in there since 2000 :/

 

[DRAGGIN95]

Yeah that's pretty old even for a good battery. I just replaced a 10 year old yellow Optima myself.

 

[Talisman]

How do you like the yellow optima? Mines just a regular legend75 and it has trouble keeping up with my sound system. HO alternator is on its way.

 

[DRAGGIN95]

I really don't care for any Optima battery anymore, they just aren't what they are supposed to be, but I would not have a Red top Optima, I have owned several and every one died in no time on me, but the yellow top were at least better than that.

 

[Talisman]

So what do you run now?

 

[Tempted]

If your heater acts up along with the temp gauge then chances are you have a cooling system problem. Check your antifreeze level and replace the radiator cap to start with, then make sure you are getting proper flow. I went through numerous new thermostats before I finally got one that worked. Never use a cooling system additive. They cause way more problems than they help(I am talking about leak fix and head gasket fix stuff).

I had great luck a number of years ago with a yellow top Optima but my last one wasn't as good. It wouldn't hold a charge as long and a high discharge(winch, HIDs, air pump) without the vehicle running would kill it in a matter of a few minutes. Now I use Duralast Gold and they have been great for me. I've kicked around the idea of building a 4s LiPo battery for my truck. I built one as a stand alone for an enduro dirt bike a while back and it was amazing. The problem is getting a continuous charger to run off the alternator that won't over charge and start automatically.