Asking for engine-Savy advice!!! Help me!

[Erik the Awful]

Some engines are fine with tossing the thermostat. Some aren't. Gutting the thermostat is the safest way to crutch a situation.

If you absolutely have to drive it, go back to that 160* thermostat and don't go on long drives. In the meantime get a junkyard motor out of a wrecked truck - if the truck's not wrecked it might be in the junkyard because the heads are cracked and blowing coolant. Do a simple, solid rebuild on that junkyard motor. No crazy hot rod stuff, it's your daily driver. Be sure and get the block and heads magnafluxed and pressure checked.

 

[StevensWMR]

Was clearly a head gasket cause it leaked compression into the cooling system I guess and blew the upper hose twice. And then the radiator. That’s with 180* thermostat the first time and no thermo the second hose and radiator. This was a few days ago. It put me in a bind because I needed a ride and I didn’t have any savings after my girl needed help after she totaled her car thanks to a hit & run. So I got a ride straight to a dealership while my truck was towed to my house and I bought a used 2018 Camry because I couldn’t afford to fill my truck up everyday as it was. So while i rebuild my bank cushion, I’ll at least have a reliable car to get to work. Extremely happy with it btw, I don’t really fit in it well and my injuries from a previous wreck make it rough to get in and out of a car but it drives and rides great. Checked my mileage on paper three times and that’s mix of city , 90-110mph highway, and idling, and all three times averaged 34-36mpg. Outstanding. Just needs a front valence because the front definitely floats at 100. I digress, once I get my cushion back to a healthy level, I’ll be trading car for a 2021 dmax (so most bugs will be fixed from 2020 model). Keeping the CCSB but gonna speed up on my 12 valve swap. Probably after I get the 2021 dmax because if I get itncomverted to 12v Cummins I’ll not worry about the ‘21.