water temp

i was driving home the other night and my check gages light came on. i looked down and realized that my water temp was near the max, around 250. i turned the heater on full blast and the water temp dropped almost immediatley down to normal temp, just under 200. i thought i had a bad thermostat so i replaced that. after doing so the water got as high as 230 but not any higher. i checked the coolant and found that it was really low but i have not noticed anything leaking out onto the ground. i replaced the lost coolant and my temp stays lower, but it does still get up to 210-220. i work with a guy who said it may be squeezing coolant in through the head gasket. he said this is a common problem with the 4.3 motor around 70,000 miles (mine has 60000). this is the first i have heard of such a problem. has anyone else heard of this? or have any suggestions? thanks

I have heard of this, and mine did it. Next time you change our oil, look for signs of coolant in the oil, alos look in the coolant resivoir, becaus i believe that oil can get into the cooling system as well. This will cause coolant to be more of a brown color. Also look for some green or yellowish condensation on the inside of the filler cap and neck. These are some indicators. Mine had about 110,000 before it started to do this noticeably.
Also look for the coolant to leak out of the bottom of the radiator, sometimes it is hard to notice but it will leak out one of the bottom corners and onto the frame. My friends did this and the leak was so slow that the coolant rarely hit the ground. It would leak to frame and either get blown off by clutch fan or evaporate.

i was driving home the other night and my check gages light came on. i looked down and realized that my water temp was near the max, around 250. i turned the heater on full blast and the water temp dropped almost immediatley down to normal temp, just under 200. i thought i had a bad thermostat so i replaced that. after doing so the water got as high as 230 but not any higher. i checked the coolant and found that it was really low but i have not noticed anything leaking out onto the ground. i replaced the lost coolant and my temp stays lower, but it does still get up to 210-220. i work with a guy who said it may be squeezing coolant in through the head gasket. he said this is a common problem with the 4.3 motor around 70,000 miles (mine has 60000). this is the first i have heard of such a problem. has anyone else heard of this? or have any suggestions? thanks

Your mechanic is full of shit. This is not a common problem.

1.) Tell me this, when the engine is dead cold in the morning, open the rad cap and tell me if the coolant is not right up to the top.

2.) If it is, check the oil and see if it is milky looking.

3.) If it is not up to the top of the rad, install a new rad cap after you have filled the rad with premixed dexcool coolant only.

4.) You didn't mix green into the orange coolant did you?

5.) Also, what year is your truck and have you ever had the cooling system flushed and filled?

6.) What color is the coolant?

The 4.3 blowing head gaskets is not very common. I have only done 3 and that was due to a water pump leaking and overheating on all 3.
Now the 2.2 in the car and trucks blow all the time.
Fireplug