Seems like I've gone ahead and made a new episode of I Love Lucy, or 3 Stooges, or .... well, name a moron, the comparison will work.

Last friday my band played a concert fairly close to home, but I had to drive about half an hour to pick up the drummer, so we did. When we got to his place, I noticed that the temp gauge was reading pretty hot, and Gina was hearing a kinda popping noise under the doghouse of our van, so I popped the hood to check, and saw the antifreeze boiling in the overflow tank. Crap. Well, there was nothing broken anywhere, I expected it was a bad thermostat, and since we were on a schedule that night, I decided to gently push on after waiting for the engine to cool. We made it about halfway to our show when I decided we should stop and coof off again, and when we finally got to the show she was really cooking. Not boiling over yet, but I have one of those pressure release radiator caps with a whistle in it, and it was really singing lol! We made it to the show, so that part was over.... Getting home, different story. We were only about 20 mins from home, so I figured we could make that easily. Yeah. I had to stop for another cool off about halfway there, since the gauge jumped off the markers and we actually started blowing steam. When we finally pulled in my driveway, she let go. Cap blew off, the overflow cracked, and so did the smaller hose feeding the overflow... Steam everywhere, it was a mess.

I was fairly sure I knew what was wrong  anyhow, so I flushed the system, replaced the damaged parts, pulled the top hose to replace the thermostat, and.... found it didn't have one. (Not a problem on a 26 year old truck with a V8!) What was a problem, though, is that I now had no idea why it overheated. I had no leaking until it blew out in my driveway, no obvious blockages in the hoses or radiator, (I did flush it all out, so that would have shown itself). I was stumped. My Dad even suggested maybe a bad head gasket, which I had doubts about that being the problem, but it almost made sense, so I was ready to either do that, or pretty much throw in the towel on what's been a really reliable and much loved in our family van for several years.... I was just sick.

I decided to try putting it all back together, fill it with water and fire it up, just to watch the gauge and watch what the van was actually doing, so, with the engine cover off inside, that's what I did. Sure enough, the temp started to climb. That's when I noticed that the fan wasn't turning.

This would be a good time for me to mention that the day before, I got really tired of the power steering belt chirping at me, and since the tensioners are bad on that pulley, I'd just cut off the belt, measured it, and bought a slightly shorter one to replace it with. I just hadn't gotten around to putting it on yet. (Who needs power steering, right?!) Well, I do. 'Cause the same belt runs the fan.... and the water pump.

hawk, the thermostat does perform a function, it slows the flow of coolant so it remains in the radiator a sufficient amount of time to cool off.

are the tensioner/idler pulleys metal? if they are, you can replace the bearing rather than purchase new tensioners/idlers

glad you figured it all out!! couldn't figure mine out except for some reason the motor is gone! Poosibly from a clogged cadaletic conv. hmmmmm well now the car sits with no motor -- just waiting to afford another one UHG Sure wish I was mechanically inclined!!

Now you know why Moe was always so mad...

nyuck nyuck!

You and Buffy will have stories to share!!! LOL

OK I know I'm getting old but...................how did that relate to me?????....LOL

at least there was no mention of sheep

Dragon... I think it had something to do with making a Boo, Boo....

Exactly lol. you go he wrong way down one way streets and use the wrong dishwasher soap, I had to find my own creative ways to make an oaf of myself lol

LOLOLO LOLOL Hawk......we are going to start calling you Lucy, too!!!

got it....it don't hurt so bad when ya laugh at yourself now does it

Not anymore. I asked Gina to slam hy head in the hood. I don't feel nothin! LOL

Best part was fixin it with a $6 belt that I already had.....

He forgets to mention he wasted nearly an entire week of paid vacation because we couldn't go anywhere (and I had such an exciting week planned too!) in a van that was overheating.

And I had silently thought to myself, I wonder if the power steering belt had anything to do with the problems it was suddenly having. I even bit my dad's head off the morning after the show because he said Nate probably messed something up himself and I was insistent that my dh knew what he was doing =D

should of yelled for me i would of stopped over and told ya the problem lol im not that far away

Crapola I'm no help...I just drive em..yer talking cages ight? bikes I fixm cages I jet drive m

Wait... you said you had to pick up your drummer? Are you sure you're not the drummer? Sounds like somethin' a drummer would do... I'm just sayin'....

Well.... I play any instrument I can get my hands on.... so.... yeah, I guess I'm a drummer LOL

I get people calling me all the time at the shop. "I just did some work on my vehicle and now I have a problem"
I always tell them to look at where they worked on it, "you did something wrong".

No way could I have screwed it up. Must have been something else that coincidentally failed while I had my hands in the motor!