dbrannon79
I'm getting there!
Hey guys, since the beginning of winter is upon us I have noticed that my rig is taking longer the warm up and start to put any heat out of the vents. recently I have installed the cooling upgrade with the 2000+ GM water pump, thermal electric fan clutch and controller that I have set to come on at 200 degrees. 180 deg t-stat installed which I know I probably need to replace with the GM 190 degree one.
but I recently have been thinking about the heater hose routing that has me going bananas in my head! most all GM gassers I have wrenched on over the years have the heater circuit have the hoses all routed to two points on the engine circulating coolant between the block and the heater core. my rig has the one hose from the t-stat crossover (passenger side) going to the core and out to the cold side of the radiator. this routing is making me think that the pump is pushing coolant through the passenger side head, then splitting that flow where half of that goes to the heater core and into the radiator. the pump has to be picking up the amount of coolant that is pushed into the radiator through the heater and taking it back into the block hence taking a bit longer to heat up, especially now that I have a higher flow pump installed.
I have been wondering how other newer model 6.5 trucks have the heater hoses routed. I would think if both hoses were on the block, this would allow the heater to begin working faster and still allow the t-stat to do it's job maintaining the rated temp. on my truck the PO before me had installed a hand water valve like you find on a house water spigot inline on the heater hose going to the radiator. I decided to test out one theory by seeing how it warms up with that valve closed. I didn't count time or miles, but it was enough for me to notice it does warm up faster but stayed at the constant 180-185 deg temp. I shot several places on the block paying more attention to the #8 cylinder area to make sure there wasn't a big temp difference in that area. the entire system stayed within about 5 to 7 degrees.
Now I know I am going out on a limb here thinking like this, but I am wondering if the newer models used the plugged port on the water pump for the heater hose instead of it going to the radiator.
I would love to see photos on how others are routed on the different year models. again me thinking here, since the old pump from factory didn't have this port and the new one does.
but I recently have been thinking about the heater hose routing that has me going bananas in my head! most all GM gassers I have wrenched on over the years have the heater circuit have the hoses all routed to two points on the engine circulating coolant between the block and the heater core. my rig has the one hose from the t-stat crossover (passenger side) going to the core and out to the cold side of the radiator. this routing is making me think that the pump is pushing coolant through the passenger side head, then splitting that flow where half of that goes to the heater core and into the radiator. the pump has to be picking up the amount of coolant that is pushed into the radiator through the heater and taking it back into the block hence taking a bit longer to heat up, especially now that I have a higher flow pump installed.
I have been wondering how other newer model 6.5 trucks have the heater hoses routed. I would think if both hoses were on the block, this would allow the heater to begin working faster and still allow the t-stat to do it's job maintaining the rated temp. on my truck the PO before me had installed a hand water valve like you find on a house water spigot inline on the heater hose going to the radiator. I decided to test out one theory by seeing how it warms up with that valve closed. I didn't count time or miles, but it was enough for me to notice it does warm up faster but stayed at the constant 180-185 deg temp. I shot several places on the block paying more attention to the #8 cylinder area to make sure there wasn't a big temp difference in that area. the entire system stayed within about 5 to 7 degrees.
Now I know I am going out on a limb here thinking like this, but I am wondering if the newer models used the plugged port on the water pump for the heater hose instead of it going to the radiator.
I would love to see photos on how others are routed on the different year models. again me thinking here, since the old pump from factory didn't have this port and the new one does.
