Hey whats up everyone, Im will, new here to the 4R forum...it's the first forum I've ever been on sooo sorry if I ask a question thats already been covered.

My truck just started over heating the other day... but i thinkin that its the radiator... the bottom of the radiator stays cold at 80 degrees and the top of it stays over 200 degrees... clogged maybe??

It takes a lot of junk to clog a radiator, unless you (or someone else ) has tried to fix a leak in the cooling system and added some "Stop-Leak" additive which could clog the radiator.

I would check the thermostat. It may not be opening fully anymore and not allowing the coolant to flow properly, and would fit the symptoms you describe.

yea... i had fixed it before with that stuff that supposed to stop leaks...

Ya, I've seen that stuff cause more problems than it fixes...

In that case, the only thing you can do is pull the radiator and try to backflush it, and hopefully clean out all that junk, but you may ultimately end up needing to replace the radiator as that would probably be cheaper than taking the clogged radiator somewhere to have it cleaned out.

Be sure to flush all that stuff out of your engine before putting in the new radiator.

how do i flush it out with the radiator off... do i have to start the truck and let it flow out?? u seem to know alot these problems... can you help me out by just tellin me how to do it... please... thanks again... o yea... i got a new radiator coming tomorro... so i should flush it out before i put that one in?? right?? i just need ur advice... thanks again

Here's how I would do it:

Prestone sells flush kits (Wal-Mart, Autozone, O'Reilly's) pretty cheap, which is simply a yellow plastic "Tee" fitting that you install in one of your heater hoses, and has a connector that fits the male end of your typical garden hose.

Just install that "Tee" fitting, connect your garden hose and turn on the water and flush until it keeps coming out clear from the open radiator hoses, turn off the water, let it drain out of the motor, then repeat a couple more times. You can start the engine to make sure the water pump gets flushed out, but no need to leave it running the whole time, and DON'T leave it running when the water is not running.

That should be thorough enough.