"infrared non-contact thermometer" HA! No acess to one. Sorry.
I have been having issues with the cooling system for a while now.
When I first got the tryck it was fine. Then I noticed that I'd loose a little bit of coolant over a few weeks time so I put a coolant system sealer in. That seemed to fix the problem of the leak.
Then the leak came back and it started to over heat. So thats when I decided to check the thermostat. Here in St. Kitts they just take them out and leave it out, low and behold mine didn't have one at all. So I had my Dad send me one from the USA. In the mean time I flushed the system while waiting for the thermostat and did it again when I got it. After the thermostat was installed I had no problems for like 2 months. Oh yea, I also added another bottle of sealer.
Then last week (or whenever I started this post) my radiator was leaking like a civ. I had a crack in the lower tank like 6 inches long. Since a new radiator would cost me about $600US I decided to try to have it fixed. Our local welder soldered it for me for $50EC ($18.50US) and it hasn't leaked since.
But NOW it overheats ONLY when I push it. Like their is this road thats strait up a steep ass hill so, being a 4Runner kind of person, I decided to go up it. I'm in 1st gear going at like 3500rpm's and the temp started to go up. Once I got to the top I turned around and coasted down the hill and it went back down.
Yesterday a friend took his car to this radiator shop in town and I figured I'd ask the owner for his opinion on the matter. He's saying that the radiator might be cloged so I should try a flushing chemical. If that doesn't work he told me to come back and he would "rod" the core. I assume that means taking said rod and running it threw the core of the radiator thus physicaly removing any build up.
Does this sound like the next logical step?
Oh, and thanks for all your help guys!
P.S. I'll run my tap water threw a Britta filter if you think that would help.