Any mechanics on here?

Likely it is

Yes.

Best bet. Drain system. Flush with hose. Refill with distilled water. Run. Drain. Flush with distilled. Fill with coolant...Run truck, burp system.

Then run truck with the radiator cap off and look for any bubbles in the coolant. If there isn't, but you're noticing some contamination from somewhere... If a beater you don't wanna spend the money to fix, buy a bottle of blueseal poor and go. Follow instructions carefully, say a prayer, may fix it.

Honestly, could just be a dirty as hell coolant system. Algae can grow in them after all.

Fill it with coolant, and get someone to sit in the truck and run it while you stare at the coolant level. When it drops, add. Keep doing that until it doesn't drop any. Then run for a while with the cap on at altering rpms. You want all air bubbles out of the system.

The tool works, but you can do it nearly as well without it.

Ok that makes sense. So if i get bubbles or foam in coolant after i do all that then its probably blown gasket? The kiss of Death.

Does a 2000 have a radiator cap? I thought the only cap/access to add coolant is on the reservoir. You could pressure test the cooling system. Water pump fins may also be shot if you haven't flushed or changed water/coolant over the last 14-15 years.

Thanks for the help and the info. I really appreciate it.

And yes the only coolant access is the reservoir. No radiator cap.

Or coolant into the tranny, the SMOD mod sucks.



Strawberry milk shake of death.

How old is that coolant? I started using Rotella red ELC in my F150 and Ranger. The factory LL fill is well past due for a flush in that F150, that muddy color is rust because the corrosion inhibitors have been used up. Not a huge deal but you will have to flush the system and probably have a professional do it to get rid of all the sediment that is now reducing coolant flow and overheating your engine. Don't blame Ford for your lack of preventative maintenance.

I blame Ford for the explorer transmission. Junkyards are littered with explorers with garbage transmissions. Hence the class action lawsuit against them a few years back. My truck issues, probably my fault.