Over the weekend, I moved from Orlando to Kansas city. No biggie... It's only 1200 miles. The old girl runs great... It'll be fine... Right? I did a bunch of maintenance in anticipation of the drive, and felt confident that all was well. I loaded up the truck with all my stuff... Including about 800lbs worth of tools. I decided to break the trip up into two legs (I'm too old to drive 20 hours straight) . First, I headed up to Waynesville, NC to see my parents. It was right at 10 hours. Went perfectly fine. No issues what so ever. The second halfhalf of the trip was a different story. I left NC at 5am, and headed down the mountain. By the time I made it to Kentucky (a bit of history first. I have a pin hole leak in one of my a/c lines, so I have to put a can of refrigerant in every few weeks. Also, the truck overheated a while back, and I think I have either a cracked head or a small break in the head gasket, so I have to add coolant every few weeks as well), before the issues started. I was due for some gas, and I notice that my temp was running a bit warmer. No big deal, I'll grab a jug of coolant. Got her topped off, and ready to go. I started the truck, it idled while I put on my seat belt, the it just shut off. I know, right... What the hell? Started right back up, and I heard a loud screeching noise. Popped the hood to see sparks coming from the clutch one the a/c compressor. Like I said, I'm old... I'm not driving without a/c. Especially on a 92 degree day! So, I looked up the nearest auto parts store, and headed over. $200 and 15 minutes later, I had a brand new compressor installed and charged up. Back on the road! Made it about 15 miles before the next issue. I looked down at just the right moment to see my temp gauge shoot up to to the A. Turns out my radiator cap failed. Next exit, another parts store. New cap, topped it off again. Back on the road. It never got too hothot, but the rest of the afternoon, I had to keep the speed around 65. Any faster and the temp would start to come up. It was full of coolant, my pump is only a few months old, severe duty fan clutch, 180 degree thermostat... It should NOT be running that warm. Only thing I can think of is that the engine was presurizing the cooling system. That's probably what made my cap fail. She made it here to kc, so I'll be diving into this over the next several days.
I know there are a lot of guys on here that are way smarter than me... What are your thoughts on this?