So about two weeks ago, I was driving down my road on a really windy, rainy day. Once second there was no tree in front of me, the next second, there was. I plow through the old tree and then pull over to see the damage. There was very little body damage (small part of my grill broke), but the small branch that broke through my grill went right through my AC evaporator core. It did not touch my radiator. Immediately after the incident, my truck started to run a few degrees warmer. My truck normally runs around 185 F, even on a 95 F day while towing a 23 foot boat for 10 miles. Now my gauge will hover around 190 F and oscillate between 190 and 200, depending on my driving. I know this is in the normal operating temp but the tree through the core had a direct relationship to the heat increase. Now I drive about 35 miles to work everyday and I don't want my truck to overheat. Any ideas? I'll post up pics of the core in a second, I need to switch computers. Thanks.

 

a small branch went through your a/c evap or what not in front? its a good possibility that the fins got bent on it and are not letting the same amount of air through. one thing is pop yor hood and try hosing your radiator out, use a pressure washer and blow the water through to the outside, you may have some dirt plugging fins too. it sounds more like bent fins since its only that little heat difference.

 

Yup like petrou said Id bet on some bent fins. As long as no core damage you can bend them back with something thin like a screwdriver-very tedious process good luck.