This weekend I replaced the intake gaskets following shoeboxes cam removal guide. It started up great, but the radiator fans won’t kick on and the temp is steadily rising.

I replaced the coolant that was drained, would burping possibly solve this issue, or is there something I could have forgotten?

 

Okay false alarm… burping it did the trick

 

Do the fans come on now? Burping shouldn’t have affected that, unless it was low enough on coolant that the sensor wasn’t submerged.

 

Most likely the gauge sensor, located toward the rear in the driver side head was in an air bubble, and was heating up due to no coolant. The gauge indicated heating up.

But the PCM coolant temp sensor in the water pump base was fully submerged in circulating cooling, and told the PCM the coolant was below the fan turn on temp (226°F), so the fan(s) didn't turn on.

 

it was low enough for the thermostat hose to be mostly empty. I gave it a few squeezes and burped quite a bit of air out of the bleeders. And it worked right away.