Still working on the no Bus thing. Found I had some obd info. 1 code which said over volt on temp sensor. So, I checked it out and it was broken at the intake. I ordered a new one and a new pigtail, since the wiring was kind of jacked up.
Got a sneaking suspicion about the overheating of the engine and decided to add water to the bottom of the block up to the water pump holes, since the heads are brand new. I bought it just after a cold snap here and even though there was a clear line of well water sediment on the water pump that made me think the block was okay when I pulled it apart, I still had a funny feeling about it. See that sediment line where water drained out of the heads, but not the block?
And I had two freeze plugs that had jumped out of place. One, luckily, was right above the starter. Very easy to get to. The other, was right behind the ps engine mount.
While the front cover was off, I was able to use my flower watering can with the small spout to fill the block on each side with a bit of water.
So, with one plug on each side having been chucked out, I decided to hedge my bets and get a couple of those rubber plugs you can tighten to fit. 10 bucks. Worked great. Hardest part was jacking up the engine and taking the mount loose. One bonus I found was that the catalog shows the wrong expansion plug size for the block side, so now I know they're actually 1-5/8 instead of 1-1/3 inch. Gonna let the block soak over night and see if it pees on the driveway or leaves any telltale leakage from the other freeze plugs. Or if I get water in a cylinder, in the oil, etc.
The other good news is that the plug that was still behind the engine mount wasn't at all rusted. It was pushed out. So, if the block is okay it should be fine to just put a couple of plugs back in and roll with it.
My wife made a pan of brownies. I've had enough of this truck for one day. Y'all be good.