4.0L Ranger operating Temp?

[4wheeltom]

Does anyone know what the normal operating temp for a 4.0L Ranger. The Ranger I bought a couple months ago is driving me nuts. It has a mechanical gauge and was reading from 200F-210F. The I did a tune up and fixed a small coolant leak, loose hose clamp on the heater hose, after that it was running
210F-220F and spiked to 230 at one point, scared the hell out of me. Today I replaced the T-stat and the radiator, started to leak after back flushing it. It still is floating between 210-220, is this were they normally run. Water pump and fan clutch appeared to be in good working order and would rather not replace if I don't need to, money is tight. Any information would be helpful.

 

[Maniak]

Where's the mechanica sending? I keep my after market coolant temp sending units in the heater/bypass hose instead of in the head since I want the temp of the coolant, not the head.

On the 4.0 ohv in the explorer it's running about 5f under the thermostat temp until it gets hot out then it runs right about at the tempt of the thermostat (180f in my case) to about 5f over.

It does spike a little bit higher than thermostat temp (10f) on the initial thermostat opening but after that spike it's fine..

I'm in a hot climate which is why I went with the 180f thermostat. I don't need the extra heat a 195 thermostat would give... I just wanted the extra room, just in case, for when its 110f+

~Mark

 

[boominXplorer]

Probably have air in the system. Let it run for awhile with the rad cap off. Anything over 205 is too hot. OEM temp is 192, replacement t-stats come 195 which is just fine.

 

[4wheeltom]

The only T-stat I could find around here was a 198F, that's what everyone's computers recommended as well as the Ford Dealership. Its the same temp as the old one. I was starting to think it was air in the system as well so I rechecked coolant level after it cooled down, It was low so I refilled and took it for a drive again. It helped a little is now running between 205-215. Hoping it still just has a bit of air in it still, but haven't checked yet.

 

[Icuff4cash]

Areostar owner

Hello my name is Robert and a fourm member on Aerostar. I had the same problem until I read the factory service manual. I have a 94-4.0 auto with tow package. It says in the manual my Aerostar has a cross flow cooling. Which means if you don't follow it to the tee your going to run hot and possibly over heat. I bought my van it ran fine but I flushed it. Filled it and the temp guage would swing to hi if I parked on hill or got cought at drive threws. I went nuts until I spoke to Brooklyn. The cap is a 2 position unit and you must go threw all 2 positions while bleeding the air out of the system. If you don't it's nuts city this is for an areostar hope this helps.
1.run van 5 minutes until warm only.
2 wrap towel around cap and remove cap.
3. Keep filling up could take 3/4 times as air will gulp water mix. Once filled to neck replace cap to first position only remove over flow bottle cap start engine.
4. Run until upper hose is warm this should remove air.
5.warp cap remove check level. It took me 3 times to refill waiting 2 minutes in between fill ups. Refill to top of neck and secure cap to second closing and replace over flow cap. Start and hope your done.
This fixed my problem which was like yours. Check for cross flow cooling and condition of rat cap.