1994 Ford Ranger Overcooling

[steichen82]

Hope you can help me...its driving me crazy. I live in Iowa, so it gets pretty cold here. My truck has always ran cool, even on a hot summer day.To start, I now that the instrument gauges are not the most reliable, but thats not the issue.I can run my truck to work(approx. 20 minutes or so in heavy traffic) turn it off,jump out and pop the radiator cap hand stick my finger in the water no prob. Feels like warm bath water as does the heat coming into the cab.The needle barely reaches the first hash mark after the C. I have now replaced the thermostat twice. First time I put in a cheaper one, so I thought that it might be an issue. I just replaced it again this weekend with a Stant 195 degree(I went with the most expensive one they had) and flushed the system also, and now it runs even cooler. And yes, the thermostat is in the right way...copper pellet and spring facing engine. I used an infrared thermometer to see what kinda temps I had on the engine, and 158 degrees was the hottest spot on the engine I could find. The upper radiator hose was warm, as well as bothe hoses going to the heater core, but the lower one was cold.Any Ideas out there? I sure would appreciate it.

 

[JMan689]

So why are you complaining?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! You could put an electric fan in which is controlled by an electronic controller to fine tune the temperature it will turn on.

 

[steichen82]

Too cold to stick my head out the window in order to drive.Lol. I could let it idle in the drive for 30 minutes but not get it to really defrost until I drive and put some load on it. Heater works fine,...its only able to put out the temperature going through the core though. When it gets to be 20 below, I am sure that is not very good on an engine to run that cold. I have no prob with the temp of the engine in the summer, other than the crappy gas milage.

 

[JMan689]

Do what BrooklynBay said get an electric fan and just don't have it kick on for a long time.

 

[Jason94sport]

That's not really the solution. You need to find the cause. I would replace the coolant temp sensor & the little sensor for the temp gauge. Both are at the front of the engine next to the TS housing. Then if that did not work I would replace the radiator.
It is work to put in an electric fan, that would be a last resort.

 

[BrooklynBay]

It could be that the fan clutch is stuck, and doesn't control the amount of slippage at certain temperatures. It's like it's running at full speed all of the time.

 

[steichen82]

Well, I dont think its a temperature sensor issue, as it is reading a cool temperature and the engine and water temps are physically cool and they cant make it warmer. As far as the fan clutch is concerned, I have thought about that. I was able to spin it with little resistance when the engine was cold and when it warmed up it felt the same, but I am thinking it probably wasnt warm enought to fully engage. How much resistance should the fan have when cold? Should it freewheel?

 

[BrooklynBay]

It's never suppose to free wheel. That means that it's no good.

 

[steichen82]

I would have to say the fan clutch is good then, plus if it was running all the time I should hear the fan roar, especially when accelerating. As I said before, the upper radiator hose and both heater hoses were warm when I got to work this morning, but the lower was cold.....that cant be right.

 

[JMan689]

I've never heard a fan kick in from inside a vehicle and never heard it "roar" when accelerating.

 

[BrooklynBay]

My fan clutch was bad during the summer. It felt a little stiff when I first tried to grab it, but after giving it a little movement, it would feel loose, and free wheel. My front seal on the transmission would blow out while doing highway driving around 50-60 MPH. The temperature gauge never showed that it was over heating.

 

[steichen82]

BrooklandBay,

At my work, they have a 93 Ford Aerostar that does the exact same thing as my 94 Ranger, and it has a V8. It never gets past the cold hash mark and puts out minimal heat. I see that you have a 93 Aerostar also. How does it do for temperature?

 

[BrooklynBay]

All of these vans seem to give an average amount of heat. The 93 has a 4.0L. The other 3 have a 3.0L.

 

[Willard]

It sounds to me like the fan clutch is stuck on. It should only roar maybe on the first cold start acceleration and then it should quit, and you shouldn't be able to hear it.

 

[steichen82]

Where does the needle on the gauge top out at on your 93? Both of my vehicles might get slightly past the cold hash mark on a 45 degree day such as today. I would think like most vehicles, it should be almost pointing north toward the center of the gauge.

 

[steichen82]

and DevilBoy, you misunderstood. I said if the clutch on the fan were stuck, I should be able to hear it. That is not the case. The fan is okay, I beleive.

 

[Willard]

my bad. i see that now.

 

[ma96782]

Are you sure you're getting "circulation?" And......have you flushed recently?

___________________

Some tests..........

What's The Stat Recheck?

Tstat
Coolant temp sensor
Fan clutch
Fan
Radiator
temp guage
Check in that order
_________________________


Fan Clutch...............when cold (engine off) try spinning the fan....it will spin freely or with a little resistance. If it won't spin....replace.

When hot (engine off) try spinning the fan....it will be like there is syrup/glue holding it back. Tougher to spin, than when it was cold. If so, It's OK. If, it spins like a top.....replace.

Taking forever to warm up.............replace thermostat. Since you're gonna drain the fluid.........good idea to flush and get some new anti-freeze in there. If your anti-freez is fairly new........go ahead and save the old fluid to reuse.

Test thermo gauge................disconnect the wire from the sender unit.........KOEO...........ground that wire.........it will peg the gauge on the hot side............disconnect from ground and it will return.

Sender unit.........if you suspect it..........replacement is cheap.

Aloha, Mark

 

[Explodr94]

Sounds like the fan clutch.