93 explrer "overheating" issues

[fabioz84]

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting somenthing.
It's my honor to be a part of this wounderful community.
Now my question to you guys is not a common one. This has been thowing my head and my mechanich's head around for the past year or so.
My exploder is getting HOT!!!!
My temp guage gets over the L and almost to the line clode to tehe red one and then I tun it off so it does not overheat.
EVERYTHING in the coling system is new,T stat , Clutch, fan blades, radiator (3core), ac condensor, ac compressor, accumulator, radiator cap (13lbs from FORD), hoses, heater core and related hoses, water pump, temp sensors form ford the guage one and the computer one. Whenthe needle is at the L range I used the temperature gun and it showed 205 - 210 at the top hose of my radiator.
Also the coolant was checked for exhaust and oil contamination, no luck.
It does not leak any coolan and I do not have to refill it eather.
Ths is really wierd and is driving me insane.

P.S: It gets hot in traffic or at idle with the A/C on, but as soon as I start moving the temp rushes down between the N and the R.

Please help. Thanks

 

[TheJMan]

Since it sounds like you replaced everything in the cooling system, there are only two questions I have.

1) What is your water/coolant mixture?
2) Did you or your mechanic "burp" the system to remove any air?

 

[shamaal]

Are you losing any coolant at all; a couple of cups every other day perhaps?

Assuming the installations were done correctly and parts are still good, is there any oil (rainbow) in your radiator water or water in your oil when changed? When the car is started in the morning is there white smoke (steam) coming from the exhaust? Ther have been a couple instances this year where the head gasket has leaked causing the coolant to get to hot to cool off as designed. Cylinder compression checks are easy to do and will let you know if there's ahead gasket problem. A cooling system pressure check may show it also.

 

[peties3]

Did you replace the dryer and clean the orfice on the A/C system? A high discharge pressure on the a/c system will cause abnormal high engine temps because the condensor sits right in front of the radiator. When the condensor gets too hot, it will no longer condense the coolant gas back to liquid.
Another thing, Have you done a radiator flush? Not just change the fluid but a real chemical flush?
Mark

 

[brttwttnr]

Thats what I love about this site, everybody is willing to throw things out there that someone may have overlooked.

 

[ma96782]

Everything new.....humm.....not leaking coolant and no head crack......

BTW, is it an auto trans or manual?

IF we were to say it isn't the cooling system and IF we were to be looking elsewhere............Any codes? I ask.....cause IF it were running lean.....or w/ too much advance..........it would be HOT.

Aloha, Mark

PS.....there was another thread that suggests a check for a partially or clogged cat.

I assume you got enough OIL in it. And, the right weight.

 

[fabioz84]

Since it sounds like you replaced everything in the cooling system, there are only two questions I have.

1) What is your water/coolant mixture?
2) Did you or your mechanic "burp" the system to remove any air?

The corrent coolant mixture is 70 water 30 antifreeze and I also tryed the 50/50.
Yes my mechanich burped the system

 

[fabioz84]

Are you losing any coolant at all; a couple of cups every other day perhaps?

Assuming the installations were done correctly and parts are still good, is there any oil (rainbow) in your radiator water or water in your oil when changed? When the car is started in the morning is there white smoke (steam) coming from the exhaust? Ther have been a couple instances this year where the head gasket has leaked causing the coolant to get to hot to cool off as designed. Cylinder compression checks are easy to do and will let you know if there's ahead gasket problem. A cooling system pressure check may show it also.

It does not leak any coolant at all, we3 did a cooling system pressure check and it held up really well also they cheked for oil and exhaust gases in the coolant and it was clean

 

[fabioz84]

Did you replace the dryer and clean the orfice on the A/C system? A high discharge pressure on the a/c system will cause abnormal high engine temps because the condensor sits right in front of the radiator. When the condensor gets too hot, it will no longer condense the coolant gas back to liquid.
Another thing, Have you done a radiator flush? Not just change the fluid but a real chemical flush?
Mark

The reeason of why we changed allo f those A/C parts is because the pressure was encredibly high, now he A/C is ice cold even in 110 degree days.
For the flush it has been done severaltimes both chemical and pressure.

 

[fabioz84]

Everything new.....humm.....not leaking coolant and no head crack......

BTW, is it an auto trans or manual?

IF we were to say it isn't the cooling system and IF we were to be looking elsewhere............Any codes? I ask.....cause IF it were running lean.....or w/ too much advance..........it would be HOT.

Aloha, Mark

PS.....there was another thread that suggests a check for a partially or clogged cat.

I assume you got enough OIL in it. And, the right weight.

It is an an automatic and the trasn was rebiuld 40000miles ago.
No codes no light. I have a coil pack can the timing be off? (stupid question huh?)
How can you tell if is a partially clogged cat and yes there is oil and yes its the wright weight.
I do not smell any rotten eggs.

 

[Jason94sport]

How bad is it?
cause my temp gauge starts to read high when i'm stopped for over 10min with the ac on, then goes back down when I'm moving. My cooling system is all new also. But it only does this if it's over 85 out, & doesn't do it all the time. Recently I stopped at a store & left someone in it running for 15 min & the gauge didn't move from the middle. Ran a few miles & was stuck in some traffic for about 5min & it started to raise. It never gets past L though.

 

[shamaal]

As you guessed, something's wrong. These systems do work well pretty much regardless of the ambient temp. My '91 never goes over the 1/4 mark.
My next guess would have been a collapsing suction hose, but you've changed the hoses. The most obvious choices are the thermostat followed by the clutch/fan but you've changed those.

An outside possibility is a bad reading gauge. The sensor resistance chart can be found in post #4 in
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165007&highlight=ect

For your 205-210 temp you should be reading <2000 Ohms. I don't know the normal operating temperature of the vehicle, perhaps somebody else has the figure. The thermostat opens at 190 deg and then the temp will stabilize. Sorry I can't be more help. In the event you figure this out, kindly drop a note on this thread and let us know.

 

[fabioz84]

I will look into it when I go back to work on Monday, my multimeter is there
Anyway besides that how do you check if your temp guage is good or not?

 

[l1k2gadd]

On older Fords there was a Voltage Regulator on the instrument panel wiring trace assembly. In the 60's it was attached to the wiring that fed the instrument panel guages. Be observant of the positions of ALL of your guages when on the road, especially in traffic when this occurs. Watch all of your guages when the temperature guage goes high. See if the gas guage and oil guage also climb at the same time. I wouldn't think that Ford has deleted the Voltage Regulator on the newer vehicles. If all of the guages climb when the temperature guage climbs the Instrument Panel Voltage Regulator might be bad.... ....BUT, also check to see if the ALTERNATOR might be putting out an outrageously high voltage at times. The Instrument Panel Voltage Regulator could be trying to compensate for these HIGH VOLTAGE instances. Your Alternator's Voltage Regulator might be faulty, allowing a high voltage condition to be present only at times like higher than normal temperatures (idling in traffic creates higher temperatures under the hood). Remember, newer electronic components are nice, but when components start to break down they can cause all kinds of crazy things to happen. Good luck.

 

[talincolnlsc]

mine did the same thing but common sense told me to put a manual gauge on it. the stock gages are only basically dummy gages. i dont trust them.how do you know that its not a faulty stock gauge?

 

[BrooklynBay]

One way to tell if your engine is overheating is by listening to it when your gauge jumps up. Do you hear any pinging sounds? You can't always tell by the gauge. One time my lower radiator hose broke. I felt the engine resisting as I tried to accelerate. While at idle, I heard a pinging sound. I got suspicious, and turned on my heater. It was blowing out air at the same outside temperature as if I would have only turned on the vent setting. I opened up the hood, and saw coolant spraying out of the lower hose. The gauge on the dashboard didn't register because there was no coolant touching the sensor. The heat didn't come out of the vent for the same reason. The next time this happens, pull over, and listen to the sound of the engine.

 

[1IronMike]

How bad is it?
cause my temp gauge starts to read high when i'm stopped for over 10min with the ac on, then goes back down when I'm moving. My cooling system is all new also. But it only does this if it's over 85 out, & doesn't do it all the time. Recently I stopped at a store & left someone in it running for 15 min & the gauge didn't move from the middle. Ran a few miles & was stuck in some traffic for about 5min & it started to raise. It never gets past L though.

Mine does this too!. I was going for a bad cat causing too much back pressure. Is there a test for this?

 

[fabioz84]

One way to tell if your engine is overheating is by listening to it when your gauge jumps up. Do you hear any pinging sounds? You can't always tell by the gauge. One time my lower radiator hose broke. I felt the engine resisting as I tried to accelerate. While at idle, I heard a pinging sound. I got suspicious, and turned on my heater. It was blowing out air at the same outside temperature as if I would have only turned on the vent setting. I opened up the hood, and saw coolant spraying out of the lower hose. The gauge on the dashboard didn't register because there was no coolant touching the sensor. The heat didn't come out of the vent for the same reason. The next time this happens, pull over, and listen to the sound of the engine.

I noticed that it does not ping or struggle, butwhen it gets about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way the fan clutch really kicks in it sounds like a jet plane.
How can I tell that I have a faulty guage? Besides replacing it with another aftermarket one is threre some kind of thest that I can do to it.
I was thinking a set up like ALDIVE did on his exp, with digital guages on the A pillar.
Also before I forget when it gets high in temperature the engine jumps up to about 1500 to 2000 rpm and the temp starts to go down. This happends when it gets close to the white line before the red.
Hope this info helps
Thanks for all of your help so far.

 

[ma96782]

Some of my stock answers:

T-stats can be checked w/ a thermometer and a pot of hot water………or just replace them……….they aren’t that expensive.
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While running and with the engine off, make a visual check of the hoses for a hole, check for leaks at the connections. If it passed the pressure test, you should be OK. But, still check for a, "too soft" hose, which may collapse.
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Test the cap (pressure test). Or if you don‘t have the test equipment……..replace it, if you can't remember when it was last done........or if it's been more than a couple years since it was last changed.
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Perhaps, it’s time for new anti-freeze………don’t forget to mix it right.
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Fan Clutch...............when cold (engine off) try spinning the fan....it should spin freely or with very little resistance. If it won't spin.....replace.

When hot (engine off) try spinning the fan........in some cases it will feel like it's, "locked up," or 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.
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The below elec. tests are the, "cheap test methods"........there are more sophisticated tests with values, that can be run.

Test for the dash thermo gauge................disconnect the wire from the temp 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..........replace, replacement is cheap.

Aloha, Mark

PS.....I suppose.....that a clogged (or partially clogged) cat would throw a code....but, than again.....DO I ALWAYS follow what a computer says? The cat was only a suggestion......someone else, could add in their experiance w/ cats. But, I would also suspect that a clogged cat would affect things at all engine speeds and through a multitudes of conditions, afterall it's clogged.

 

[1IronMike]

Thanks Mark. All good stuff. Will try the gauge test, lost an engine because it did not go past 3/4 once and I think a new cap will be next.