engine temp.

[hamza]

my explorer is acting wierd. At idle it reaches proper operating temperature, but when driving its running cool. i live in the midwest and it is winter, but it should not be doing that, what could be making it run cold.

 

[spiper]

I gotta 91, I dunno what the correct oper. temp. is but mine always reads between N & O.

 

[BadBoy]

Mine dose the same thing and i live in hawaii.

 

[oahrens]

Welcome to the board!!

Time to troubleshoot....Check/test>>
Coolant lose?
Radiator Cap
Thermostat
These are some of the the easier things.

Buy a Chiltons/Haynes.
Do a Pressure test on the cooling system.
BTW- the temp gauge is 'real-time' and not that great.

 

[crossman]

What is the proper degree thermostat that the Explorer is supposed to have in it? (91 Ex. Sport) Last year, I put a 190* thermostat in and the operating temperature has been higher than what it was before I put the new thermostat in.

 

[oahrens]

As far as I've seen there are 2 different stats out there.
I believe the OEM is 198. Here's a thread that covers it.
Dead Link Removed

 

[TPLYNCH]

Thermostat. Mine was acting similarly. Just had the thermo replaced, now guage is steady in the middle.

 

[Ross-N-Chicago]

hamza,

fords run cool, no biggie. t stat temp rating should be 195 deg, don't switch it without reprogramming your PCU or your mileage and performance will suffer. also, a new water pump will deliver better cooling efficiency as well if you have replaced recently. the pressure for our radiator caps is 16 lbs.

 

[hamza]

i thought i should mention that i did replace the water pump 1500 miles, but not the thermostat but it has only been running cold since the last 100 miles, coincidently the weather here has dropped to 20 degrees. The heat works fine. Could it be i don't have the correct 50/50 ratio?

 

[jimmiecakes]

Your heater core is nothing more than a mini radiator. Up here where men are men and sheep are nervous, it's not uncommon for the heater to leach enough heat out of the coolant to drop the temperature guage.

+20°F doesn't qualify, near as I can figure. For some inexplicable reason, these things seem hard on T'stats... try that first.