Running cool? maybe its just me?

[Creager]

Hey guys, two weeks ago I flushed out my cooling system using Valvoline's 'Super Cleaner.' My cooling system was full of rust (caked on worse then the mud in the rear bumper) and in turn my heater died.

After using the cleaner my heater started working instantly; practically all of the rust was out of my cooling system. Literally, MAROON colored water would come out of my radiator; it looked like it was pooping a crayon Fast-forward two weeks later, (this week) when I flushed my cooling system again, there no dookie brown coolant. I was surprised. This system only needs to last me the rest of the winter, so I’m just trying to keep everything working. I plan on rebuilding the motor with fresh rings, yada yada, comp cam, and make an attempt to port, polish, and match my heads/intake; basically I have an entire (new, motorcraft!) cooling system sitting in boxes, waiting for me.

Back to reality, the engine doesn’t past 'N' on the temperature gauge. The 180 degree (Stant) I had in there was only a few months old (this summer), and didn’t show any signs of problem before the cleaning. I replaced it with a new Stant 195 degree thermostat, and also a new temperature sensor that is directly to the right of the thermostat. I made sure to 'burp' the system as needed... The best part about this, is when i first went to flush/clean the system, it only took about a gallon to fill up. Which was odd, because I thought it was supposed to take two, and the hanyes manual stated it was to take two! After I used the cleaner the system took a full two gallons to fill up, but that was after a few minutes of 'burping' and what not. The truck still doesn’t heat up past the N. At times it will get to the N, then it will drop back down about halfway to the line on the gauge; this line is just before the big C on the end of the gauge. It will seem to fluctuate between that ranges, not a huge range, but I've never seen it do this, from what I understand some fluctuation is normal.

Normally it's between the O and the R, and that’s where it was running before I used the super cleaner. It doesn’t drop below 25* degrees here for a low at night, and it’s usually 50 for a high. I did try running a piece of cardboard (as some advise on the board ) in front of the radiator (half of it), but it actually didn’t make a difference for me (come’ on its barely freezing here).

My gas mileage has suffered a little bit from this. Last night I ran out of gas at 309 miles (damnit i was 50 FEET away![from the gas station!]). Normally I run out at about 350 miles, hehe

Any thoughts? Is this simply NORMAL? Maybe its just I’m not used to a truck that’s running normal? haha

 

[Creager]

bump!

 

[sparky2263]

The Motorcraft sender is reliable as heck for running between between the "O" and the "R" on our gauges (with a 195 t-stat). Others are not so reliable. I think that's where the change lies.

 

[Creager]

The sender as in the brass(?) plug-sensor looking thing that threads in next to the thermo?

I had my stock motorcraft in there before and after i used that 'super cleaner' stuff, it was reading N then aswell. Afterward i did use an off-brand sensor, but it didnt make any change in the gauge.

 

[sparky2263]

Ground from the battery to the sheet metal good? Ground from back of block to sheetmetal?

Stants are high grade t-stats, maybe you just got a bad one. Got an infrared to double ck? I use the NAPA SuperStats. Maybe try one?

 

[Creager]

Nothing seems cruddie/intermittent, so my guess is that all my grounds are all pretty good. I figure if that were the problem, I'd have some other issues aswell... once i get out of work ill trace down that stuff, ya never know.

haha infrared, no kidding, never thought of that hah, this isnt something i can rent or maybe make a home is it?

hrm, so you think it might be the thermo? This would actually be my second Stant, two that are bad outta the box is kinda weird... i guess ill go try a third! haha

Just a note, i practically covered the entire radiator with cardboard, and its still not heating up past the N in normal. Which im finding very confusing, i was expecting the thing to overheat within minutes. Its only ~40 degrees today, engine is running rich and somewhat sluggish.

its gotta be the thermostat. If the water pump was going it, it would just go out wouldnt it? But it couldn't make the motor run colder if it was going out either, would it?

 

[sparky2263]

Easy ck. for a ground problem would be a voltmeter from the negative cable to the body of the sending unit. Should be less than a tenth of a volt. Any more than 2 tenths and you can expect lower readings due to increased resistance.

Handheld infrared's are less than 100 bucks these days. Very accurate and useful in many applications.

The NAPA SuperStats are good about not allowing any leakage through. If you can see light through the valve it'll have prolonged warm up.

 

[spdy0001]

I recently had alot of cooling issues as decribed in my thread in the driveline section. Basicly my guage was dancing around and I had no heat from the heater. Replaced the t-stat with a 195degree stant and still no change. After replacing the water pump my problem was solved, but now mine runs cool like yours. Of course it is getting to low teens and single digits for morning starts, but my X never did this last year. So im seeing what your seeing, but I don't think its normal. I do have access to a IR temp guage so I plan to do some testing soon

 

[Creager]

Interesting... i think in your case it might be normal... try the carboard in front of the radiator trick.

For me, it was only 46 degrees when i started up my truck this morning. I mentioned i had a peice of card board infront of the radiator, which actually did nothing for me. I'm not quite sure where to go on that... what would cause it to simply not heat up?

i need to quit working so much so i can try and actually fix this thing! haha

 

[Tony H]

That's where mine reads on my '91.

Floats around the 'N' and the 'O'.

 

[Creager]

Tony, thats exactly where i thought it should be at, but mine is not getting past the N though.

It bearly graces the N, and usually flucuates up and down about halfway towards the big C.

I'm kind of getting tired of this thing... tomorrow i just might be ripping all the old crap out, and replacing with all the new stuff =)

 

[Tony H]

When I first got my 'X' I thought it was running Cold. I thought , like most gauges, the needle should be in the middle. I went to my friends shop and he plugged in the OBI? computer readout thingy. Among many other things, it told him that it was runjning at 192 degrees. I recalibrated my brain to say that when it's down by the 'N' , I'm OK.
Your Sensor my be a bit out of calibration so it reads a bit lower.

 

[savagefan]

For sure find out the real temperature, those dash gauges aren't the best. If it really is low, I do recommend genuine Ford T-stats, never had a bad one yet and have had several lousy jobber parts.

 

[Creager]

I thought that might have been the case, but I defiantly experienced a significant decrease in gas mileage and power... but after what has just happened I'm totally lost...

To put a twisted ending to this story, the temp just picked up past the N. About an hour and a half ago, I left work to go home for lunch. Peeking at the gauge periodically, I noticed that it was reading actually in the middle of the N; compared to just gracing it. When I got home I noticed the gauge was actually on the O! At first I figured it was just an air bubble in the thing or something...

An hour later I left my house, within a mile of my house the gauge had swiftly made its way up to the R! Before it was taking over 10 minutes for the gauge to get up to the N, and for the heater to ever get hot. Within less then a minute now, it’s right on the money...

FUGGIN weird, huh? And this isn’t the second time in the PAST WEEK that my truck has had a grueling problem that just fixed itself...

It still kind of fluctuates between the O and the R, sometimes almost hitting the N; which is still totally opposite to what it has been doing for the past couple weeks. My guess is either the thermo I put in there was opening too early, or that the gauge was reading lower. But I’m reluctant to say the gauge was reading lower, until I see what my gas mileage is like.

 

[Spdrcer34]

In my Green Explorer (Auto,4x4) the Temp Gauge will raise to JUST before the N....never crosses it....EVER!

In my White Explorer (Manual, 2wd) the Temp Gauge will raise to somewhere between the O and the R....on hot days here (80-90) it will reach the M for a second or two, and I'll watch it drop back down to the N, O, or R depending on the load on the motor.

I have always attributed this to the fact that the 4WD has a bigger radiator than the 2WD. I was contemplating getting a the 4WD/AUTO radiator for the 2WD X, but I'm just gonna swap in a 5.0L/T-56 and get a custom radiator that will fit INSIDE of the core support.

Ryan

 

[Darrman]

I replaced all of the cooling system in mine, including the guage itself, everything works absolute perfect now, guage climbs up and sits exactly straight up. The reason for doing this, the previous owners had split the rad, then dumped some of the sealant mud, a lot of it, into the system, which clogged the heater up, and messed up the tstat and coolant sensor. Also they let the fan get cracked and threw out the water pump bearing and fan clutch. It gets pretty hot around here in the summer, so instead of trying to rig everything, I just replaced it all. Installing it all myself, total cost was about $300 give or take, and now I dont have to worry about it.
Not that I would recommend it to everyone to do it this way, but if there is a lot of problems its not too expensive.

 

[Creager]

I still dont understand why it would never cross the N, and all of a sudden go back to normal?

as of today, its still rising up to the O and the R. Perviously it never past the N, like how SpdRcer described...


...

 

[Maniak]

it could be a gauge problem.

Our x was running cool.. as in it never registered over the n in normal.. but I had heat etc.. I swapped out the temp/volt gauge with the one from my spare cluster, now it reads about o in normal most of the time..

With the old gauge, it used to read between teh n and o, then one day decided to read below n..

~Mark

 

[Rhett]

All right, I just changed my stat and flushed about a month ago when I was chasing the bird chirp problem that I thought was the water pump. At any rate, I replaced with a Motorcraft 195 deg stat--and now I think I too am running a little cooler than I was before. I also got less mpg on the last tank, but we'll have to see what happens once it warms up. It could just be the cold weather. It always lowers my mileage. So the Motorcraft stat will stay in until at least May...

 

[Creager]

Rhett, try the carboard trick, see if that brings the temp up a little bit.

For me, its hard to say it was the gauge that wasn't working since i also noticed a decrease in gas mileage and engine power. I filled up with 21.333 gallons, i swear ive never seen it fill up with that much before. But now that the gauge is reading more normal, maybe my gas mileage will go back up; or its back to the drawing board for me.

I cant really tell if it made my heater any better, i want to say it did; It DEFINATLY heats up quicker. Before it took almost 10 minutes to bearly have heat (below the N on the gauge), now it takes less then 2-3 minutes and the heat is at FULL BLAST!

I cant see why the thermostat would open sooner when i initially install it, compared to a couple weeks later when it started opening when its supposed to? Atleast thats what it seems like its doing...