Temp issue

[AZ Gear Head]

My wife gets home today and was sweating her rear off. She said that the Explorer was running hot on the guage. (above L on normal) but not to red. It usually runs anywhere from m to l on the gauge. She said when she turned on the AC it got worse for some reason. I flushed the system and installed a new stat. Now the highest it has gotten is dead on the L. obvisouly this is to hot right? dont know how hot because ford decided to install DUMMY gauges lol. Numbers would have been nice on there. It has never actually overheated yet. ie, coolant leaking out.


Any ideas?? its HOT here in AZ. 107-110

 

[BrianDye]

Well AC makes the engine pump more, or w/e you wanna say, so that will obv. make it hotter, noticeably. When your engines running HOT, you should turn your heat on full blast, then just like open the windows and aim the vents out as much as possible, that will noticeably decrease the temp, as for why its running hot...I have no clue, im not too inclined about engines YET lol


Good luck, hopefully its just something simple

 

[doonze]

Many things could be going wrong, radiator clogged (I've flushed mine 5 times now and am just starting to get my running hot issue under control), could be your water pump, could be clogged heater core, could even be the fan, mostly that would be if it happens when at idle or city driving.

Could also be the heads/head gaskets leaking into the water, or water in the oil, or both. But you'll notice these things most of the time if you check. Look for milkshake oil on the dipstick, or oil in your water.

Bottom line is you are either not moving enough water through the radiator, or enough air. I'd start making sure your getting the water moving first, then worry about air movement.

 

[akkoyote]

coolant temp sender...

was the coolant system unsually dirty? does it do any thing out of the ordinary like bubble over in the coolant reserve box? also maybe check the radiator fins to see if an excessive amount of them have been folded over. if everything looks good and absolutely nothing seems to be amiss... i would say try and do a diagnostic on the temp sending unit and the temperature gauge. I have had to replace the stock sending unit on two explorers because of false readings. if that STILL doesnt fix the problem... i would say ditch the thermostat since its sweltering outside! my person opinion anyway...

p.s. ...how do you survive that temperature! up in the AK we hit like 85 tops... and thats pretty outta the ordinary

 

[boggs1227]

me a few others here have installed 180f stats .....mine seems to like it with out mpg issues etc ... but check the other thngs first :

-clogged heater core + heater core bypass valve
-scales on the inside of the rad core
-mixture of coolant
-fan
-ever use barrs stop leak (just use a egg or pepper to fix a leak not barrs)
-water pump hard to turn over ? ( i've seen the impellar fall off one before !)
-sending unit sensor + plus wire connector

...let us know what you find . . . .

 

[AZ Gear Head]

Thats not even the hottest it will get here. few years back it hit 125 out at a lake we go to. Now that was hot. LOL key....DRINK WATER. lol id rather take the heat then freeze my lugnutz off. lol

 

[rileyrs]

use a lower temp stat.
then if nothin still, you might need a new radiator, it could be that its not really cooling it well.
maybe a water pump?
or heater core.
the radiator and core are easy to check, just start draining it, is there lots of rust coming out?
pull out the heater core and push water through, is there lots of rust there too?
if those two are fine, its probly the wp.

 

[Dannyboy]

Is is hot on the freeway or on city driving?

How about climbing hills?

On a truck that old living out here I would fix a handful of items as general maintenance.

T-stat
flush radiator
fan clutch.

I tried everything and the one item that did the trick was the fan clutch. I've got the good tool to get the job done and am not too far if you need a hand.

 

[awood]

I had to remove my radiator (while doing unrelated work) on the 92 Ex. While it was out, I carefully sprayed some water through the fins the opposite way the air flows through them. I was VERY surprised how much dirt, bugs, and other stuff came out. It looked relatively clean before I started. I don't know if it will help, but it's worth a try, along with all the other suggestions here.

 

[AZ Gear Head]

as of now its mainly idle and city driving. where she works she rarely takes it over 55 or so. Money is a lil tight so i guess for now we will have to pray it holds out. lol.

 

[Dannyboy]

sounds to me like it's a fan clutch if it's getting warm when there isn't a lot of air flowing past the radiator.

 

[Maniak]

Ditto on the fan clutch..

..and for southern Az rid I'd use the Hyaden Severe Duty fan clutch.. It might hurt your highway gas mileage a little in winter.. but it will sure pull some air across the radiator which is what you really need..

~Mark

 

[AZ Gear Head]

i looked at rockauto and saw that they have a hayden but for my explorer (5sp) they only had a standard clutch listed. That one was $30. sound about right??

 

[Maniak]

For Arizona heat, I like the severe duty clutch better..

this one.... from Checkers/CSK

http://shop.oreillyauto.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=HAD&MfrPartNumber=2793&PartType=176&PTSet=A

~Mark

 

[AZ Gear Head]

sounds good. is there a way to check to see if its bad?? I read something like in the morning while its cool try to spin the fan. if it spins freely then its bad. That sound right???

 

[Maniak]

When its hot, stop the truck (as in turn it off ), grab the fan blade and try to spin it..

With the servere duty clutch it'll turn a couple inches, if that.. If the clutch is bad, it will turn 1 turn or so.. if its really bad it will spin a few turns at least.

~Mark

 

[AZ Gear Head]

i did this and spun it. it stoped right after i let got of it.

 

[Dannyboy]

Hmm, I'm stumped.

Is there a way to test if water pumps are moving enough water?

 

[doonze]

I would almost bet you that you got a clog somewhere in the system. Flush it with the "super radiator cleaner", the stuff you leave in and drive for 6 hours, flush it a couple of times again after that, and do a pressure flush. I'm going to have a write up on how to do that this weekend if I get the chance.... Made night and day difference for me.