Water temp low

[CdnCory]

I recently went on a 12 hour road trip and was keeping an eye on my temp guages. When I was goin 150 km/h the water temp was alright, but after my speeding ticket I kept it around 100 km/h and the water temp was below the normal range the whole trip. I'm thinking thermostat stuck open??

 

[Bill MacLeod]

If your heater is still throwing out heat, then the stat is ok, but the 1st gen oem stats don't seem to last to long. (just my opinion)

I had the same problem with my 91 & 93 X's. The one's from CTC/Partsource appeared to work ok for me. I think they are Stant.

You might want to change the sending unit at the same time. This made the gauge read somewhat higher on my 93, but these models are notorius for low gauge temp indication. A good aftermarket gauge is the only way to know if the engine temps are normal.

 

[CdnCory]

ya, a sending unit problem would make more sence as I DO have heat, but like I say, when I really get goin the temp DOES go up so....

 

[TheJMan]

I had a similar problem on my 1993. Whenever I would do city driving, the temperature gauge would read below normal all the time. Whenever I would really push it or it was hot outside, the temp gauge would climb well into the normal range.

I replaced the thermostat with a Stant one, flushed the coolant (which was nasty BTW) and replaced with Prestone 5/150 long life orange at at 65/35 mix, and put in a new coolant temp sensor. Everything has worked great since.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

The exact same thing happened to me, and the cure was a new Stant thermostat. I agree that the stock Ford thermostat dosen't last too long.