My 1989 F-350 460 gets hot too fast. I have put in a new stock 195 thermostat/gasket, and have newer dual core radiator. Coolant level is correct, and use the 50/50 pre mix. What say you all??

 

3 things that I can think of....1st is how old is the water pump? I've seen some that have mega mileage on them where the impeller is nearly worn away, thusly not circulating the coolant- 2nd is somewhat related to the first-when cold, open the rad. cap, start the truck & let it run. While running, check to see if you're getting coolant flow in the rad.
Thirdly, check to see if you have a stuck caliper/dragging brakes. Pretty common and it'd make you run hotter than normal. Other things to check would be the fan clutch.
Does the truck overheat standing still idling or d you have to be moving?
Roger

 

Thanks. I'll check on the idle vs. running temps, as well as running circulation. Never thought of stuck caliper, although sometimes it does feel like I'm dragging when I let off the accelerator.

 

fan clutch and fan , head gasket !

 

Thanks for your responses. Can anyone lend any credence to changing out to a lower temp thermostat?

 

A lower temp thermostat can actually do more harm than good...

Start by checking all the gaskets, seals and components of the cooling system, and as stated before, the brakes dragging....

 

Anyone who recommends checking your brakes because the engine is overheating should stop giving others advice on anything truck-related. That's one of the stupidest things I've ever read on this forum.

For the OP: What do you mean "getting hot too fast"? As long as the truck isn't overheating, it doesn't matter how fast the truck comes up to temp. Secondly, what kind of temps are you talking about? Do you have an aftermarket temp gauge? Are you checking the engine temps with an IR temp gun?

Do not use a lower thermostat. Your truck came with a 192 stat from the factory, and using anything else is just a band-aid on the real problem.

 

as far as thermostats go , I personally don't believe that any engine should run any hotter that 160 degrees . and for any work truck that i have had i always took the thermostats out , lots of times the trucks were standing still and running all day with on board generators and or manhole fans blowing all day ! the fan clutches were replaced with straight fans or clutch eliminators and bigger radiators to keep the engines cool , never had any problems !
now i am out in AZ in high heat and will swear by this way out hear ! other parts of country will be different , one way from the factory does not work in all cases !

 

This is all horrible advice. Don't do any of this regardless of where you live.

 

now what is so horrible about this ?
the factory makes the trucks basically one way with options , so to improve them this worked and i will stand by what i said !

 

Running a 160* stat, not running a thermostat at all, and replacing the fan clutch with a straight fan.

Actually the part about bigger radiators, that was good advice. But the rest of it I would safely ignore.

 

x2...

Engines need certain amounts of heat to effeciently run.....And well..Not bein a dick...But I'm sure the guys from Ford that MADE THE VEHICLE knows best....Just saying...

 

The ford EFI needs to get to a higher temp to go into closed loop , temp sensor , if you use a tuner or custom chip that can be changed , i have a custom chip and use a 160...so if its stock you need the 195....Lew

 

you are right on the closed loop , lost several engines from overheating both diesels and gas with thermostats in them from the thermostats sticking closed , just last year the JD diesel thats in our air compressor would overheat , it had a built in safety to shut it off when it gets to hot and the thermostat housing was all filed up with gunk , cleaned it out and tossed the thermostat and it works great ! never lost a engine from running to cold even if they do stay in open loop !

 

you are right as to heat to make it run as efficiently as it can !
some times circumstances and uses are not what any engineer thought about so one has to make things work for what they are doing !
all trucks are made for the majority of people and then you have people on the extreme end that will have to make adjustments to suit there needs !

when dodge came out with the cummins the engineers never thought about how hot it was in AZ and had many of diesels overheat cause the radiator was not even big enough ! so people had to have bigger radiator put in almost brand new trucks !