I installed my digital water temp gauge yesterday and noticed today that my highest temp was 205* but for the most part it was between 195 and 200. I was surprised that my truck was runnin this hot (I have the stock thermostat, as far as I know) Do you think maybe the thermostat is bad if it is running this hot? Its 45* out here today. I was planning on doing the 203 t-stat but maybe not if its running this warm all the time.

I've also been noticing lately that my fan has been howling all the time, even when I first start my truck up, even if its 20 degreese out. I think the clutch is shot but im not sure. if i move it back and forth i can feel alot of resistance, but it still moves and probably spins around about three times after i shut the engine off. I bought the fan clutch wrench from napa today, but not the pully holder cause they wanted an extra 70 bucks so I figure if I remove the fan ill have to get creative. what do you guys think?

 

If it get that hot I would leave it alone. For the fan clutch they stay in gauge for a few minutes at start up until fluid moves around. See if you see alot dust or dirt at seal of fan cluth if so it leaking you need a new one.

 

as for the stat if you have a stock stat in it that sounds fishy. Did you buy your truck used? ever replace the stat in the past? If you bought it used maybe the previous owner installed the 203 stat or a early short stem water pump with the stock 203 stat.

The fan clutch as long as you can spin it with your hand with some resistance its probably fine

 

I think its time we get an actual electric fan thread going!!! Or maybe operate them like the big rigs with air!! lol.

Your fan seemed to be doing the same thing mine used to do. It'd howl all the time. I could hear it through every gear. Would only shut off if I was headed down the highway.

 

My dad's old chevy lumina just ***** the bed so i'm going to be taking out the electric fans and hopefully be putting them in my truck, I just need a welder so I can build some sort of mounts. and yeah it deffinately howls all the time no matter how warmed up it is, its always going.

tj- when i got my truck it was all stock and i'm pretty sure it was an old man's truck (no offense to any one out there!) so I dont think it has a 203. its an early 97 so i dont know which water pump/stock stat it has.

is there any way it could only be opening partially? or maybe my water temp gauge is on crack :/

 

Well an stuck open stat will cause low temps. The gauge could be wrong. One way to check it is with a scanner and compare your coolant gauge to oil temps the PCM sees. My oil temps nearly mirror water temps under normal conditions that I have seen so far.

 

i sure hope the guage is ok. its a brand new autometer ultralight digital

 

theres no way that maybe the stat will close all the way and then not open up all the way when the truck is running?

 

Icebox.. if you do the electric fans take some pics. I really wanting to do this. I just don't know what kind of fans to get or out of what car to get them.

 

i have just the opposite problem and i have the stock stat in mine for sure, just replaced it. my truck never warms up even with a 80 percent blocked grill. i am debating removing the fan and blocking more grill and possibly the bumper opening too.

 

Its possible I suppose but usually they stick open.

 

FWIW. I just put a new 202 stat in mine joe. Took the fan off, and my grill is still have covered up and it warms up fairly well. Although my fan clutch was most likely shot, it would take a long long time before it would get up to operating temp. It would get up to 180, and then if it idled for a little bit it would drop to 170.

 

Mine will cool off at idle as well. But running down the road the temp stays a rock solid 200° plus or minus a few. Pulling hills, snow plowing, running the higway with the plow on, 25 MPH school zones, doesn't matter.

 

I'm still surprised that when my waterpump cached out on my at the pully, basically no coolant in the truck. 22 miles at 70 mph the hottest my gauge read was 220. Good thing its a diesel and it was cold out.

 

i havent checked mine with a scanner and i only have the idiot gauge in the dash.
during the summertime i run between the o and r in NORMAL. as soon as it gets cold i run just under the line before NORMAL. after closing up the grill i am now covering the line before NORMAL and if i lug it up a hill it will ever so slightly raise above the line just enough to see a space but as soon as i stop lugging or idle the temp goes right back to the line. i have no issues warming up, roughly 1 mile to get decent heat and 3 miles to be up to temp.( i timed it the other day when we were 28 degrees, no block heater, no idle time just fire it up and drive off)