I have a 2005 F-250 that takes forever to warm up. As a matter of fact, since it's gotten colder here in PA, I can't remember more than one time when the needle got above the C on the gauge. I'm wondering if there is an issue because I've talked to several guys who say their trucks take a little while to warm up, but I can drive my truck around in the city and on the highwary for 30 minutes or more and the needle usually stays right through the middle of the "C" on the gauge. This has me a bit concerned and my wife annoyed because the truck doesn't get warm inside. 2 weekends ago, it was about 17 outside, and I took it for an hour and 15 minute drive on the highway over to our hunting ground (75% highway, 25% back roads) and it stayed by the "C".

I did take a trip over the mountains and going up, it would get warm and the needle wouldn't go past half way, but by the time I got down the other side, the needle was right back down into the "C" on the gauge.

Do I have a sticking thermostat and is this a serious issue? Is there anything I can do to fix it? I tried to search for solutions, but couldn't find much.

 

Sounds like the thermostat is sticking open. It is not as bad as sticking closed, but still a 'serious' issue that should be address soon. Just change the thermostat. Shouldn't be too bad to change.

 

yea, sounds like the thermostat. Or the sensor for the temp.

 

Well, I ordered a new thermostat and this weekend, I finally had all of my VC-9 and distilled water ready to go, I was going to flush the coolant system and if necessary replace the thermostat since the truck never warmed up. So, we got the coolant drained and it looked like someone had just done new coolant last month. I wanted to do this since I bought the truck from TN and didn't know the history. After everything was drained, we pulled the thermostat and right away we saw the problem. The truck HAD NO THERMOSTAT. That made it easy to figure out why the truck never got warm. Put in the new thermostat and housing and the 50/50 coolant and distilled water mix and fired her up. She warmed right up. It was a Georgia truck so maybe at some point, they decided it didn't need a thermostat. It worries me a little, but I'll keep an eye on things. Anyone need 18 gallons of distilled water and 2 bottles of VC-9 in the PA area?

 

Beats opening it up and finding the wrong thermostat in backwards....

Haven't seen that in the 6.0s but have seen it happen... LOL

 

IT Dude get an ODBII gauge set (scangauge2 or others).
- I got mine @ autozone.com for $159 very important first mod.
search for scangauge2 or scangaugeII to read other postings.

The dash "gauges" are really not good for anything.
They won't tell you if your temps are 120, 150 or 190 degrees.

It's possible the PO had a full/partially plugged oil cooler and took
out the t-stat to keep the oil temps cooler.

You should definitely monitor you Oil and Coolant temps (plus volts,
and other things too- see other threads, tech folder, etc.).

It's important to detect *IF* you have an issue to avoid an
escalation in repair bills.

 

I had read about those. Where do you guys mount your ScangaugeII, where did you buy yours from and what are the base settings I need to know in order to compare my truck to?

 

I have an Ex, so it fits into the "cubby" where upfitter switches belong.
Got mine from autozone.com.

Essentially whatever sensors are available via the ODBII port
can be displayed. Other (more expensive) ODBII readers/gauges
support external sensors (you would have to install) that could display:
Exhaust Gas Temp and Fuel Pressure.

Depending upon your specific model year you may/may not everything
listed (Oil Temp, Trans Temp, Coolant Temp, Vlt, MAP (can be used to derive boost) and a bunch of trip/mileage values, including
MPH, MPG, RPM, etc. etc.)

 

What are the thoughts on ScanGaugeII vs individual dash gauges? From what I read, SGII only has coolant temp, not alot of the other temps that people like to monitor on here.

 

You can add the temps that don't come preloaded. There is a compiled list here somewhere of the parameters you have to enter to add EOT and some others you may or may not want. I like my SGII--simple, easy to read and change, etc. although I can't get it to read codes that I know are there.

 

As partsman said, it'll read all the sensors available via ODBII.
The scangauge2 website lists the "XGauge" inputs required to
add the sensors missing from the default list (TFT and EOT) for ex.

There are a few sensors which depending upon model year
(volts and boost) which seem to be there on some years
but not on others.

My .02 would be save the analog gauge install for those things
that are *NOT* available via ODBII. Fuel Pressure & Exhaust Gas Temp.

there are some posts with pictures of some cabs with almost 20 analog
gauges installed all over the cab - if that is what you like it can be done.
Search for "where to put gauges" and variations on things like that.

 

Thanks. I am definitely an anti-clutter person, I like all my cars/trucks to be as close to stock as possible. But if stock isn't good enough (ie, monitoring engine performance) I want something that will be subtle but get the job done. Sounds like SG2 is what I need.

I will continue to search, however, if I fail to find something I apologize in advance for further questions.

It would be nice to have a "one stop" for something like this, since it's fairly common. I.e., purchase this SG2, these wires, these sensors, plug 'em in. Done.

Thanks.

 

The ScanGauge ll will read everything you need except egt and fuel press. Those are not supported by the OBD system. I leave mine on ect, eot, tft and volts on page 1. You cannot buy the four functions I listed in individual gauges for a 159 bucks. If you order the gauge from the store you will not pay shipping.