I have replaced the radiator, the belts, the hoses, the thermostat, flushed the motor, found and put a fan shroud back on it. i am not losing coolant. Running the heater core will drop the temp jhand about a 1/16th-1/8th an inch.

still the factory gauge shows it is at the top when i do anything other than go down the road. Sitting at a stoplight is just nerve racking.

1) Could it be that the new sender is bad? Do yall still use the factory gauges?

2) could it be that the PO put the head gaskets on wrong?

i have never dealt with a problem like this and i am sick about it.

PLEASE HELP WITH ANY IDEAS!!!!!

 

I wonder if your the journals in the block are full of crud? Or possibly a worn/bad waterpump , usually they leak though. When the truck is cool, take off the rad cap and crank it up, as it warms up make sure the coolant is circulating. Possibly a bad thermostat.

 

First thing I would do is put a NEW manual gauge and sending unit on the engine. Don't ever trust the factory gauge. Oil pressure the same. This will show for sure if ya got a problem or not.

 

I agree, the factory gauge is almost better at telling the outside air temperature than it is in determining actual engine heat.

Josh

 

I agree with arctic y block Don't trust the factory gauges! I had my factory temp gauge give me the wrong reading . Some days it would read normal then it would climb up to almost overheating . I had replaced the radiator, Installed a T-bird 2speed electric fan , plus sport comp electric gauges. The temp now stays at 180 all day long .






Here's the new radiator an T-bird electric fan.

Now no more cooling problems , Except after all this work the heater core decided to puke . Dang Murphy

 

If installed correctly FE head gaskets will always protrude i.e. stick out at the outer front corners of the heads and block, if they're installed backwards the gaskets won't be visible here.

 

Congrats, you may have just found the problem for me, they do not stick out at all. My PO was a complete douche with everything he did on the truck. i mean everything.
EVERY gasket he installed leaked. He did not manage to get even one right.

I will go to a manual guage tho just for security.

 

It's an all too common mistake on FE's.

There's a "front" printed on each head gasket, but the front goes UP on one side, and DOWN on the other (where you can't read it).

The head gaskets should block the front and force coolant to the back of the head, if a gasket is on backwards the motor will idle fine, but coolant goes into the block from the water pump, then straight up to the thermostat, never cooling the rear, first time you put a load on it, it gets hot.

One definite way to find out if the gaskets are on backwards is to pull the water pump and stick your finger in the hole, if you can stick your finger into the head, the gasket is on backwards, or the much easier method (though not 100% foolproof) is to see if the head gaskets are sticking out of the front corners, if not, that's generally evidence enough they're installed backwards.

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exactly what i thought...........#$%&!
it idles fine until you get on it one good time and then...it all but pegs out and stays there.

guess i am going to be pulling those heads real soon...