I got a 95 F-250, 5.8. I bought the truck from a friends father, and the truck seems to be running a little warm now. It doesnt overheat, but the temp gauge does get up to the "M" or so in NORMAL. This is always when the engine is under a decent load......going up hills or pulling weight.

Truck has a new thermostat and radiator, radiator seemed to help but not all the ways. I havent had a chance to measure how hot the coolant is actually getting.

Any ideas?

 

Do you know which temperature thermostat you got?

 

actually no I dont....I kinda assume its the 195* unit.... is that what originally came with the truck? Because it didnt make much difference when I swapped it out so I guess its the same design that originally came with the truck

 

Steal/borrow (or buy) wife's, GF's, Mom's, etc... candy thermometer (available most better grocery stores). Suspend thermostat in a pot of water on stove by thin piece of wire. Turn heat on low and watch carefully stat & thermometer. Depending on local elevation, water should NOT boil before t-stat starts opening. T-stat should be fully open by 200*.

 

Keep in mind the factory temperature sensor is notoriously inaccurate. The term "For Reference Only" comes to mind. If you are that concerned get a real temperature gauge to verify the true temperature.

 

Depending on where you're at and the ambient outside temperature and the "decency" of your load or the amount of weight you're pulling, it may not be out of line for your conditions. Do you hear the engine driven fan at all while its running warm? Fan clutch is often overlooked because it seems like it always spins, its not like an electric fan we wont notice coming on.

 

fan shroud on their also?

 

Fan shroud is on......

You know im thinkin the muffler may be bad....its down on power and gas mileage is pretty awful....but runs decent if that makes any sense. Guy I bought it from has a new muffler and tailpipes, im gonna put those on this week

Could that be one reason why its getting hot under a heavy load?

 

I have a gut feeling iit may not be a bad gauge because if it just sits idling or with a real light load on it the guage will go down to the "O" on NORMAL and stay there.

If the sending unit was bad, would it read incorrect all the time? Seems like a bit of a coincidence

 

Put a "real" gauge in it and go from there.

 

yeah ill do that as well tomorrow

 

Does anybody know offhand the NAPA part number of the sending unit for the temp gauge already in the truck?

 

Ok i picked up a gauge today.... looking through my search results though im having a hard time figuring out where it goes.... Ive read its the #6 cylinder bank (drivers side correct?) but I cant find anything down there

 

nevermind found it. gauge and exhaust going on tomorrow

 

Zombie revival. The aftermarket gauge shows the truck runs consistently at 250-210. No load or towing, even idling it will go up to 210. I see this is kinda high. Truck has recent thermostat, New radiator.