Sorry to flood this forum with my questions tonight. I'm hoping to take the truck on a trip this weekend, however I'm still having trouble with the temp gauge. I have asked in the past, however I guess this could be considered a follow up to my previous thread.

My temp gauge was fluctuating rapidly, going from the "O" on NORMAL to the "R" and then it would go to before the "N" and then gradually climb back to the "O". I went ahead and replaced the gauge sending unit with one from NAPA and found that the gauge now rests in the "R" to "M" all the time. I tried another sending unit from NAPA and it did basically the same thing. So, I put the old one back in, and got the same issue! I then ordered one from ford, only to have the same problem after installation.

I cleaned the connection for the wiring harness that was at a fuse box at the driver side fender, which didn't help. I went to the junk yard and found a new oil pressure and water temperature gauge out of another 250. I installed it and found that it did the same damned thing.

Apart from purchasing a new set of gauges, is there anything I can do here? Do I just remove and turn the needle on the gauge so it rests where I'm use to seeing it ? From what I've read, "N" to "O" on the gauge is where it should rest when unloaded and cruising in mild weather.

I checked the thermostat outlet with an IR temp gun and found that the engine is running around 200-205 at idle, so I feel that the truck is not overheating. It has a brand new copper and brass radiator as well.

I do plan on saving up for some ISSPRO gauges, but in the mean time, is there anything that I can do for this gauge? There's a resistor mounted in the circuit in back of the cluster that looks like it's for the water temp gauge (there's a seperate on for the oil pressure gauge). Could that be out of tolerance?

Thanks for any help,

Dan

 

if the gauge reads within the normal range and there are no signs of overheating,then the engine is running within it's normal temp range.
don't try and make too much out of that oem gauge.it's just a real basic guideline.ever so slightly above an idiot light.nothing more.what ones person's oem gauge reads,or what yours used to read with an oem sender,doesn't mean it's what yours should read exactly now.you need to stop thinking of it as an actual gauge and more of what it is.a very basic guideline.
if the truck isn't a hauler/tower,this is all most people need.if you work the truck,forget worrying about the oem guideline range and just focus on installing a real temp gauge.

 

Thanks again for your help. That makes sense. Currently, the truck isn't worked much. In the future, I'd like to pick up a cheap cabover camper, however, for the time being, I guess the temp gauge is what it is and that's all there is to it. They never should have stopped putting in "real" gauges.

Dan