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My truck has been running hot during highway driving. As long as I'm driving around town I don't have an issue. Truck has run around 199 degrees in Florida summer weather since I got it. Pulling this info from torque. At this temp the dial hits the gauge at about the 1/3 Mark. On the highway the dial will jump up to about 8/10th with a torque reading of 203 degrees. Pegging out with temp reaching as high as 210. As soon as I pull over or even get off the interstate and continue to drive, temps come back down. Not sure what the issue is here. in the last year I have replaced the thermostat with a failsafe thermostat that if I recall was a 190. I also replaced the plastic heater control valve. I'm not really sure where to go here. My suspension is the water pump, or belt slip. I replaced the power steering pump this winter. I suppose maybe I didn't get the puppy lined up perfectly, but not sure if that would cause an issue like this. Any opinions would be helpful.
Those modular motors have a unique recirculating system with a double valve thermo and it's not worth gambling on a cheap thermo that might be made right and might not.........been there, done that.
While it seems fairly normal to me in hotter weather you may want to check a couple of things in addition to what was mentioned above. I would look at the fan clutch and ensure it is working properly - check the rotating resistance with the engine off. I would also check your radiator cap. A cap which doesn't hold the correct pressure will not allow the cooling system to function correctly. A replacement cap is cheap insurance and obviously one of the easier things to do out of this list.
^yep^ I had cap and thermo problems at the same time and kept getting bad new ones so it was pretty much of a mystery. Went with all Mtrcrft..........fixed.
210 is worrysome? I hit 240+ uphill towing and not bothered by it. My factory idiot gauge doesn't even move till 220. I keep an eye on it all but 210 isn't too bad.
New radiator, hoses, thermo, cap and coolant last summer so everything's in check, just moving weight and moving it quickly.
I bought a motorcraft thermo yesterday and will throw it in this week. Forgot to mention that I already replaced the cap. If it were the fan I would have issues overheating at stop lights when idling. I was leaning towards a bad cluster as well, but not sure how to check that. What is everyone else running under normal operation?