What is the best way to run a mechanical temp gauge sensor through the firewall on a 88 e150 w/302? Or is there some other place to rout it?
Thanks and Merry Christmas to ALL

 

You either find or drill a hole in the firewall and add a grommet.

 

Merry Christmas!
For once, I do not have any photos (!) but when I added a manual throttle cable to the van, I drilled a hole above the gas pedal in the doghouse panel. It was in line with the linkage on the throttle body so it made the cable operation smoother. I added it to bump up the idle speed while sitting during the summer with the A/C running.

Depending on where the tubing starts on the engine, that may be a good place for routing. A grommet and some sealant will seal around the hole.
jim

 

Thanks Jim! I hope Santa brought you something good!!
In case you don't have one, and might need one,, here is a EVTM for a 88 e150..
1988 Ford Econoline Wiring Diagram EVTM Manual 88
$14.. With shipping.
Where do you find grommets, in the help section at the parts store?

BTW on the speed odometer cable. My 85 manual says to disconnect the cable at the transmission and and any clamps that might be holding it in place, then pull some slack up when removing the instrument cluster. I haven't looked underneath the van for the speed odometer cable but I still haven't found where it comes through the firewall.. Without looking, I am wondering if 88 started using a electronic speed sensor..
Have a wonderful day!

 

Yes----I've found "kits" at AutoZone (shop online first) for both grommets and vacuum fittings----both handy for DIY's like most of us here. eBay has a skad of selections for the same things in kits.


Same to you Annaleigh---and all of us here on FTE too!

 

We had a great Christmas, thanks. Both sons, their wives, and 4 grands. I started the bird at 5AM, done by 9 and had all day to play with the grandkids toys! ha

Here's where I get grommets: Trades Pro Rubber Grommet Assortment (125-Piece)-836320 - The Home Depot

Only had to make one trip so far and I have found tons of uses besides the vehicles. I sold the van just a few months back and my dad had collected most of the diagrams needed for working on it. I gave the whole package to the guy that bought it.

My speedometer was cable driven but I have no idea where the cable is routed. Besides unhooking it, I never had to bother with it so I can't help much there. I'm guessing it is buried below the steering column somewhere?

 

Well I cheated today... I didn't want to fool with drilling holes right now.. It fits pretty good there as the arm spring holds it in place, just can't use the wipers because the bracket is looped over the wiper arm. The capillary tube is not long enough and it would be hard to read. .. After I got back from a test drive, I water proofed it since it might rain tonight (put a sandwich baggy over it)! I think I am going to pull the radiator and have it cleaned out..

This pic was with light throttle running 25mph.


This pic was sitting at a light for just a minute.


It seems to jump up 10 to 12 degrees real fast when at idle or another time when I hit overdrive and was just feathering the throttle. I went up the interstate 2 miles and it went from 192 to about 200 then started going back down to 192 or3.. When I stopped at the end of the exit ramp, it went right back up to 200 to 202 f.. When it is at 200f, if I cut it off for just a minute and restart the engine, it drops back down to 190 real fast.. I am thinking the radiator is not flowing very good... So it gets 10 to 12 degrees hotter at low idle... I also climbed a 1 mile steep grade and the temp stayed at 195... But the speed limit was 25mph so the engine rpm's were up a little.
I am thinking about Jim's pics of the water pump and trying to avoid the possibility of changing the water pump..
One more note.. When I first started the engine to let it warm up after installing the mechanical gauge, the upper radiator hose got really hard before the thermostat opened.. I actually pulled the relief handle on the cap to relieve the pressure off the hose. It ran about another 3 or 4 minutes before the thermostat opened and did not fill with pressure again. I have read if the radiator is pretty clogged that it will build up pressure in the upper hose.

Note: according to the infrared thermometer I used last week, one of the two is at least 5 degrees off... The infrared showed the base temp to be 195 I believe.. I also red that the infrared will be a few degrees cooler then the actual water temp due to heat loos as the heat transfers through the metal. That too depends on what metal and where...

 

I have lost track, did you replace the clutch fan already? The OD on these vans really lets the motor loaf but once you reach 30-40 MPH, the fan shouldn't be an issue. At idle or below 30 MPH, the radiator fan must be engaged to create airflow/cooling through the radiator.

The engine compartments are packed enough in vans, they need all the air flow possible. jim

 

Yes I replaced the fan clutch with a heavy duty one from NAPA
NAPA AUTO PARTS

They had 3 different clutches, standard, heavy duty, and severe duty. I can hear it kick in when the engine first starts and sometimes when starting off from a stop. Normally it cuts out just before shifting into 3rd gear. That kind of scared me a little the first day. Starting off and you hear the fan clutch through 1st and 2nd, then right at the shift to 3rd, you hear the fan noise slow down and feel the shift into 3rd gear. Somewhat like a transmission slipping sound... Then I figured it out! I will pay more attention but after the engine is warms up, I don't think I always hear the fan at idle like i do when the engine starts up cold.

I also changed the T-Stat.. It did not have a weep hole in it and I did not drill one in it.. I am going to read more about that as I have seen several posts where people do drill one.

Why might the upper hose (I didnt check the lower hose) get very hard during warm up before the T-Stat opens?
The 10 degrees jump happens within a minute of sitting at a light so I am thinking that perhaps the radiator is not flowing as good as it should.. I remember when I loosened the radiator drain the first time, that it was very slow flow. perhaps sediment in the bottom of the radiator?

 

Haven't read anything about drilling the Tstat? What would be the reason?

If the radiator was blocked and the Tstat was still closed I wouldn't think the upper hose would develop pressure. If the radiator was blocked and the Tstat was open, the bottom hose would collapse with the water pump pulling coolant from the bottom. Now IF the pump was pushing water into the lower hose, through the radiator, and out of the upper hose into a closed Tstat, then the lower and upper hose would be under pressure as soon as the engine started. But, the pump would have to be turning backwards.

I am starting to wonder if all this goes back to the no belt tensioner/alternate belt routing issue? I'm sorry you are having such problems with this beast, the water pump ordeal on mine was easy compared to this brain buster!
jim

 

Drilling the 1/8" hole in the stat flange, I read, is simply to let air pass through to help bleed the system. Some stats have the hole and others don't..

I read several posts that said it is normal for the upper hose to develop pressure as the engine heats up. The cap relieves the pressure when it it too great. I just changed the cap a few days ago but never noticed the pressure in the hose before.. maybe it is normal.. Tomorrow I will run it through another warm up cycle and see what the lower hose is doing at the same time..

I replaced the thermostat, fan clutch. sending unit, swapped to mechanical gauge, new belt tensioner, replaced the AC clutch bearing, and installed the correct belt.

the mechanical gauge would eliminate any electrical problems with the dash gauge.
I have been searching but not found any info yet on what the temperature differential should be between the upper and lower hose.

When the engine water temp read 198f at the thermostat, the temp was 186f at the inlet on the top of the radiator while the bottom outlet was reading 110F. That is 76 degrees difference. That seems like allot on a 70 degree day...
Am thinking that if the radiator was partially clogged, then the slower the water falls down through the cooling tubes in the radiator, the more it would cool by the time it got back into the lower hose compared to full flow.

Without spending all day reading about water pump flow/gpm.. What i am coming across is 30 to 35 gallons per minute on a stock pump.. One company clams their pump will deliver 280 GPM at 8'000 rpm's. Either way 30 gallons per minute is allot of water going through a radiator..

The local shop here in town quoted $95 to clean and rod out the radiator. I think i will go a head and have them do that since it is 28 years old.. After that, if it still has the same problem,, there is only one part left to change...

Once I have the radiator out, should I go a head and try to loosen or break the water pump bolts? Thinking Humm,,if its not broken, don't fix it.. Again those pics of your pump scare me! As clean as the intake water chamber looked with the thermostat housing off, i cant see the impeller being rusted to a point to where it wouldn't pump right.

 

You could try to budge the pump bolts but you have to remove some accessory brackets to get at all of them. I use a torque wrench to remove very old bolts, especially with water pumps. I set the torque to 35 lb-ft and it that doesn't budge it, increase 5 and try again. If you get to 40 and nothing moves you may have a problem. In my case, I don't think the pump had been changed in 27 years so everything was rusted together.

As I said before, my van was a hobby. Being retired and having other transportation, I worked on it between honey-do projects.
jim

 

Thanks Jim, the torque wrench idea sounds great. If the all come loose, I might go ahead and change the water pump.. At the least, pull them out one at a time and put some anti-seize on the bolts.

I talked with the radiator shop today and they said there should only be about a 25 degrees difference between the upper and lower hose temperature at 70 degrees outside temperature

 

My son came by the house just now and I was telling him about the cooling problem. His first comment was blocked radiator. I gave him as many details as I could recall about the wrong belt and such and he thought it might be possible the previous owner may have put the wrong rotation pump on at some point. He doesn't have much van experience but he has worked 5.0L Mustangs for 30 years and has run into the same problem with classic Mustangs restored with fuelie 302s replacing 289 carbed cars.

More grist for the mill! haha

BTW, if you do get the bolts loose on the pump, some of them go into wet areas so you will lose coolant (and have a mess) if you remove those. FYI

jim

 

Thanks Jim... We learn something new every day! Well most of us anyway!!!
I briefly ran across a post earlier about belt routing and making sure the pump was rotating the right direction. but had no idea there were different pumps till you mentioned it. So I did some investigating, but true not allot... Read a couple of times that the CW and CCW pumps have a different pulley bolt pattern. So you have to drill out the serpentine pulley or buy a combo aftermarket pulley.. From the little I searched, CCW came into use with the serpentine belt.. CW pumps were used on carbureted engines like my 85 e150. My 85 came with a new spare NAPA water pump and I had looked up the part number to see if it would fit my 88 and it was different but I had no idea why.. I will check into that a bit more.. The two different pumps look physically different at least for the 85 and 88 e150.

No problem with water spilling now,, I took the radiator out today and took it to the shop. The tech looked down in it and said, oh yea, it needs cleaned..

Right now would be a great time to change the pump,,, but why did you have to post those pics? Maybe I'll get another 50k out of the pump if I leave it alone!

Hopefully it will be done by Thursday and I can get it back on Friday and let you know how its going...