2001 250 running cold
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 44
Likes: 3
From: Ogden, UT
2001 250 running cold
I have a 2001 F250 7.3 i just bought. I noticed it was running a little cold on the temp gauge on the dash and i also have a digital temp gauge installed. as the sun was up and 75 outside the gauge was just below half which i thought was normal but my digital gauge is only telling me its at 146 degrees. as the sun went down the temp dropped to about 65 and the gauge on my dash dropped to just above the bottom line of the normal range and my temp gauge told me it was running at 112 degrees. It does this every time i drive it if its warm outside it stays about 140 and yesterday even got to 150 but as it got colder out it only hit about a quarter of the way into the normal temp range and about 124 degrees. it never gets below the normal line once warmed up. Should i dig into this and change a thermostat and do that or is it just going to be OK at those temps??
Post Fiend
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 19,402
Likes: 38
From: Bonita Springs FL
If those temps are accurate, you have a problem. If you don't have an infrared thermometer, understand they are extremely useful for accurately and quickly measuring the temperature of objects without touching them. I use one when towing to detect brake and/or bearing issues before they put me on the side of the interstate. You can get one on amazon for under $20. However, if both of your gauges are showing the same behavior, I would, at the very least, change the thermostat. If you plan on keeping the truck a while, I would flush out the entire cooling system. Do a google search for "gooch coolant flush".
Mountain Pass
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 131
Likes: 14
From: Baltimore
My '01 7.3 was running low too when I got it, a thermostat change (factory OEM) fixed the issue. Should be a simple fix but in my case the head snapped off of the rear most bolt of the housing. Easy job turned into a pain, but it runs at temp now.
Hotshot
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 19,762
Likes: 1,079
From: St Louis
Either the thermostat is stuck open or a PO took it out.
The cluster's gauge is programmed to indicated in certain positions based on certain ranges of detected temperatures, tt is not a continuous linear representation as you'd see with a conventional analog gauge. It's much like your oil pressure gauge reads either nothing or mid-scale (analog idiot light).
The cluster's gauge is programmed to indicated in certain positions based on certain ranges of detected temperatures, tt is not a continuous linear representation as you'd see with a conventional analog gauge. It's much like your oil pressure gauge reads either nothing or mid-scale (analog idiot light).
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 44
Likes: 3
From: Ogden, UT
Alright so i haven't had a chance to do anything yet but i will be this weekend. But yesterday the fan actually turned on. My digital gauge is only telling me 153 but my dash gauge was about a third the way into the normal range. My digital gauge may be getting a bad reading on top of the fluctuating temperature it looks like...
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