My question concerns possible overheating.
My truck is a 1993 F250 4x4 with a 7.3L IDI with about 178,000 miles on it.
I have had it for about a year.
I have both a temperature gauge and an engine temp light.
Yesterday the “engine temp” light came on, but the temp gauge was in the normal range, between the “O” and the “R” on normal.
I stopped the truck, let it cool down for an hour. The engine temp light went off, but as soon as the gauge read normal again, the light came on.
I checked antifreeze, oil, oil pressure, fan, anything I could think of.
I can’t find anything out of whack, and the trucks runs fine.
I think I trust the gauge more than the light.
But I don’t know for sure.
Can anybody tell me what’s up with this?

 

The light may be wacko! Does it seem hotter than usual after you stop? If the guage does not move, and the water does'nt seem to be boiling, I would look more towards the light as being bad. Have you been adding water lately? And when was the system flushed last? Another way to narrow it down is to use a hand held thermometer to check coolant temp. I think it should....and somebody chime in and correct me if I am wrong, but I would feel comfortable if the water temp stayed below 200 degrees, with 170/180 being more normal. Just be careful when you open the hot cap on your reservoir......so's not to get burned! Let us know what you find out.

 

>The light may be wacko! Does it seem hotter than usual after
>you stop? If the guage does not move, and the water does'nt
>seem to be boiling, I would look more towards the light as
>being bad. Have you been adding water lately? And when was
>the system flushed last? Another way to narrow it down is to
>use a hand held thermometer to check coolant temp. I think
>it should....and somebody chime in and correct me if I am
>wrong, but I would feel comfortable if the water temp stayed
>below 200 degrees, with 170/180 being more normal. Just be
>careful when you open the hot cap on your
>reservoir......so's not to get burned! Let us know what you
>find out.


Thanks for the reply!
Nothing seems out of the ordinary.
The gauge is where it always is at normal operation.
When I stopped and popped the hood, engine temp seemed normal.
Nothing boiling.
I have not had to add any water at all. I believe that the cooling system was flushed about a year ago before I bought the truck, but I am not sure about that. I might as well flush it now so I know that it's been done.
We were on a fishing trip about a hundred miles out of town, and I checked everything out as best I could.
Everything seemed normal, so I made the decision to drive home.
It was either that or spend the night in the woods with no camping gear and a couple of freaked out ten-year olds who think bigfoot is real!
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary on the way home either.
In fact the ol' truck ran great!
I will check the coolant temperature tonight and let you know what I find.
Once again, thanks for the info!
Mike