Bought a 90 F350 7.3 dually. auto, crew cab, long bed. The temp gauge was staying very close to the lowest side of normal most of the time (once warmed up). Once in awhile it would get close to the N in Normal, but never up to it. Thought it needed a thermostat so we put one in last weekend. Now the running temp is a bit higher but not much. It's close to the N in Normal, but not covering it. This seems like it's running to cool. We are in Ohio (meigs county), and we've had a mild winter for sure. Outside temps when I was running it last were in the 40's.
So, my question is, is there something else we should ck out, or is this the normal running temp for this engine.

Thanks in advance!

 

Nice truck. You cant rely on the Ford gauges for anything. You could probably put in a temp gauge for $30. I have always found that cooler is better.

 

I agree cooler is better, to a point. But with diesel if it is too cool the combustion chamber does not get hot enough to use all the fuel coming into it. So you end up with poor milage and a poor running engine. Right?

 

Man, if your truck is running that cool...how many rows does the radiator have? I would install a gauge. Diesel engines also have cooling system needs (and others) that are different than gassers.

 

Yea, I hope your right, the gauge is just off. I'll look into getting a real set of gauges that show the temp, rather than just point to a huge range they call 'normal'.
Actually, the truck runs fine; I've heard of trouble caused by running to cool for extended periods though and wanted to see what you all thought.
Thanks

 

If I am correct the stock thermostat is set for 195. My truck only hits halfway on the temp. gauge when pulling a good load (10K lbs.) I can barely hit the "o" on the gauge when climbing a hill empty. The factory gauges are not the most accurate, but they are a good relative indication of normal or abnormal.

 

Meigs County? Well i am just down the river below gallipolis. I had an 89 and it had the same problem, and I always thought it was the sending unit. I had it checked my several different people and they thought the same. Maybe it is just the sending unit. Have somebody look at it, but i woudl say they will say the same thing. Probably chalk it up to BEING USED TO MUCH WHEN IT WAS NEW.

 

i would think the engine is running at the same temperature as the thermostat. the guage really should mean nothing, because calibration could be off. however it is a good indicator, it it happens to move into a range higher than normal for it. my truck takes forever to warm up to normal, at lower rpm diesels run cool. i try to keep my truck below 2500 rpm for the fuel economy.

 

My 90 usually runs around the n but not usually higher. I think it is just a cheap dash gauge. It doesn't seem to be a problem with performance. I'm going to get a set of real gauges this summer.

 

i have a 94 e350 idi sitting outside with a 3 core radiator and it runs around the "N" in normal. We had some older 6.9's with the 3 core and it was the same thing. And the older 6.9's with a 2 core radiator ran around the "R" and the "M". So I would guess these to be the bigger radiators.

 

Thanks for the clarafication guys. Eventually I'd like to get a better set of gauges but for now, I'm not going to worry about it.

Hey TexsDixieDiesel, I'm about 45 mins from Gallipollis. We boat down to the marina there a couple of times a year. We're close to Reedsville, around the Bellville damn. Do you do any boating down your way?