I recently moved to Colorado, where it is quite a bit colder than it was in Florida. My 90 XLT with a 351 runs very cold here. It's only in the 40's but I can barely get any heat out of it. The heater gets warm at best. The temp guage stays below the "N" line. I know there is a thermostat in it because I saw it when I changed the upper hose. Sometimes people in Florida remove the t-stat to make the truck run cooler (which doesn't work anyway). Also they put in low temp t-stats like 160's. My question is for people in cold climates: do your Broncos run cold too? What temp t-stat should I be running? I've seen people put covers over their grills to help raise temps. But so far I have had this problem when it is in the 30's and 40's, which really isn't that cold.

 

I'm down around the Four Corners, same temps here. After 5min or so the Bronco cranks out a good bit of heat. Eventually I'm sweating LOL. Anyway, maybe your thermostat is stuck open - it's not uncommon. I'm running the stock rated thermostat, 195 degrees IIRC. Napa has a thermostat which is supposed to make for faster warming of the heater in the winter, which is what I have, but how it's supposed to do that I have no idea. Also check your coolant level. BTW, I think we're having a Colo Bronco get-together this weekend in Kiowa, east of Castle Rock. LMK if interested.

 

I just changed the thermostat. I got a 195 from NAPA. It didn't say anything about faster warmup though. Now I have plenty of heat. It runs about 1/3 of the way up on the guage now, between the "n" and the "o" in normal. It never ran there before, except in Florida idling with the a/c on it would get that high and go back down when I drove. I think the old thermostat was stuck open, at least partially. I remember when I changed the upper hose, there was some water coming out of the t-stat neck even though the truck had not been started at all that day. I would think that no water would come out if the t-stat was closed. What's a Bronco get together? Mine is nothing fancy, it's a 90 XLT in clean condition. Pretty much stock. Don't know if I can make it on short notice but tell me about it anyway, and thanks for the invite.

 

Give me a good email addy and we'll take this off-board. I once tried to email you at whatever addy you have listed under your profile but never got a response. I'll try to send you a private message thru the board.

 

E-mail me at jse126(No Email Addresses In Posts!) The profile wouldn't let me put this e-mail address because it said it was an anonymous address. But it's the one I use. The address on my profile is no longer valid.

 

JBronco,

It sounds like you have a 160 degree thermostat in it or you have one that has went bad and stuck open. Either way, I'd change it out to a 190/195.

If that doesn't improve the temp/heat you may have a glogged heater core.

 

195 t-stat fixed the problem

 

I installed a 197° thermostat from Autozone and it runs great! When's the next Bronco-Get-Together! I live in Elizabeth, CO.

 

 

I have similar problem with my '80 Bronc. The temp gauge barely reaches the first line on the temp gauge. Heat is warm coming out of the heater tho. I've been thinking about changing the thermostat. If it runs hotter--up in the normal temp range--will that affect mileage? I have a 351 auto and get about 9 mpg

 

If it affected your mileage in any way, it would be to increase it since you would be burning fuel more efficiently.