What are the major downfalls of not running a t stat in the block? Besides, slow warm up, moisture in the oil, etc?

I was going to take the t stat out remove the guts, and use the base as a restrictor. Trying to keep the truck below 210 degs. T stat is stamped 180 now, acts like it is sticking or restricting the flow too much at higher rpm operation. Suggestions?

 

Why not just put in a lower temp thermostat. I don't think it would hurt anything, by not running one. I have heard of people doing this with no problems.

 

If every car came with one installed...

If it can't keep its cool at factory spec, you have issues. Stop with the band-aid fixes.

 

maybe your water pump is bad or you have a blockage in one of the water passages, does it still have factory heat with one of those little things on one of the heater hoses, I can't remember what its called for the life of me, but it's a temperature control for the heater and looks like an egr valve. My dads 73 F-100 had one, I asked him what it did and he told me, but i forgot its name. That might be sticking retricting coolant flow. Oh, maybe the fan clutch, I know those things can cause the problem your talking about at high rpm.

 

How is this possibly a good idea... it's there for a reason. Slow warm-up is bad. It's terrible on your engine's bearings. I even think 180 is too low; 195 is much better.

Best advice I've read in weeks.

 

yeah its got issues, too much rod bearing clearance, auto tranny, with 3.50 gears and 38" tires, poor compression, leaky exhaust manifolds, pretty much everything to be expected for 300000miles.

But no oil leaks, starts on 1st try, 50# oil pressure cold, and GPS confirmed 14mpg hiway.

It is a "fixer upper". Trying not to put more in repairs than what i paid for the truck. Free or cheap on this one. The reason it will not keep cool, IMHO is that i am getting a lot of torque converter slip due to the big tires and the stock cooler/radiator cannot reject the heat quick enough at 180 deg plus, i figured if i got the temp down a bit it would help.

BTW the radiator is getting 100 deg of drop between the inlet and outlet temps, (at idle) 185 in 85-90 out.

I thought the worst that could happen was get a little moisture in the oil and beat the rod bearings around a bit more than they already are, worst case (throw at rod out) let it sit until i can find a donor. Best case keep it cooler now and drive the crap out of it all summer.

 

More elaboration, if the coolant was 20-30 deg cooler, the oil, tranny fluid etc would also be that much cooler. Right? So maybe a little moisture in the oil to save a $800 transmission? ( Fairly fresh, about 5 years old)

 

More info would help. You say that it’s running 210 with a 180 thermostat, but then mention high rpms. Is it only getting hot at high rpms? If it were this would give you a whole lot of different circumstances to look at. A thermostat doesn’t make a engine run hot unless it is sticking and if it is the engine would be running a lot hotter than 210. I wouldn’t run without one. The are designed for a purpose. The engine needs to be warm to run efficiently. Post more info on the symptoms and I am sure the guys on here could come up with some good solutions.

 

It will run at 180-185 deg at idle, in park sitting in the drive way. All day long.
It will start to creep up towards 200 in gear, at idle , at a light or in traffic.
Pulling up a long hill or at any speed over 45-50 she starts to warm toward 200.
Offroad, will warm very quickly to 200-220.(High RPM useage) 3000K rpm. max.
Idle in gear 725, idle in park stays around 900.
10 deg of timing with a max runout of about 34 deg.
Newer 2 pass stock radiator, stock fan, stock pump. New cap. No fan clutch.
When the coolant temp gets to near 200 thats when i am also droppin off some of my oil pressure, goes from 12# in gear to about 7# when the coolant gets warm. Running 15/40Rotella. (trying to save them rod bearings)


360 2v/C6/4x4

 

So it doesn't have issues with cooling? It's supposed to run about 200-210F. If you lose that much oil pressure running at 200-210, your engine is past its prime already. The point of no return.

If your oil pressure is 7 PSI at idle with the temperature at 200-210, try using 20w50 motor oil instead of 15w40. This will extend its life until something breaks.

 

Now that’s the info needed for people to make an assessment of your problem. The temps you describe are pretty much normal. I run a 5 row Modine in mine and under a heavy pull on a hill the temps will run up around 210 to 220 this is normal. I run a 190 thermostat on my 460 because it performs better when hot. Your engine might be a little retarded. Retard on an engine will cause it to heat under load. I run my 460 at 14 degrees. You might try going up to 12 and see if it runs a little cooler. Advancing the timing doesn’t hurt the engine as long as it isn’t in pre-ignition. There are several schools of thought on this and I will probably get several rebuttals on this statement but I have 250K of hard miles on my 460 with a lot of them towing. I have never had the timing under 12 and my 460 still runs 40 pounds plus of oil pressure at all temps.

The oil pressure is another problem. The engine could be getting sick, but other factors are often overlooked. The pressure relief spring on the pump could be weak and losing tension when it gets hot. The gauge itself could be bad; Ford trucks are notorious for this. The little regulator in the dash starts breaking down when it gets hot and starts lowering the voltage to the gauges. This is noticeable when the fuel gauge starts showing different levels. The sending unit on the engine could have a weak pressure spring in it and starts breaking down when hot. This is why a lot of Ford truck owners put mechanical oil pressure gauges on their trucks. I imagine a lot of Ford truck engines are tore down needlessly because of gauge problems.

You need to sit down and analyze each problem and item. Put a mechanical test gauge on the oil pressure line and confirm the oil pressure is really dropping and then go from there. Possibly a three-core radiator might help. Advancing the timing a few degrees might help. Try the simple least expensive things first and maybe you might come up with a simple solution, but I doubt you have a thermostat problem.

 

The engine is worn slap out.