Howdy,

My pick up is a 1985 f150 Lariat, 302, automatic 2WD

My pick up has been sitting for a year and half (last tag date) and I just got it road worthy, but I think it's over heating

My temp gauge is the stock one and looks like C-NORMAL-H
After cruising for a bit it likes to alternate between the A and L

Is this normal? I do have the original radiator and I have installed a new thermostat

Thanks,
-Matt

 

Are there any other signs of overheating? Pinging when you press the throttle? Burning oil smell? Coolant running out? If not, I would forget the factory gauge and put a aftermarket set of gauges on it with real numbers under the dash. A lot of money can be wasted worrying about the stock gauges and what they say. The fuel gauge is the only one to worry about and keep working.

 

It was loosing coolant, but after I fixed a coolant leak it has stayed full. As far as I can tell the only symptom of overheating is the temp gauge. The only gauge that doesn't "work" is the Fuel gauge Lol; I'll look for an after market tempt gauge

btw, the thermostat I installed was rated at 195 F, would it hurt to put in a 180 F?

Thank you Dave,

-Matt

 

I agree with Franklin2.

When I first got my F250 the temp would barely come up. I put in a new sender and now it reads similar to how you described.

The factory gauges are a good reference.

 

If it's fuel injected, I would not use the 180 thermostat. If it has a carb, you could run it if you wanted. I ran a 180 to help with pinging when I took the EGR off.

 

What they said. The temp gauge in my 84 always ran right on the edge of H. Put an aftermarket gauge under the dash, and it runs 190-200 range.

 

I purchased an aftermarket tempt gauge and it is suppose to arrive today, I'll probably install it this weekend and I'll let y'll know how it goes.

Thank you for everybody's feedback, the info really does help
-Matt

 

My 85 is fuel injected, so I'll take your advice and leave the 195F where it is

 

Update:

My over heating troubles are over and this is what I did:

I did not replace the factory temperature gauge
I did replace the thermostat (195F), gave it a complete radiator flush, and put in new antifreeze.

After those 3 things my needle likes to dance between the R and the M on my gauge which looks like this C-NORMAL-H

Also, there were little white ***** in the older (still green) anti-freeze, whats up with that? It didn't look like oil, it looked like little bits of Styrofoam were floating around in there

 

1/2 of all perceived overheating issues are a bad radiator cap.
If it isn't loosing coolant, you really do not have an overheating problem. And remember, Ford didn't make these gauges for the space program, they are just a janky vague reminder of what is really going on.