Phillip Batson <pbatson68@yahoo.com> wrote:
: I put a 180 thermostat in my truck back in 2000.
: Worked great. But recently, I've been finding that my
: engine temps have been hitting 210 and even going
: over. I would get that kind of behaviour in the summer
: (80+ degrees)in bumper to bumper traffic, but the temp
: outside has been sub-40 for a while now and it is
: still climbing up there.
: Any ideas what I should be looking for?
Assuming of course that your truck is actually heating
up that much (i.e. its not a gauge problem), then essentially,
your radiator isn't able to conduct enough heat out of the
coolant. The most likely reasons for this are a clogged
radiator, or a sticking/defective thermostat. Of the two,
the thermostat is more likely. As your truck is warming up,
you should be able to grab your upper radiator hose and feel
it get warm after say, 5 minutes or so, definitely should feel
some heat in it after 10 minutes, as the thermostat opens
and allows coolant to flow into the radiator. If your
upper radiator hose feels cooler than the rest of the engine,
chances are that your thermostat is sticking almost closed.
(However, the hose may still get hot if the thermostat
is letting some coolant get by, so even if its hot, that
still doesn't eliminate the thermostat - it might just not
have enough flow.)
Anyway, since its pretty cheap and easy to do, I'd swap
out the thermostat, either for another 180, or for your stock
195. Or, if you'd like to check it without spending any money,
you can pull the thermostat and check it by putting it in a pan
of water on the stove.
BTW, the thermostat can really only control the bottom end
of your temperature range - that is, a 180 degree thermostat
will ensure that your coolant will stay above 180 degrees when
fully warmed up - it can't actually guarantee that your temps
will drop; that will depend on the efficiency of the rest of
the cooling system. In most late model vehicles, changing to a
cooler thermostat will drop the coolant temps down, but that's
because the rest of the system has enough overkill in it to
drag the temps down to that level. If you have a restriction
in another part of the cooling system, or a gummed up radiator,
etc. changing the thermostat won't affect the upper end of your
temp range. With a cooling system in really bad condition,
it is possible for your engine to overheat even with no
thermostat installed. Anyway, just thought I'd mention that,
just in case - I really suspect the problem in your case is
probably the thermostat though.
--
-Jon-
.-- Jon Steiger ---- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com --.
| 1970 Barracuda - 1990 Dakota 'vert - 1992 Ram 4x4 - 1996 Dakota |
| 1996 Intruder 1400 - 1996 Kolb FireFly - 2001 Ram QC 3500 CTD |
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