Alrighty. I was going to have the radiator system
flushed anyways. I'll have them change out the
thermostat as well. I was just concerned it might be
something really bad happening. Well, I guess a
clogged radiator would qualify for that. :P
Thanks!!
--- jon@dakota-truck.net wrote:
>
> 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 |
> `------------------------------------
> http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
>
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