No thermostat?

BlackNoma · Nov 12, 2019

My truck has always taken driving 5+ miles of driving 60+ mph to start to warm up (100°+) and ran around 180° under normal empty driving.
Hook up a trailer (usually a 20+' gooseneck) and it runs 200-210°
I replaced the original radiator with an all aluminum one and it runs at 165° now. Even pulling an empty 34' dual tandem gooseneck, it was 170.
This morning (~40°) it took my truck 30 minutes of driving to get past 110°.
I think it's safe to say I don't have a thermostat.
Any problems with that? Issues that could arise?
I live in South Texas, so 90° 90% of the time. I would rather it run colder than hotter. Haha.

Thewespaul · Nov 12, 2019

Pull the fan off!

BlackNoma · Nov 12, 2019

Thewespaul said:
Pull the fan off!

it will be 90* next weekend... this is south texas. hahaha

Any idea on how hot ambient temperature can be until a fan is needed?

Cubey · Nov 12, 2019

The thermostat could be stuck part way or fully open.

Since they are cheap enough, under $25 online, I'd just replace it if you are in doubt of it's condition. That's what I did on my RV at the same time as the fan clutch.

I'd boil test the new thermostat before hand, it takes all of 5 minutes. Put it in a pan of cold water on the stove and let the water reach boiling. The thermostat should open.

BlackNoma · Nov 12, 2019

Cubey said:
The thermostat could be stuck part way or fully open.

Since they are cheap enough, under $25 online, I'd just replace it if you are in doubt of it's condition. That's what I did on my RV at the same time as the fan clutch.

I'd boil test the new thermostat before hand, it takes all of 5 minutes. Put it in a pan of cold water on the stove and let the water reach boiling. The thermostat should open.

I actually have a motocraft thermostat and gasket ready to go in... I've just never ran a thermostat on my old vehicles because I live in the pits of hell (I actually love it, but it's always hot here) and wanted my engines to run as cool as possible. Haha

Black dawg · Nov 12, 2019

BlackNoma said:
it will be 90* next weekend... this is south texas. hahaha

Any idea on how hot ambient temperature can be until a fan is needed?

if you are using a/c, you need a fan

chris142 · Nov 12, 2019

You don't want them to run too cool. Running too cool causes more bore wear. It does not get hot enough to evaporate any moisture out of the oil which causes sludge. It also let's fuel past the rings where it contaminates the oil faster than an engine that's running at proper temp.

79jasper · Nov 12, 2019

Running with no thermostat has shown to actually run hotter.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Randy Bush · Nov 12, 2019

Most people don't realize that running with out a themostat can make the engine hotter. The coolant circulates to fast not allowing the radiator to do its job of pulling the heat out of the coolant.

HawkDavis · Nov 13, 2019

Just open it up and look. It's an easy fix. Then you'll know.

CDX825 · Nov 13, 2019

Running with no thermostat in one of these engines will cause it to run hotter because when the thermostat opens it closes off a bypass and allows the coolant to flow to the radiator.

BlackNoma · Nov 14, 2019

Good to know! Thanks guys. I guess this radiator just does the job too well.
I'll pop in the new thermostat and play with grill block-offs to get the temp back to ~180.

Thewespaul · Nov 14, 2019

BlackNoma said:
it will be 90* next weekend... this is south texas. hahaha

Any idea on how hot ambient temperature can be until a fan is needed?

Wow its a high of 60* here this weekend, make sure and bring a jacket saturday, seems like we had two or three days of fall then went straight into winter here!

BlackNoma · Nov 14, 2019

Thewespaul said:
Wow its a high of 60* here this weekend, make sure and bring a jacket saturday, seems like we had two or three days of fall then went straight into winter here!

lol, it was mostly a joke. I'll be 70's here this weekend. Supposedly no more 80+ days this year for us. I'll believe it when Jan 1 rolls around. haha.

The cold weather should make a great platform for selling glowplug systems! You should run a special! hahaha

IDIBRONCO · Nov 14, 2019

Thewespaul said:
Wow its a high of 60* here this weekend, make sure and bring a jacket saturday, seems like we had two or three days of fall then went straight into winter here!

That's what the temperature's supposed to be like here this weekend. Did you Texas guys do something to deserve this kind of abuse? :joker:

No thermostat?

BlackNoma

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Cubey

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BlackNoma

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