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bigdog

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86 F-350 6.9 IDI aftermarket turbo 4spd man trans. Installed repaired parts for fuel system. Followed instructions in a post by Mel about the IP and injector install . Once done motor started instantly and sounds grate. Back to the part that the truck has been in the family it has just under 29k mi, on the truck. Lots of down time for the last 12 or 15 years. Checked for leaks and all look good at this point. Cooling system has new ford thermostat , new water pump, radiator shop cleaned and tested radiator. All seems well . Lulled into a false sense of security due to what looks good. The temp gauge slowly rising and went past half way and slowly kept going. Gauge shows almost 3/4 the way to hot. Time to shut it down. Hope there is no damage at this point. Have not found the ohms reading for the temp sender. Has anyone else been this spot before ?
On the other hand I found out that the turbo installer at our shop back in the day never turned the pump up .
 

SuperDave

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My 86 pegs the temperature gauge at about 150 degrees, I foolishly replaced the entire cooling system trying to stop the overheating when what I should have done first was installed a mechanical gauge and confirmed overheating. My gauge is bad, I've tried several temp sending units including the motorcraft one and it still pegs at 150 degrees as read on my mechanical Stewart Warner gauge, point being confirm overheating before loading the parts cannon and don't do like I did and replace a bunch of parts that were probably fine. The good thing is I don't have to worry about any of the major components of my cooling system for a long time!
 

Cubey

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Eqqus gauges are pretty cheap and decent enough. O'Reilly and similar stores sell them for about $30. Or $20 for a mechanical one online. https://www.amazon.com/Equus-6242-Mechanical-Water-Temperature/dp/B000EVU8X4/ref=asc_df_B000EVU8X4/

That's the exact one I have on my RV. I like that 240 is a major marker on it, the "danger" line temp for IDIs.

It saved my butt this summer on a steep dirt road, 800-900ft climb in about 2 miles. The last 10*F climbed crazy fast, despite me watching the gauge like a hawk. I was able to pull over suddenly thankfully. I put the heater on full blast to help cool it down (an extra tiny radiator, after all) while letting it idle. The cooling system does work, it went down to 220*F within 5 minutes or so. I had more steep hill to climb so continuing on wasn't an option to help the radiator airflow. I did open the hood though to help a bit. Thankfully I didn't run myself over, leaving it in 1st gear without realizing it (you can see in the pic!). I was in panic mode over the temp so I forgot to throw it in park. I was on just enough of a hill that 1st gear kept it from rolling forwards but also not roll backwards.

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IDIBRONCO

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These engines can take a lot of heat abuse before having damage done to them. The factory gauges are next to useless. Aftermarket gauges are the best way to go by far. I certainly wouldn't stop at just the coolant temp gauge either. A pyrometer (exhaust gas temp/EGT) gauge is very important as well. From there, you can get an oil pressure gauge and a voltmeter. I also recommend a vacuum gauge to keep an eye on the health of your vacuum pump. I know that I won't be without one after installing my first one, unless I have hydroboost brakes. Then I still might have one.
 

Cubey

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I also recommend a vacuum gauge to keep an eye on the health of your vacuum pump.

I still need to get one, even after the incident in 2019 where I lost my alternator belt and didn't know it until the second time I hit the brake pedal. Maybe I'll finally do it this season after I get out to the LTVA.
 

Farmer Rock

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These engines can take a lot of heat abuse before having damage done to them. The factory gauges are next to useless. Aftermarket gauges are the best way to go by far. I certainly wouldn't stop at just the coolant temp gauge either. A pyrometer (exhaust gas temp/EGT) gauge is very important as well. From there, you can get an oil pressure gauge and a voltmeter. I also recommend a vacuum gauge to keep an eye on the health of your vacuum pump. I know that I won't be without one after installing my first one, unless I have hydroboost brakes. Then I still might have one.
I would of never thought of a vacuum gage, but I sure wish I did before my vacuum pump went out yesterday,lol.
Now I have to add one of these gauges to my to do list.


Rock
 

IDIBRONCO

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They are often overlooked, but they are VERY important to avoiding nasty surprises. Even with hydroboost, I'd definitely run a vacuum gauge if I had a C6 since they do use vacuum to help shift. I guess that part slipped my mind in my earlier post.
 

bigdog

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Looking at the gauges I found that the amp gauge doesn't move . Checked battery found that the alt is charging.
Going to look at gauges so I don't burn it down. I do have a pyro gauge and not sure if it works at all. Think it may be the best idea to replace all the gauges. Seems like this might be cheaper than having a big problem later.
 

IDIBRONCO

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I can say that the ammeter didn't move in my Blue Truck until I did the 3G alternator swap. It does move after start up now. It's just a personal thing, but I like to leave the factory gauges hooked up because I can't stand gauges that don't work. I don't care if they're not accurate as long as they appear to work. Don't try to use an aftermarket ammeter. I haven't seen one that read over 65 amps (there's probably one out there, I just haven't seen one) and even the poorly working, low output 1G alternators that they put on these early trucks can put out more than 65 amps. I think that they're 90-100 amps. I did burn up a 65 amp ammeter one time and it was scary. That's why I use a volt meter.
I think that a "standard" gauge package (to me) would be oil pressure, coolant temp, volt meter, pyro, vacuum gauge, and a boost gauge. You can go more than that and put in a fuel pressure gauge, an oil temp gauge, etc.
 

bigdog

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Picked up a econo O riley temp gauge to make sure that the temp is not out of hand . I do like the OEM gauges to show a little life that is true even if they don't work all that good, it just kind of looks right. The pyro and boost gauges are in the truck just don't know if they work at this time. My big deal to start with was to make the truck run then evaluate it from there. Making progress right now is a good thing considering where I started from . Brakes need to be looked at asap then evaluate what is on the hit list first.
Start, run, STOP, drive, doesn't seem like a lot .
 

Trikebent

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Where is a good spot to put the aftermarket Water temp sender and keep the stock sender?
 

Trikebent

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Superdave, I think I have the same '150 deg peg the gauge' symptom. Was it a bad dash gauge or bad sender?
 

TNBrett

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I used the top coolant port on the driver’s side head, towards the rear. It’s the same port that would be for the cold idle switch on the passenger side head towards the front.
 

IDIBRONCO

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Where is a good spot to put the aftermarket Water temp sender and keep the stock sender?
I used the location for the stock sender which I moved to the extra port on the water pump. I extended the wire for the stock sender so that it will reach the sender's new location. Extending the wire didn't bother me since the stock gauge isn't accurate anyway.
 

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