stock temp gauge question

performancelaw

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What is the normal temp in the " normal ". Mine is running between the n and o without a load. with a load I'm seeing " m ". What is to hot ?
 

Sw1tchfoot

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You never really know, it has been different in every Ford truck I have driven.
 

hairyboxnoogle

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Seems to me that average is usually around the O on the later trucks. On my 79 its sits about 1/4 of full sweep (about the needles width into the normal range)
 

performancelaw

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What temp is the letter "m" is my main concern. Is that to hot to maintain for longer periods of time? Anythingi can do to make it run cooler at all. It seems like it is running warmer then what it normally does.
 

franklin2

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It will let you know you are overheating, if your over-temp sensor is working. Mine used to work correctly(till I took the over-temp sensor out and put a gauge in it's place) and I had it trip on me a couple of times. If you are over on the right side of the "m" you are close. It will go over a little bit further and as it approaches the "a", the temp gauge will suddenly peg to "hot" and the "check engine" light will come on. That's how the factory had it setup.

While I still had the overheating problem, I took the over-temp sensor out and put in a real gauge, and left the factory gauge working also. When the factory gauge was getting up to the "a", my aftermarket gauge was reading around 240-245 degrees.

At the temp you are seeing, you should hear the fan roaring under the hood. If you don't, I bet your fan clutch is shot. Good luck buying one that will last any period of time. I made brackets and locked my fan together, and it hasn't overheated yet after that.
 

itsacrazyasian

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On my truck, i am at N and its 190 on my mechanical gauge. Do yourself a favor and get a real temp and oil pressure gauge. The stock gauges SUCK.
 

TWeatherford

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The stock gauges really are useless. My stock temp gauge reads the same temperature from about 170 on up to operating temperature. I've never overheated so I don't know if it would go higher, though I probably wouldn't notice cause I'm paying attention to my real gauge.

My stock oil pressure gauge always read the same, never moved. I'm pretty sure all it does is tell you that the oil pressure is above about 15 psi. With my real gauge, I could pretty much drive on the interstate without a speedometer, because with each few RPMs added as speed increases, oil pressure increases. I figure that if you had a real problem in the oil pressure department your stock gauge wouldn't let you know until its too late. With a real gauge, if I'm reading below 40 and I'm running above 60, there is a problem and I can look into it before I've driven down the highway on 20 psi for a while.

My point is, the stock gauges don't tell you much more than the engine is running, and it has some heat and some oil pressure.
 

Black dawg

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on one truck middle of the gauge is 195, on the other 230 is the middle.
 

snaponprofile

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I have seen mine slowely heat up all the way to the red more than once, it happened when my belt came off.
 

'94IDITurbo7.3

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my temp gauge always goes up to "n" and then stays there no matter what.
My friend has the same truck just N/A and his pointer points straight up. yes i know that sounded really bad.:rotflmao you guys keep your mouth shut.:rotflmao Based on his vs. mine we figured my t-stat was sticking open considering the fact that i get absolutley no heat even after driving 20+ miles. what else could be causing me not to get heat. i also have no A/C. don't really care about that though. this winter i will NEED heat.
 

itsacrazyasian

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take a point and shoot infrared thermometer and see what your water temps are like at the thermo outlet, inlet to the wp and outlet to the heater. had one truck in the shop the guy changed out his water pump, all hoses, heater core, blend door cable to have heat. Turned out someone shoved a ball bearing in the water fitting in the pass side head... Makes for easier troubleshooting when you know what temp water is where.
 

'94IDITurbo7.3

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take a point and shoot infrared thermometer and see what your water temps are like at the thermo outlet, inlet to the wp and outlet to the heater. had one truck in the shop the guy changed out his water pump, all hoses, heater core, blend door cable to have heat. Turned out someone shoved a ball bearing in the water fitting in the pass side head... Makes for easier troubleshooting when you know what temp water is where.

thanks i will look into that.
 

performancelaw

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Ok I put a real gauge in today. I've got it hooked up where the over temp light went. It says 190-195 without a load. Now what's the highest I should let it get when pulling a load ? What's to hot for these motors ?
 

hesutton

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The thermostat just starts to open at 192, so that's not abnormal. At 230, I start to back out of it and let it cool down, but that has only happend to me once.

Heath
 

travelinman31

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Just finished a water pump, thermostat, new hoses, new mechanical water temp guage install. Put the new guage in where the dash LIGHT used to be. While filling system, idling for about 30 minutes in driveway 112 degrees outside. New guage read 190, stock guage was straight up and down. Before all this my guage always stayed on the N. I haven't finished fillling the system yet don't know it that is going to change anything or not. I got about 5 and a half gallons in it so far.
 

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