engine temp question

[NeXtras]

my engine temp gauge barely moves.. today i noticed it was moving higher than normal, but when i start to move and get some wind at it, it goes down...

is my engine starting to over heat? how do u know if its over heating or not if u dont have an engine temp gauge?

 

[tomtoc]

could it be a sticky thermostat?

 

[eco]

Overheat = the coolant boils

If the coolant boils than your radiator hoses would expand then explode.

Get an infarred thermometer and measure the temp of the t-stat housing, radiator etc. to see how hot the coolant really is.

 

[NeXtras]

Overheat = the coolant boils

If the coolant boils than your radiator hoses would expand then explode.

i have a 13psi radiator cap, if it boils, it will blow the cap, im trying to avoid that... i gunna guess im just low on coolant, too hot to check right now, but ill check in the morning

 

[eco]

One time I overheated and the coolant was 50/50 mix with water. I lifted the lever off the cap to relieve pressure and I lost a bunch of coolant out and I had no choice but to replace what was lost with 100% water, thus deluting the antifreeze even more. On the way home it overheated again and this time I blew a radiator hose.

 

[Skandocious]

If the temp gauge is climbing when you're not moving and dropping when you pick up speed, then I'd be suspicious of a bad fan clutch (stuck unlocked). If you rev the motor while idling, does the engine get cool again?

 

[tomtoc]

always remember that in a pinch to put your heater on high

 

[ford4life69]

I don't know about one in your generation but my 85 I6 ended up needing a new water pump. At first my dad thought it might be all the mud and crap in the radiator not letting the air flow right. Power washing it didn't help. It was that same deal, sitting still somewhere she'd creep up but get the air blowing through the radiator and she'd cool back down.

Those factory gauges are just an avg of the temperature. That's why they don't move as much as an aftermarket. It took me a long time to figure that out. The first aftermarket gauge I got in my 79 302 scared me because I'd go inside a store or something and come back outside and start it up and the gauge wld jump up. Made sense, the water's sitting there not being circulated anymore absorbing heat from the engine. Fire it back up and she'd cool back down.

A trick if you're getting critical on temperature or just paranoid and you don't live in a desert is to roll all your windows down and turn your heater up full blast. That blows air across that little miniature radiator looking heater core and got me through the last few days of work before a weekend where I could really tear into it you know.

Dad had me stick a thermometer in the top of my radiator and let it sit and idle till it warmed up and watch the gauge. I don't know what that told him, he's not the most patient and never bothered to explain anything but I seem to remember *this was years ago* that he asked me what it was reading and after a while he said the thermostat was opening and letting water flow. *shrug* Maybe someone else here knows what the hell that was for.