thermostat temp

[A_G]

Hey whats the temp of tstat your supposed to run in a 5.0 pickup truck? I think the one i put in 6 months ago was either wrong or faulty out of the box...

its 180* right?

 

[F 150Cobra]

192* is stock but you can put a 195 in it..

ive got an 180* but im changing it to 195*

 

[eco]

It should be ~190*.

I have heard that ~180* works better.

How do you know that yours isn't right?

 

[F 150Cobra]

It should be ~190*.

I have heard that ~180* works better.

ive heard that 180* gets you worse mileage... so ive heard but i dunno.. something about 190* gives you a better and more efficient combustion..

 

[jr32560]

on these newer ones -they tell me to go with what the factory was-temp wise-seen a few guys around here in mustangs drop the temp and have major issues

 

[jr32560]

and before ya'll start if it's not got a carburetor it's new to me

 

[F 150Cobra]

found this on http://www.fordfuelinjection.com/?p=9

Let’s start with a short list of stuff not to do, just to keep you from thinking about hurting your Ford. The following list contains ideas that are usually bad, unless you have a larger game plan and know what you’re doing.

•Thermostat changes under 180°
This only tricks your EEC and hurts your engine; leave this trick for the drag strip.

 

[eco]

What I saw was a graph with temp on one plane and cylinder wear on the other and 180* had the least amount of wear. There was a similar graph with temp on one plane and HP on the other and 180* was best. Someone posted a link to this on the other site and I happened to see it.

 

[A_G]

what does ford call for thats all im asking.

I think the one i got was faulty...or the wrong one...my coolant never seems to warm up.

 

[eco]

Getting up to 180* and staying right around that value is warming up. So I doubt getting a 180* t-stat is the problem. Either it's stuck open, you have a bunch of air in the system and your gauge is reading air and not coolant or something along those lines.

 

[mr. Charles]

.....just from my experience of: i replaced my thermostat last year in my 96 Explorer 4.0L with a 160* Yes this took a bit in the morning's to warm up....worst was later on the "Check Eng" light kept coming on and off now and then........pulled code's and gave me the indication of water/coolant temp not up to standard operating temp required........only thing it was good for was the 600mile trip across the states to where my daughter was at attending college..........just before winter season replaced the thermostat with a 180* one, and all's well for now; and to mention she(daughter has the SUV over their in Pullman, with the colder temp's) She's states Suv run's great and warm's up in the cold morning's for like around's 8 to 10 minutes with the temp's in the teen's........I have it with coolant at a 60 to 40 rate of antifreeze to water, and keep the overflow container filled half way with straight antifreeze.........


mr. Charles


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[flareside_thunder]

If your truck is running cool then it shouldn't be a faulty t-stat..usually when they fault they lack to open...I have a 180 in my truck...the needle does not move from the line right before the Normal area...it'll raise then I can watch it go down as the stat opens.....stock is sposed to be 195...I wanted something cooler...but that's just me.Also, most of the time when you have a bunch of air the truck will run hotter not cooler.

JR

 

[TheRoadVirus]

I always thought that when a thermostat fails it does so in the open position to prevent overheating?

 

[flareside_thunder]

Not when I've gotten defective ones...they stay shut...and the one you're thinking of is a superstat...a standard thermostat just has a little wax ball to open and shut the flapper.....

JR

 

[mr. Charles]

....i will say that i test any/all thermostat's i purchase prior to installing>>>>>>place them into a pot of boiling HOT water and watch it open up all the way; then grab it out wsith the ol' " hot dog_gripper untensil," ( i have NO idea what else to call it ) and then place into the sink and run cooler water upon it to watch it close again........if in doubt, I just pick it up and place back into pot of boiling hot water and do it again...... ...look's & operates A-oooOk, then i commence to install.......


mr. Charles


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[TheRoadVirus]

I've heard that before, a great tip to keep you from spending a whole lot of time doing the same thing twice.

 

[flareside_thunder]

lol Tongs?is that how you spell it?

JR

 

[TheRoadVirus]

Tongs =

 

[jr32560]

Tongs =

yup thats them hot dog grippers--tongs-we all knew what he meant-he is like me on certain days ,having a brain f**t

 

[eco]

If your truck is running cool then it shouldn't be a faulty t-stat..usually when they fault they lack to open...I have a 180 in my truck...the needle does not move from the line right before the Normal area...it'll raise then I can watch it go down as the stat opens.....stock is sposed to be 195...I wanted something cooler...but that's just me.Also, most of the time when you have a bunch of air the truck will run hotter not cooler.

T-stats can get stuck open.

If there is a bunch of air in the system the truck will run hotter in certain parts of the motor, but that does not mean that the sensor for the gauge will get hot too because thats way up in the lower manifold. Coolant has to get hot then contact the sensor. That heat from the cylinder water jackets is not going to heat up the sensor in the manifold very well without circulating coolant to carry the heat and then contact the sensor.

I have seen the sensor give a reading indicating that it is getting warm/hot, but a low reading compared to operating temp. with coolant circulating.