tjg8675
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- Sep 3, 2007
- Messages
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Hi All,
I have been having cooling system issues for a while now (years I've been dealing with this), mostly a very erratic temp gauge, to the point I'm scared to go up steep grades and big hills for very long or risk overheating. I mostly stick to flat roads and an occasional hill here and there. The last time I took it up a big hill the temp went way past the "NORMAL" range on the gauge and almost into the red before I reached the top of the hill and I was able to coast down to cool it off. I have known for a while that my old radiator was clogged with corrosion (wouldn't even drain out of the petcock valve, too plugged up), so last weekend I bit the bullet and installed a new all aluminum "Cold Case" radiator, unfortunately this did NOT solve my problem. I still have the erratic temp gauge (temp goes up to between the M and A on gauge when accelerating and goes down to between the N and O when coasting). I remember when the temp gauge would stay steady between the N and O and never move, even up huge steep hills and would like to see that performance again.
This is what I know...
-I am running a 192 degree motorcraft thermostat which tested good before putting in new radiator.
-New radiator (flushed system a week before installing new radiator, filled with water and Prestone System Flush and ran for a week until draining and installing new radiator)
-New radiator cap
-Filled with 50/50 premix
-Fairly certain all air is bled out of system (I usually hear gurgling from the heater core during startup when air is in system)
-Water pump is a couple years old, this was one of my early attempts at fixing problem, also didn't work
-Replaced Fan Clutch , also a couple years ago but didn't fix problem
-I also replaced the Temp sender to gauge and ECT when water pump was replaced (How tight should the Temp Sender be? I remember screwing it down until it stopped which seemed odd to me at the time, seemed to deep, and have wondered if this might be part of the issue, maybe sender is touching the metal of the block and either blocking the way or giving bad reading because it is not supposed to touch metal???)
Any help appreciated
thanks in advance
1995 5.8L Bronco XLT
189,000mi
CA emissions compliant
I have been having cooling system issues for a while now (years I've been dealing with this), mostly a very erratic temp gauge, to the point I'm scared to go up steep grades and big hills for very long or risk overheating. I mostly stick to flat roads and an occasional hill here and there. The last time I took it up a big hill the temp went way past the "NORMAL" range on the gauge and almost into the red before I reached the top of the hill and I was able to coast down to cool it off. I have known for a while that my old radiator was clogged with corrosion (wouldn't even drain out of the petcock valve, too plugged up), so last weekend I bit the bullet and installed a new all aluminum "Cold Case" radiator, unfortunately this did NOT solve my problem. I still have the erratic temp gauge (temp goes up to between the M and A on gauge when accelerating and goes down to between the N and O when coasting). I remember when the temp gauge would stay steady between the N and O and never move, even up huge steep hills and would like to see that performance again.
This is what I know...
-I am running a 192 degree motorcraft thermostat which tested good before putting in new radiator.
-New radiator (flushed system a week before installing new radiator, filled with water and Prestone System Flush and ran for a week until draining and installing new radiator)
-New radiator cap
-Filled with 50/50 premix
-Fairly certain all air is bled out of system (I usually hear gurgling from the heater core during startup when air is in system)
-Water pump is a couple years old, this was one of my early attempts at fixing problem, also didn't work
-Replaced Fan Clutch , also a couple years ago but didn't fix problem
-I also replaced the Temp sender to gauge and ECT when water pump was replaced (How tight should the Temp Sender be? I remember screwing it down until it stopped which seemed odd to me at the time, seemed to deep, and have wondered if this might be part of the issue, maybe sender is touching the metal of the block and either blocking the way or giving bad reading because it is not supposed to touch metal???)
Any help appreciated
thanks in advance
1995 5.8L Bronco XLT
189,000mi
CA emissions compliant
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