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temp gauge problem


levren

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Vehicle Year
1993
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Ford
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Automatic
Hi all,
I have a 1993 ford ranger v6 4.0 and them temperature gauge is acting weird now. It will get up to the normal level, but if I'm sitting at a light or intersection I will see it start to go higher, but when I start driving again it will dip back down to the regular temp or lower even. I'm wondering if any other users have had this problem before or know what the issue is exactly. Any help on the matter is appreciated
 


RonD

Official TRS AI
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canada
Vehicle Year
1994
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Manual
That reads like the Fan Clutch is failing.

The radiator cools the engine coolant by air passing through it, so when you are driving the air flow is present, when you stop the fan takes over by pulling air thru the rad to maintain the cooling effect.

On the fan is a clutch that operates by rad temp, on the front of the clutch is a bi-metal spring that expands and contracts with heat from rad, this opens and closes a valve making the fan spin slower than fan belt speed(disengaged) or at fan belt speed(engaged).
When engine is cold, start it up and run it for 30 seconds to 1 minute then shut it off.
Open the hood and spin the fan, it should spin easily as clutch is cold and the valve is open.
Drive until engine is warmed up, temp gauge at normal spot.
Shut off engine and open hood again, now spin the fan, it should be much tighter, should move but not spin.
If it still spins then replace fan clutch, it is not pulling air thru rad when stopped, so engine temp goes up until you start to get air flow back, in motion again.


Another test is to warm up engine then use rolled up magazine or newspaper to try and stop fan from spinning while engine idles, if you can then fan clutch is bad.
This test can make a mess, lol.
i.e. little bits of paper everywhere

Fan clutch failing is the most likely issue from what you described.


But water pump fins can deteriorate over time, so at lower RPMs there is not enough circulation, this is a very rare occurrence but not unheard of.
 
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