My son's Ranger

[Adopted6cylinder]

Still no answers on the temp sending unit plumbing part. Anyone?

I have established that the little engine does not have very good flow, so I might be replacing the water pump anyway. I might just be used to a Ford V-8, but still... If I go that far, are there "better" quality head gaskets, since everybody seems to have major problems with these in the Vulcans? I had the same engine in an early Taurus, and it ran faultlessly, but I think it might have been an early iron block.

The radiator never really gets warm and the upper hose never gets sufficiently warm or has enough flow in it. Kind of anemic really.

+1 ^^^

A working thermostat can never cause an engine to overheat
If there is a problem the 30deg difference between 160 and 190 thermostat = about 10 seconds of extra time, maybe, depends on the problem, but for sure not longer, lol

An engine is "officially" overheating at 231degF
Best operating temp for gasoline engines is 185degF to 210degF, keeps the oil cleaner and better combustion efficiency, so better MPG
Center line on Ford temp gauges is about 205degF

Pulling a load going up a hill engine can push close to 230degF which is fine

245degF is about 3/4 on the gauge and time to pull over and let engine cool back down, don't shut engine off unless of course a hose has broken or coolant has otherwise been lost
Without coolant, running the water pump/engine doesn't do anything to cool the engine, lol

And, likewise, a working thermostat, never saved an engine that was overheating. It opens, its job is DONE.

 

[RonD]

3.0l OHV Vulcan, 1986 to 2008, had cast iron block and heads, you may be thinking of the 3.0l DOHC Duratec that had aluminum heads and block, both were used in Taurus/Sables

3.0l Vulcan never had issues with cracked heads or blown head gaskets any more than any other engines
2.9l and 4.0l did have cracked head issues
If any engine is overheated long enough the head gasket will get crushed as the head metal expands towards the block
That's not a fault of head gasket material, just the physics of heating up metal

Aluminum head with cast iron block engines did have an issue in the early days, as the aluminum expanded 5 to 7 times faster than the cast iron block, this caused the the composite head gasket to be "rubbed" on each warm up, and it would fail, 40k to 60k miles
MLS(multi-layer steel) head gaskets were developed to "allow" the sliding instead of "rubbing" of the aluminum head as it expanded

But any engine regardless of metal type or head gasket material will blow a head gasket if overheated too much or too long
Head metal can also crack for the same reason, 2.9l and 4.0l head castings had thinner metal in places so were more prone to cracking at those locations when metal was overheated and expanded too much

I would urge you to test for head gasket or cracked head issue before doing too much extra work on the cooling system, it's easy to do

Its much like doing a compression test if there is a misfire, no one wants to find out they have a burnt exhaust valve, lol, but if it is the problem it saves you time and money to find that out sooner than later

 

[Adopted6cylinder]

See

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Vulcan_engine

I know of what I speak. When I referred to an early iron block, usually earlier year castings carry a bit more meat to them. Ford usually skinnies them up a few years into production. Anyway... Still didn't address the question about the temperature sending unit on the block near the water outlet. That's the one that I am really interested in.

By the way, I have ran aluminum heads on a cast iron block on a V-8 before, and they work great. Biggest problem is allowing for extra expansion and lashing the rockers properly on the first initial setup.

If I blow it up, I may just have to drop a 302W in it. (Hee-Hee!) I like real horsepower anyway.

 

[RonD]

You talking about this fitting: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iaPINDb5m_E/hqdefault.jpg

The "elbow", it usually has the temp sender, 1 wire/12volt, there, and the 2 wire/5volt, temp sensor on the lower intake, but can be either way

 

[Adopted6cylinder]

THAT"S IT!!!!

 

[RonD]

Also try Dorman 47993 part number

 

[Adopted6cylinder]

And how about Dorman Heater Hose Junction W0133-2748915 or Ford original part number F77218599AA? Might need to cut them down a bit if you don't want to completely tear down the air conditioning to the block, though.