plugged radiator?

[lufordcas]

hi i hav a 1984 ford ranger 2.8 v6 4x4, the temp goes to about 210 degrees for normal opperating temp and when i climb hils it goes to 220 but not above that. so after it got up to 210 i shut it off and opened the hood felt the radiator and one side was hot(side with upper hose) other side was stone cold(lower hose side) doesnt this mean the radiator is plugged or something else? thanks

 

[rtg143]

Does the temperature go up fast or does it go up fairly slow? Slow could be a flow problem and fast could be a gauge. Does it dump out the overflow?

 

[whocares]

Thermostat not opening could be one cause. I would start there.

 

[lufordcas]

temp rises fairly slow, guage is new, and even when it reads 210 degrees i can take the cap off and put my finger in the coolant it is cool, however the top rad hose is hot and just the top left of the radiator(looking at it from the front of the truck) is hot the rest is cold. ill try a thermostat

 

[adsm08]

Yeah, sounds like a bad t-stat. Heat transfers through it, but not as fast as if water was flowing.

 

[Mike Tonon]

I had a problem like this with my 87 Ranger 2.9l. It would go up relatively high, slowly though. I would hold the rpm up to maybe 2000-3000 (no tach) and it would drop back down. I changed the thermostat 2 times and flushed the system once (very thoroughly) nothing seemed to fix it. Being as old as it was, it probably had a blockage somewhere. Not to mention that my dad was the original owner and I don't think he ever changed the coolant. It looked like muddy puddle water when I first changed it.

I would flush it good and change the t-stat. I don't know what you have for a radiator, but I changed mine and the new one was twice as thick and only cost me about $115 including shipping from an online supplier. But I had the 2.9l, I'm just assuming its basically like the 2.8l.

 

[lufordcas]

iv flushed the system several time and it always comes out muddy brown from the radiator.

 

[lufordcas]

wondering which is better 2 or 3 core radiator(dont understand whats the difference)

 

[rtg143]

A 3 row cools better. Especially when pulling hard or any type of load.