90 Ranger 2.3 cooling issue

[Stoker_Ranger]

So started my truck to let it warm up before going to the store,came back out to my truck to go,noticed my temp gauge was alil higher than normal,didn't think too much on it & started driving. By the time I got to the store the gauge was about 3/4 of the way up(usually sits at 1/4) heat blowing hot,heater lines hot, & top hose hot. The bottom house is cold & the side of the radiator its leading to is cold. Replaced the water pump & thermostat about 8k miles so I'm wondering if the radiator itself is clogged or something else? Any info helps,thanks for looking!

 

[tomw]

Unless you have a infrared temperature detector or camera, you will have to use the manual method to determine if the radiator has 'cold' spots, where the coolant is not dumping any heat. More or less, run it until it is as hot as you want, then probe the fins in a pattern more or less from side to side(if your tubes are vertical, which I thought all Rangers were, but I don't have access to them all) If a tube is plugged, it will not allow coolant passage, and should be cool to the touch. Work your way across and see if some are cool. If so, and it is significant(more than ~10% say), you may want to try to back-flush the system. If not, don't worry about it.
tom

 

[RonD]

Lower rad hose should be 15-20deg Cooler than upper hose

After engine is warmed up again and idling squeeze upper rad hose, then squeeze lower rad hose
If lower is much easier to squeeze and much cooler, then rad is clogged up
REV engine and see if lower hose gets even softer

Soft lower hose is because water pump is trying to pull coolant in from the radiator faster than it can flow thru
Pressure in both hoses should be the same

28 year old vehicle will only have new automatic trans radiators available, that is normal, so don't spend time looking for a manual trans radiator, if you have a manual trans.

Also you can get a slightly bigger rad if you get one for vehicle with AC, even if you don't have AC, these are usually Dual Core instead of Single core

 

[Stoker_Ranger]

I'll check all that out in the morning,thanks for the tips!