cooling a 2.9

[d9n]

what year explorer radiator will fit in a 87'? I have an aftermarket gage for the truck sitting on the bench, I just haven't figured out where to place it in the dash. My fuel gage doesn't work either so I'm thinking of replacing them all down the road.
Currently my truck doesn't overheat, I just was wondering what others see as normal on their stock gauges. Last winter the 29 was rebuilt which included engine hot tanked,a new water pump, hoses, 180 thermostat and a good radiator flush. The temps fine when I'm running below 60mph. I found if running the highway at 70-75mph the temp on the gauge was at the top of the "normal" on the stock gauge. I'm thinking of upgrading the radiator so heat in the 2.9 isn't an issue. Thanks for your input.

 

[Big Jim M]

Your thermostat is what controls the temperature.. The radiator will need replacing when the temp KEEPS climbing and the coolant system pukes it's guts out.
Your system shpould have a 195* thermostat in it...NOT a 180*! The reason for keeping the temp below 230* is simply to keep the coolant in the system.. Your engine will actually run better at that temp than it will at the normal 205* which it was designed for.
The gauge is there because guys don't like the lights on the dash..Guys think the gauge will tell them something they should know. All too frequently guys have no idea about temps and worry about 5 or 10 degrees of temp rise.
Remember as long as the coolant STAYS in the system it isn't too hot! Period!
Big JIm

 

[hidesertrat]

Where is the best/only place to insert a mechanical temp gauge probe on the 2.9? Seems I remember someone stateing the was somewhere on the block, yet most go into the t-stat area. I have another post on this very question, but nobody has responded...

 

[Big Jim M]

The thermostat area is where the hot coolant EXITS the engine.. Should be the accumulated hottest coolant in that area.. WHy go to another area when that area should be the correct area to insert a coolant sending unit?
Aftermarket temp gauges don't do anything different from OEM ones.. Why mess up the dash with another gauge that won't help anything anyway..

When the engine is too hot the coolant will leave thru the overflow system! Another gauge won't stop that. All a more accurate guage will do is to befuddle the uninformed.
Big JIm

 

[hidesertrat]

I feel comfort knowing the same threaded temp sensor that is screwed into the side of my engine is all one piece up to the back of the guage. In fact that makes it a bitch to install. Not being able to seperate the sending unit, and most importantly not wanting to kink it in the process.

How do you know it is 210 when it's between 'o and r?'

Ford guages are nothing more than a glorified dummy light.

The only electrical on the guage is from the backlighting.

I happen to feel the same way. Not to mention, my gauge will run in the red, between o and r. When it has been in the red, I have stopped the truck, used a infrared temperature gauge and measured the actual temp of the engine and it has been at 195 at the t-stat. I replaced the sender unit and it didn't change anything. I have gotten used to the temp gauge reading high and almost ignore it......not a good thing to do. So instead of going through all the work of trying to figure out if I lost a ground or the gauge in the dash is just a POS, decided to install a mechanical gauge. Much easier and gives a better reading. Just was concerned that the signal coming from the temp sensor may also feed into the computer and didn't want to interupt the signal if that was the case. So if there were another location on the engine that I could get a good reading with the mechanical gauge I would install the mechanical gauge there and leave the other in place.

 

[Jspafford]

The thermostat area is where the hot coolant EXITS the engine.. Should be the accumulated hottest coolant in that area.. WHy go to another area when that area should be the correct area to insert a coolant sending unit?
Aftermarket temp gauges don't do anything different from OEM ones.. Why mess up the dash with another gauge that won't help anything anyway..

When the engine is too hot the coolant will leave thru the overflow system! Another gauge won't stop that. All a more accurate guage will do is to befuddle the uninformed.
Big JIm

What?!

This is like saying you don't want to know when a car is about to run a redlight, because even if you did know it would still happen.

Too much info is NOT a factor with an engine prone to cracking because of being overheated.

DO NOT pull the sensor out near the thermostat. That is the sensor the ECU gets its readings from. You want to pull out the threaded plug with a single threaded bolt with nut sticking out of it. It is on the driverside, down towards the front bottom of the engine.

I took a pic of my guages tonight. I have two, Oil PSI and Temp.

I had just shut the truck off from driving and it had started it's "warm up before cool down"

How many times has your stock guage went up while sitting with the key and all instrument power off? How many times has it went up after the truck has shut off..

 

[barbefunkoramaque]

Cae in point

How many times must I say, "NORMAL" is a word, not a measuring device.

How do you know it is 210 when it's between 'o and r?'

Ford guages are nothing more than a glorified dummy light.

Chevies use much better guages. The one in the work truck moves from cold to hot, and the oil pressure guage also moves when driving.

Case in Point 210 degress seems to be between a and l on my truck

go figure