Normal Water Temp Range

[alexsbuddy]

My son has a 1998 Ranger 3.0L and I would like to know what the normal operating range, min to max, should be for the water temperature. Any help would be truly appreciated.

 

[adsm08]

Well, the coolant will get as cold as the ambient temp when the engine is allowed a cold soak.

Normal operating temp should be around 217 or so, if the T-stat gets stuck open a code will set if the temp doesn't hit at least 177.

Why? Are you having overheating issues?

 

[alexsbuddy]

Thank-you for responding. No problem....just curious. I ran a OBD II diagnostic report to see why the Check Engine light had come on (bad EGR DPFE sensor) and I noticed the water temp was recorded at 208 and wasn't sure if that was normal. This engine produces a lot of radiant heat (fairly large engine for such a small space) which is normal I suppose.

 

[locovaca]

Was that at idle? Or did you do some driving while getting that reading? If it's occurring after driving and coming to a stop 208 wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Earl43P]

I frequently view mine on the Scangage II which is always on the steering column.
With a 195 T-stat, I see low 190's to rarely 200-205 (when I come to a stop from highway driving). Steady state, any speed, mine is always mid 190s.

 

[alexsbuddy]

The OBDII recorded the temp at the moment it detected a PO401 and a PO402 code. These were triggered by by a bad EGR DPFE sensor. My son had just come off the highway and was then doing a lot of stop and go's. Just curious if 208 was in the acceptable range. The truck has 135K miles on it and runs great....just want to keep it that way.

 

[adsm08]

Yeah, for that, 208 is OK. I think 220 is too high, 230 will start to do real damage.

 

[pxbacher]

I frequently view mine on the Scangage II which is always on the steering column.

Damn that's pretty cool. Too bad my 94 has EEC-IV