over cooling.

[chillymorn]

this seems like a topic that has been discussed before with no real solution.

heres my story.

bought a 97 ranger for 500$ off craigs list. when I got it it didn't have heat. so I changer the tstat. the temp guage went up alittle and I somewhat had heat but not like it should be. drove the truck for a year and then the ck engine light came on .took it to autozone to have the code read and it come up close cooling loop. so I cahnge the temp sensor in doing so I break the T that the temp sensor screws into....can't find one anywhere no junk yards have it and all parts stores say its a dealer item the dealer tells me its discontinued. So I head to home depot and buy a brass fitting and two 5/8 hose fitting and buils on myself. works perfect 25$. but now I have no heat again. so after reading about burping the system I try that again no heat. so now I figure the water pump and fan clutch are bad so I change them still no f----ing heat. and temp guage reading nothing. so it muust be the other temp sensor or sending unit so I change that still no heat and running cold a a dead fish in febuary.

the solution ....at least for me was some freaking cardboard in front of the rad. now the temp is running right in the middle and it heats like the fire of hell.

wish I would have just slapped the cardboard on it when my younger brother said last year and saved my self 200$ in part and a bunch of farting around.

the only thing I can think of is the tstat I installed last year is the wrong temp,or not seated properly but I don't feel like taking it apart again so I'm running with the cardboard until spring and maybe forever.

I have searched this fourm and the net and have yet to find a sucess story about fixing this .....anybody ever figure it out?

 

[1994_4x4]

My solution.

A dozen thermostats and a water pump. Removal of the mechanical fan to a electric fan controlled via switch. It still ran cold. I just ended up going with aluminum plating (cheeap) to keep her warm. I don't know what causes these to run so cool (over sized radiator ?) Maybe the doc will chime in.

When it's below freezing I run it in the lower gears at lower speeds to get it warm and then the plating ends up keeping the heat after a while. If it looks like it's getting hot I turn the fan on. I have the 2.3

 

[RonD]

Did you use a 195deg T-stat, that should hold the engine temp at 210-230deg, engines run more efficiently in that range, T-stats are use for that purpose, even though we like to think it's for the heater in the car, lol.

If the heater hoses are long you can get some "tube insulation" to go over them, this holds in the heat preventing too much cooling in that loop.

 

[1994_4x4]

Did you use a 195deg T-stat, that should hold the engine temp at 210-230deg, engines run more efficiently in that range, T-stats are use for that purpose, even though we like to think it's for the heater in the car, lol.

If the heater hoses are long you can get some "tube insulation" to go over them, this holds in the heat preventing too much cooling in the loop.

The highest T stats I can find are 192, if that makes any difference. I honestly thought/think over cooling for the 2.3's was just the nature of the beast.

 

[RonD]

192deg is fine.
Never had a 2.3l, maybe it doesn't generate enough heat in operation but that would be odd, combustion is about 2,000deg and higher.

The 192 t-stat doesn't open fully until 192deg, so if the rad is too big the t-stat should start closing as the coolant passing it goes below 192deg, which is why the t-stat is there, to maintain the 200+ deg in the engine.
Generally the flow in a rad is top to bottom, and the t-stat is often located on the upper hose, so a rad that is too large could keep the temp down because the coolant is coming into the engine via the lower hose passing through the engine(warming up) and then to the t-stat so the t-stat is seeing coolant temp higher than 192deg but the rest of the engine is cooler, bad design, IMO.

The closed system, before t-stat opens, could be the problem, it might be too big, the engine combustion temps are transferred but the circulation cools it too much, that would be a design problem, not much you can do about it; water pump with smaller impeller blades, lol.
Insulating the heater hoses could help, if they are long.

But mentioning that cardboard in front of the rad helped means the closed system is probably ok, engine can maintain a 200+deg temp.
So a high temp t-stat would be my first choice to get the engine temp up and steady, the higher the better it sounds like.

Someone living in the south, warmer temps, might use a 180deg t-stat, this is why t-stats come in different temp ratings.

But the whole point of a t-stat is to keep the engine temp in the 210-230deg range, best mileage, best lubrication, longest engine life.

 

[chillymorn]

192deg is fine.
Never had a 2.3l, maybe it doesn't generate enough heat in operation but that would be odd, combustion is about 2,000deg and higher.

The 192 t-stat doesn't open fully until 192deg, so if the rad is too big the t-stat should start closing as the coolant passing it goes below 192deg, which is why the t-stat is there, to maintain the 200+ deg in the engine.
Generally the flow in a rad is top to bottom, and the t-stat is often located on the upper hose, so a rad that is too large could keep the temp down because the coolant is coming into the engine via the lower hose passing through the engine(warming up) and then to the t-stat so the t-stat is seeing coolant temp higher than 192deg but the rest of the engine is cooler, bad design, IMO.

The closed system, before t-stat opens, could be the problem, it might be too big, the engine combustion temps are transferred but the circulation cools it too much, that would be a design problem, not much you can do about it; water pump with smaller impeller blades, lol.
Insulating the heater hoses could help, if they are long.

But mentioning that cardboard in front of the rad helped means the closed system is probably ok, engine can maintain a 200+deg temp.
So a high temp t-stat would be my first choice to get the engine temp up and steady, the higher the better it sounds like.

Someone living in the south, warmer temps, might use a 180deg t-stat, this is why t-stats come in different temp ratings.

But the whole point of a t-stat is to keep the engine temp in the 210-230deg range, best mileage, best lubrication, longest engine life.

I agree with everything you said!

just talked to my buddy who had the same problem .......until his timiming belt broke and he fixed it and the problem was gone. he believes that the belts get stretched and the timing being off just a tooth or 2 will cause this problem. I think hes right. how do I check the timing with out a light? I know I can pull the cover and look at the timing marks and see if they line up is there any other way?

 

[chillymorn]

the plot thickens.

well on my way home from work the temp gauge went almost to the top of the gauge.now I didn't have the heat on because it was not that cold...40 degrees or so. so when I came home I took out the cardboard as I don't want to over heat. shut her off and had dinner.a lovley stuffed chicken with all the fixings...thanks babe thats why I married you. after supper I went out and took her for a ride the temp stayed right smack in the middle. had good heat .... so i don't know what or how but it fixed its self.. maybe something was blocked and it blew free maybe all the air finally is out of the system.

I don't know but I'm glad its working properly instead or jerry rigging it with cardboard. stay tuned it might be broke abain tomorrow. LOL

 

[RonD]

The timing belt is for the cam/crankshaft, valves and pistons, the only way to check that is by looking at the mark on the cam gear, crank gear mark is usually just TDC so pretty easy to manually set that with spark timing mark.

A timing light is for spark timing so not related to cam/crank timing.

If spark timing is off it can increase or decrease combustion temp, so coolant temp.
But I can't see how cam timing would do that and not be very noticable in the lack of power available,
i.e. you would be complaining about having no power, not cooler temp gauge, lol.

Glad is seems to have cleared.
Air bubble, or air lock usually shows as over heating, not under heating, same with a clog, unless the clog was holding open the t-stat.