4.0L OHV Soul crushed and seeking advice on starting problems

[TacoBelleGirl]

none of that shit matters if its for dead numbers unless you are lucky.


where you actually put the sensor is a key thing as to what the rating will work best at for actual temp control and lowest cycle times.

best to have an adjustable controller from a fixed point. that means you need to know the actual temperature of the point you choose to use....which requires a gauge of some sort

Gonna be inline with the upper radiator hose between the pump and the top of the radiator. So it should be the hottest temp essentially, direct off the engine.
I already told myself that I am likely to upgrade to an adjustable controller in the future, but for now am really hoping to just get it working to a decent degree.
Also I have one of those IR thermometers so I can use that to gauge roughly where stuff is.

of course with these things....there is such a thing as close enough.

Yeah that's part of why I ordered 2. I don't trust them to be super accurate especially since they are cheap. I figured two different ones I would probably get one that's at least good enough

 

[bobbywalter]

remember. in the upper line, its not flowing good unless the t stat is open....this can be perfect or screw ya.

 

[TacoBelleGirl]

Okay so.. I did not wire the fan up and test it but I did get everything assembled and ran it for a few minutes.. maybe 5.
This is now how she runs:

Runs much better and smoother now though not perfectly.
Also I noticed it's still idling high - was close to 2k when first started up with mid 80 degree ambient temps... I drove the truck in the winter once and even when warmed up she wanted to idle almost 2k RPMs which made me think it was a vac leak.
Within the last probably 6-8 months of sitting a new issue had developed where she will fire right off but then want to stall out and die unless you use the gas pedal.. I thought my clearly failed fuel pressure regulator would have been the root cause of that but I had the same experience today..

Not sure where to check next for that particular issue. At least the last time I had fired up the old truck she ran very very rich and that was at least fixed by the new regulator.

Didn't drive the truck.. no fan yet plus I was getting worried if the thermostat was working or not.. Gauge showed at temp but the hoses and rad weren't hot and I was questioning if the thermostat was working on not.
Well I did the wrong thing and tried to take the cap off shortly after shutting it off. Yep! Can confirm, there was pressure in the system.
tbh looking back I probably should have just let it idle for longer to see what happens.. it had probably just hit temp and I was just worried for nothing.

Hopefully tomorrow I can grab the coolant I now need more, get the fan wired up, change the oil, and finally go for a drive!

Edit: I may have left the hose that goes from the vapor canister up to the throttle body.. I'll check tomorrow when I go to the truck but maybe that's related to the higher idle