Temp. Problems

[alebarr112345]

99 Ranger 3.0, 135,000 miles.

About a month ago it took too long to heat up, and once it heated up was fine. The next morning it took too long to heat up, then sky rocketed to the end of the gauge in about 20 seconds. The gauge fluxuated repeatedly, going way high and way low. I changed the thermostat, replaced all coolant, and it did the same thing. I took out the thermostat, and it still ran hot even WITHOUT the thermostat, so i put it back in. I'm sure it's not just the gauge because it was blowing coolant all over when the gauge read hot, and the overflow would be boiling whenever i shut it off.

The problem seems to have somewhat corrected itself, because with or without a thermostat, it does the same thing; takes way too long to heat up, then is fine. It runs at the correct temp with/without the thermostat, but sometimes will climb up towards being too hot if i'm hauling my trailer or on a steep, long hill.

I'd rather not start ripping apart the cooling system, anyone else experience this problem at some point?

 

[McCormack]

Sounds like your water pump isn't circulating the coolant the way it should be, which would explain why the engine takes so long to warm up, and then when it does warm up it overheats when under load. Possibly the pumps' vanes are worn.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

ive seen these pumps fins completely dissappear to the point where they are basically just stirring the coolant as its doing its own thing. there is also possibility of an air pocket in the system because when the upper hose passes over the alternator it is higher than the radiator cap so this is where the air pocket will stay. there was a post in this forum about a month ago that had some good tech in it as well as an article about the pumps goign out.

 

[alebarr112345]

i'm not sure i understand why it would take too long to heat up if the pump isn't working properly. wouldn't that mean it would heat up too quickly and stay too hot?

 

[McCormack]

I'm just throwing out ideas here, so don't hate me if I'm wrong:

It's possible that your engine might be heating up quickly, but because the coolant isn't circulating properly then it won't be passing by your temp sensor and thus your temp gauge won't show the true temperature of your engine. Poor circulation would also help explain why your temp gauge fluctuates up and down - coolant will somewhat circulate on it's own (some of the early water cooled dirt bikes didn't have water pumps), so it's possible that when your coolant gets real hot it circulates a bit faster, and then when it cools a bit it slows down, and then gets hot again and circulates faster, etc. etc.

You said that your engine ran hot even without a thermostat, so if it's not your water pump then I would check for an externally dirty or internally plugged radiator, or a plugged coolant hose.

 

[alebarr112345]

okay i understand now, thanks.

 

[bigcountry]

or another reason could be that you mix of coolant and water is out of wack either to much water or to much coolant. or like said a air pocket in the system and you would need to burp the system to solve that. next like said above could be dirty or clogged ports nothing a good system cleaner and with that you will need to run straight water with the cleaner with the engine at opearting temp and the heater on full blast for about 10 to 15 mins and drain and stick the hose pipe into one of the raditor hoses and let that run till you see clean water coming out the other part of the raditior. i am leaing on either temp sensor or bad water pump. but it would not hurt to flush the cooling system with a good cleaner and replacing the thermostat

 

[McCormack]

Ford 3.0's aren't really known for having cooling system air pocket troubles, and even if they were, air pockets generally form in a cooling system after draining and refilling the system, and they don't generally occur out of the blue after everything has been functioning normal for awhile.
The original poster can correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't sound like he had done anything at all to his cooling system at the time it started acting up on him, so I wouldn't think that an air pocket is at the root of the problem.

And in regard to the temp gauge, the OP said that coolant was boiling out when his temp gauge read hot, so that would seem to indicate that the temp gauge is working correctly.

 

[broughton88]

i would try to blow out the heater core. other wise it sounds like water pump is shot.

 

[evanesce69]

my bet is on the water pump... the vanes are ate up. my '93 was the same way last may when i changed heads...

 

[alebarr112345]

i appreciate all the feedback guys, sounds like i should look into a new water pump. i'll let you know if the problem persists after that.

 

[RescueRanger]

99 Ranger 3.0, 135,000 miles.

About a month ago it took too long to heat up, and once it heated up was fine. The next morning it took too long to heat up, then sky rocketed to the end of the gauge in about 20 seconds. The gauge fluxuated repeatedly, going way high and way low. I changed the thermostat, replaced all coolant, and it did the same thing. I took out the thermostat, and it still ran hot even WITHOUT the thermostat, so i put it back in. I'm sure it's not just the gauge because it was blowing coolant all over when the gauge read hot, and the overflow would be boiling whenever i shut it off.

The problem seems to have somewhat corrected itself, because with or without a thermostat, it does the same thing; takes way too long to heat up, then is fine. It runs at the correct temp with/without the thermostat, but sometimes will climb up towards being too hot if i'm hauling my trailer or on a steep, long hill.

I'd rather not start ripping apart the cooling system, anyone else experience this problem at some point?

mine was doing the exact same thing, so yesterday I did 2 flushes and then replaced waterpump and thermostat. Last night drove it about 15 miles and everything worked fine. This morning drove to town round trip of about 20 miles and the temp gauge jumped up and down and then went to norm but when I got home it had blew out coolant out of overflow tank and had a lot of pressure for about 20-30 min after I shut if off it was still blowing airbubbles into overflow. Any Ideas?

 

[chris04]

exact same thing here