It's a 98 F-150, 4.2L motor. I have owned my own shop for over 20 years and this one has me stumpped!
Customer replaced the thermostat because engine temp. read cool and no heat from the heater. When he came to me, I recommended he replace the thermostat again. He did, but problem still exists. I can not get the engine temperature to rise above 153 degrees. And that is after I covered the radiator with paper to restrict the air flow. I went as far as pinching off the upper and lower rad. hoses. After 10+ minutes and holding the rpm at 2000, the engine temp. came up to 180. As soon as I removed the restriction from the hoses, cooled immeadiatly back to 150. I have ensured the system is full. I as using a infa-red temp sensor, the temp. guage on the dash and a scanner to check engine temperature reading of the computer, as well as checking temperatures with my hands. I can not get this truck to heat up!! Any ideas??
Did you check the radiator temperature? Assuming the radiator is at the correct temperature, the problem would have to be in the heater circuit. Things to check:
If you have one of the infared thermoters you can scan the radiator from top to bottom. The hottest parts should be close to the thermostat setting (190 degrees F).
Vehicle came to my shop again today. Deductive reasoning tells me that the thermostat is not opening. We discussed the fact that the water maybe by passing the thermostat because it is incorrect. Customer is going to try an OE thermostat and see if it makes a difference. My biggest mistake maybe the fact that the customer is changing his own parts, but I want to give the guy the "benifit of the doubt".
Radiator temp. is about 135 degress and I checked the temp. of the therm. housing--145!! It has to be the thermostat.
I have a '73 Chevy pickup that has been that way for the last 10 years
- it WILL NOT heat up. The water temp runs 135-140 all the time. The thermostat has been changed multiple times and it has a new radiator. I finally gave up trying to fix it.
So if the hottest part of the radiator is close to the engine operating temp and the rest of the radiator temp drops from that I guess it's safe to say that the radiator doesn't really have a correct temp?
Hey Brink, Tell the "customer" to stop driving the truck YESTERDAY. Have him TOW IT to your shop. He's on borrowed time and actually owes the car gods a major sacrifice if this has gone on for more than a month or so. That engine has an air lock that can't be cleared by normal means. The customer isn't telling you(he doesn't know) the whole story. He very likely gets white smoke from the exhaust on startup that lasts a little longer than the normal "steam" that one would expect from a cold engine. It probably runs a little rough until it warms up (the cylinders clear). 4.2s of that vintage are notorious for leaking intake manifold gaskets. When the engine is shut down hot coolant dribbles into the intake manifold. As the engine cools off, it sucks air into the cooling system causing airlock. One morning he is going to start the motor. It will spin about 3/4 turn and hydrolock, taking a connecting rod with it. Or, the engine will suddenly self destruct driving down the highway when the intake gasket totally gives way and fills a cylinder with coolant. Pull the intake immediately and replace the gaskets with the updated set FROM FORD. Change the oil, run the vehicle to operating temp for an hour, then change the oil again. Repeat. (Coolant runs past the rings and can play hell on the crank and cam bearings). I can't stress enough that tomorrow morning could be the time that the cylinder hydrolocks and ruins the motor. It happens, to most drivers who don't know the signs, without warning. To verify this, check out
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and do a search for "4.2 engine" . Add terms like "hydrolock", " intake gasket", "losing coolant", etc.You'll get lots of relevant hits. Add "class action" and you will get some interesting results. Good used 4.2's are around $2000 right now, if you can find one. I have 2 customers that are waiting for replacements here in Northern Ohio. Remans are +$3000 with a decent warranty. The rebuilders have trouble finding good cores.
Hope this helps, Tom (been there and done that) Adkins
Do you have a correct operating temp? If you swallow a temperature probe, the temperature will shoot up to about 37 or 38 C (99 or 100 F) for a day or so. before it drops to whatever the sewer water temp is. But if you hold the temperature probe in your hand, the probe will be a degree or two warmer than room temperature. And if you put it in your sock, it will be 3 or 4 degrees warmer than room tempature. Your body has a correct operator temperature. But it depends on your activities and where on (or in) your body you measure it.
Likewise, the radiator does have a correct operating tempature. It should be warm near the water inlet (close to the engine temp) and near air temp at the radiator outlet. If the inlet is not close to the engine temp and the outlet is not close to air temp (I am not sure how close, I would imagine within about 10 degrees), something is wrong.
What you describe is the normal operating temp of the radiator, hottest at the inlet and coldest near the radiator outlet.
You missed my point, Ed asked the OP if the radiator was at the correct operating temp. Since the temp varies greatly depending on where you check it, that's not really a good way to check the engine operating temp.
Heater will not get warm. Engine temperature will not rise above 153 degrees. Replaced thermostat twice - no improvement. With upper & lower radiator hoses pinched, temp will slowly rise to 180 degrees. I can not get this truck to heat up!! Any ideas?? __________________________________________
The hose pinch test showed that the problem is too much coolant flow through the radiator.
Possible ways to limit coolant flow:
1.) Install the correct TEMPERATURE thermostat, oriented in the correct DIRECTION.
2.) Install the correct DIAMETER thermostat.
3.) Rework the thermostat housing or add an internal spacer ring to RESTRAIN the thermostat from FLOATING.
4.) Install a RESTRICTOR in the water pump bypass hose, if so equipped.
I agree with Rodan, to much radiator flow. Brink must verify that the thermstate was installed the right way, sounds like the customer duplicated the first problem. Buy not putting in the correct thermostste or installed it wrong. Buy cutting the flow of the radiator hose you acted like the thermostate. I would have the customer come in and remove the stat and verify his work. If you do not find a problem just do not charge. My guess is that you will find the problem, wrong stat or installed wrong.
And you missed my point. The operating temp of the radiator varies depending on where you measure it. And, there should be a variation. While it is not a good way to check the engine operating temp (actually, it is not a bad way, although the temp might be off a few degrees), it is not really a bad way. It is also a way to check the functioning of the radiator.
Another way: Once the engine has been running for a while, if the inlet hose to the radiator is hot and the outlet warm, the radiator is working and the water flowing.
On the other hand, I have never seen this mentioned as a way to check the functioning of the radiator.
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