My 99 Ranger which has a issue with warming up, after driving for 30 minutes the air from the heater is luke warm to say the least; The upper radiator hose is cool enough to hold with a bare hand and not have to let go. The truck has 110k mile on it, I just bought it used this summer with 102k miles, the truck came from southern Texas (The truck is in Missouri now) were it spent it's prior years and I doubt if anyone ever even used the heater or had anyone worrying about lack of heat. Also the temp gauge during the summer would never reach the middle of the normal range and since it's gotten cold here in Missouri (13 degrees this morning!) the temp gauge hasn't raised above the "C" level on the gauge. The radiator is full, strange thing too after driving 15 minutes, it was still cool enough to remove the pressure cap with it sending some fluid into the overflow tank but none the less still not hot enough to really consider burning hot of even too hot to hold for the most part.
Any thoughts of direction to go here? I have a new thermostat to try this weekend, anyone else have a similar issue with getting their Ranger warmed up ? :) I know some vehicles are cold natured, I had a old 76 Chevy 3/4 ton that required cardboard in the front of the radiator once the temp dropped below 30 but eve it wasn't as cold as this truck! I considered the heater core might be clogged but it's not like it's ten years old or older granted it does have 100,000 mile plus but considering the temp gauge never shows normal temp, could it be the water pump too, I have had a bad water pumps leak and such on other vehicles but never stop pumping and wouldn't that cause the truck to over heat?