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damn, if it aint another overheating problem

quick question: i have a 93 ford tbird lx and the temp gauge goes and stays at the half way position and goes no further. if you've ever seen a ford temp gauge, it has the letters N O R M A L written all the way between the C for cold and H for hot, so that helps alot.

anyway, it doesn't appear to have any overheating problem but what concerns me is the upper radiator hose feels really hot while the bottom one hardly feels warm after a good 15 minute drive, for example, in the hot weather to boot. I know from how other cars do that the lower hose should be hot too, just not nearly as hot but my hose is hardly even warm!

Do you think I might have a thermostat that needs replacing? That's what I think.

Reply to
roger
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Hi, What does the temp gauge show in the dash? It could be thermostat or water pump. Tony

Reply to
Tony Hwang

my Haynes manual says the coolant is no circulating and the thermostat could be stuck in the (partially?) closed position.

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Reply to
William R. Watt

Hi Tony,

The temp gauge goes up to the halfway point and stays there. I don't know if that's normal for this kind of car or not but the gauge says it's in the "normal" range but as I said, my real concern is how the lower rad hose doesn't even hardly feel warm but the upper one is very hot after driving. If that is normal, then I would be very surprised.

Reply to
roger

roger wrote in rec.autos.tech

It sounds like it should be normal to me. The cooling system takes water from the bottom of the radiator and forces it up through the block where it heats up as it removes heat from the engine. The hot water then goes back into the top of the radiator where the air flowing through it cools it off. Hot water coming in, cool water going out sounds like it is working normally. How cool the water gets depends upon how big the radiator is and how much air flows through it. With no other signs of trouble I wouldn't worry about it. If you are concerned you can always go around and feel up other cars.

Reply to
Dick C

I could be wrong here but I believe those gauges only have three stops instead of the normal swing on a gauge. Bottom or cold, middle or most of the time and at the top for hot. They did that so the gauge people still had gauges (fahsionable) but people wouldnt come in to the shop compaining that the gauge used to always be on the "R" and now its on the "M"

Anyway.. as long as your engine is not overheating I wouldn't worry about it. Sounds like the radiator is doing its job and cooling the water. If you are worried go ahead and replace the themostat.. They are cheap enough to replace just for the peace of mind. I would go ahead and replace the hoses while you are there if they are original.

Steve B.

Reply to
Steve B.

Yeah, I am starting to think that it doesn't have any type of problem, it's just that on most other cars I've had, the lower hose seemed to get a little warmer than this one but I guess it does depend upon how much heat the engine puts out, how big the radiator is (the ford tbird seems to have a fairly big one) and how much air the fan blows (the tbird's blows really good and is run off the s-belt). Thanks for all your replies!

Reply to
roger

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