Just got my Ultra-Gauge and been monitoring my engine temps. Seems to sit right between 197 (freeway) and 208 (stop and go traffic). When I arrived at work, sat in the truck for a minute getting some things together, saw it go up to 212 before I shut it off to go in for work. It seems like these temps are a little high. What are your average temps? Outside air was about 70F.

 

While not smokin', the temps might be just a few degrees warm. I base that on the spec for the stock thermostat being starts to open at 180, full open at 204. So you are making it on the freeway at 197. The only way to reduce that is increase the cooling capacity of the radiator (flush out sludge build up and wash out external mud and leaves), or switch to an alternative thermostat (either the soft spring 82 C rated model, from Justin at Lucky8, or the in-line stat mod with 180F stat). If you flush your cooling system now, you will know if you need to dig further before hot weather arrives. Hope your electric condenser fan is coming on with AC when slow, and certainly when you get to 212F.

 

Thanks Savannah for the info. I do plan on flushing the radiator in the next couple weeks. How do I know if the electric condensing fan is coming on when reaching a temp like 212?

Thanks in advance

 

You should hear it. It should also come on at lower temps when AC is on and these conditions are met:

 

Got it. Didn't catch the part about the AC needing to be on. Once it warms up a little more out here I will turn on the AC and try to listen for it.

 

212 is not out of range if so only by a couple of degrees.
There are ways to bring that down, flushing the radiator on a D2 will not help cause once they start to plug up, they are done.

 

Thanks Mike. I also noticed my air intake is pretty high. Like around 140F - 170F. I popped the hood and noticed the air intake hose is pretty rotted and also not attached anymore. Could this also be a cause to the high engine temps?

 

And by the way, been driving around a bit today, and it hasn't gone over 208 in stop and go traffic. Even when sitting at the car wash for about 15 minutes, never went over 203. Maybe I am just paranoid. Haha but that's why they call the ultra-gauge the paranoid gauge right!

 

Air hose won't make high water temp. Mike makes a good point, a highly sludged rad does not flush. If sludged the bottom rows will be much cooler than top by 20 degrees easily. With no water or restricted flow causing the drop, you can check temps top and bottom.

 

So would a rad flush have any effect do you think?