[classy_gene]

Hey guys, I took my "new" 5th wheel out last weekend and noticed that my truck ran a lot warmer then usual. By warmer I mean that the gauge sat on the L of the normal that is spelled out on the gauge. Could my water pump impeller be worn out? I replaced my fan clutch last year when I was going through Utah and Colorado. I had to keep my foot out of it because it would run between the L and the last hash. I could never hear the fan clutch kicking in so I don't know if my thermostat is sticking or my water pump just isn't recircing the water fast enough. Suggestions??

 

[Larry P]

You may be throwing money at a non-problem. It could simply be the way your guage is reading. Ford dash guages are inconsistent and poorly made and none of them read the same. If you replaced the fan clutch and you aren't hearing it engage you can't possibly be running too hot if it's working. Regardless of whether the water pump is worn out or not the fan will engage when the radiator pushes hot enough air to the clutch mechanism. I would find it VERY hard to believe that the pump impeller could possibly "wear" out enough to effect cooling. If so, you have many more problems than the water pump. I've actually never heard of one wearing out.

The best suggestion I would have is to get yourself a thermometer and take a reading. Every guage in these trucks is different. The original one I had on my 97 would go all the way to the "L" before the clutch fan would engage and it would come back down barely to the "M" and disengage. I had to have the guage replaced when it stopped working and the new one would be on the top side of the "R" when the fan would engage and it would cycle all the way down to mid "O".

Again, you probably don't have a problem at all but, instead of throwing money at it you need to find out what temp it's actually running at.

Larry

 

[midwestman]

I recently installed a 02 intercooler and while I was there I pulled the radiator to be cleaned since my truck has 320+ miles. I took the rad to a local highly recommended shop to be cleaned. The comment they made was that the inside was in good shape but I had a LOT of debris between the fins. I had noticed that before the cleaning that my guage would rise to the "L" on heavy grades when I was towing. Now it stays between the O and R on the normal scale. I am running Evans NPG+. See my sig for all of my mods.
Maybe you need to clean between the fins.

Good Luck
Midwestman
Smokin' and Strokin'

 

[classy_gene]

Thanks for the advice, I will look at my fins. If the truth be told I probably need to clean some more areas then just the fins. I thought about putting in a mechanical gauge to see what temps I actually am running but just haven't done it. Does anyone have an idea how the actual temps, number wise relate to our gauges? Like if it is on the L is that like 240 or something.