Temp Gauge Normal? Where's Yours?

[95Stangpa]

I know my temperature gauge is Reading in the normal position, so to speak. But I don't really know where normal is. I remember my Ford truck years ago sat between the "N-O".
My 95 3.8 V6.
I took out time today and flush the cooling system out completely, there was a new water pump put on it and I put a new thermostat in it.
So I technically need a radiator maybe? Could it be plugged up a little.
Just curious to see if this work everybody else is temperature gauge sits around?
I flushed it until the water came clear out of the motor and the radiator. Honestly seems like going up hills and stuff. It's one that starts to run hotter. But never goes beyond what showed.
The second photo down is where the fan finally kicks on.
The first photo is where the fan shuts off. And that's about where it stays
Side note....there's a 195 stat in it. Maybe a,180 should be put in?

 

[mikestang63]

did you burp all of the air out of the system. these cars are notorious for trapping air.
How did you flush the system- did you have the heat on hot all the way and the fan on?
Did you allow the engine to reach operating temp and the stat to open?
When you flushed it,did you remove the stat first?
Which way did you install the thermostat- with the spring facing the engine?
Did you test the thermostat before installing in boiling water?

 

[95Stangpa]

I definitely got all the air out of the system. And when I install the thermostat the spring was facing on the inside. I have the heat blasting, I did flush it with the thermostat out the first time. I was just trying to compare notes that this was normal. With all of your gauges?
I'm wondering if I should have put a 180 in instead of a 195. It may not like that very much.

 

[mikestang63]

makes no difference 180 or 195. the stat only controls the temperature it opens, not the operating temp of the engine. Your engine is designed to run between 195 and 210. Are you sure your fans are coming on full speed- both speeds

 

[95Stangpa]

Oh Good thing I read this. I was going to put a 180 in tomorrow morning.
I only have one fan and I hear it come on. But don't seem to stay on very long as you can see it only brings the temp so far down and shuts off.

I think the new water pump and thermostat shows the last guy was trying to fix it and gave up!!!

That is why I flush it out. The coolant was brown.
I don't know if the rad is clogged. But especially when climbing a slight hill is,when the temp climbs up.
Then of course going down a hill it slowly comes down.
I didn't know there was two speeds to my fan? I don't know how to tell. It sure seems like it is only coming on in one speed and not very fast. I think...not sure if it's high or low speed.
Doesn't seem to have that loud sound when it's on like some I hear.
The rad still bothers me, unless im just trying to blame it..

 

[5.0Droptop]

why do you blast the heat? Most heater cores let the fluid circulate regardless. The only exception I have had was a ford explorer that had an electronic valve that opened and closed the flow to heater core.

 

[95Stangpa]

Are the photos I put up Normal? Its in the normal range....but is that too high in the normal range???

I had it on high so I could reach my hand in the window and feel of it was hot.
I was hoping a 180 would keep the operating temp down like it did on my Ford truck many years ago.

There's also a 12psi cap on mine. What should it be?

And I'm really wondering if my radiator is clogged somewhat. There was a lot of brown film in it, like light sludge.

 

[General karthief]

Get the radiator checked out, can't hurt the wallet much for some peace of mind, my cap is 16 lbs.
Get a cheap mechanical temp gauge and zip tie it to your wiper arm (temporarily of course) and compare it to your stock gauge.

 

[95Stangpa]

Get the radiator checked out, can't hurt the wallet much for some peace of mind, my cap is 16 lbs.
Get a cheap mechanical temp gauge and zip tie it to your wiper arm (temporarily of course) and compare it to your stock gauge.

I went out and bought a new radiator today, and a new thermostat and tested it. The water pump was just replaced before I bought the car. There was a lot of rust inside my rad. He must have been running water in it. I did flush it well.
Nice and green now.
But still goes clear up to the "A", then the fan kicks on and it only goes gown to the left side of the "M". And shuts off. No lower. Just a,large single fan.
It truly climbs under acceleration.
Then when sitting still. It does the same thing.
My buddy is bringingover some thing that plugs into the OBD2. He said it will show him what the ECM is seeing.
I dunno what that means. Like as in temperature.
There's not much left.
Either a bad gauge or my fan is not working right.
Unless there's something else that can cause this??

Side note. My overflow bottle has a long crack on the top. Like seperated about 3 inches,long. Can that cause anything like this???
Nothing goes that high to spill out. Must be not a sealed unit though, because I can see a small factory hole right under the lid on it. I just noticed it today when I removed the rad.

 

[General karthief]

First off, the stock gauge works well, but you don't know what your temp is in degrees, thats why I say install a mechanical gauge. Then you can see where your stock gauge is reading, like if it runs at the 'o' and the mechanical gauge says 190 and the 'r' is 200 degrees and so on.
Do you know where your timing is set at?

 

[95Stangpa]

I was going to pick up a mechanical gauge today. Looks like it hooks up at the front of the engine. Pretty easy if I'm looking at the right thing. But my buddy said, wait...let me plug my "whatever it is" into the OBD2 Friday and see what the ECM is,seeing. I'm lost with that.
I don't know what's normal on our Ford gauges. As in where it should go up to.
I didn't know I could check timing with no dizzy?

 

[General karthief]

His scanner can tell you

 

[95Stangpa]

He has this thing plugged in all the time on his car. I never seen anything like it before. It tells you all kinds of things. Like temperature. Just everything.
I'll see if it tells me where my timing is. I didn't know I could adjust it on mine. I don't know what mine should be at.
I would still like to hook up a mechanical gauge with numbers after Friday.
This fan bugs me. I have a strange feeling it's coming on late and not staying on long enough. But thats me just assuming..bad word...lol
I have a regular OBD2 scanner on hand. But I don't think I can check stuff like temp in it or timing.
It plugs in and you Bluetooth to your phone. My son in law loaned it to me..

 

[95Stangpa]

I'm wondering if there is air? I just googled my 1995 3.8 Mustang running hot. It appears folks are saying something about a bolt somewhere on the intake to loosen with the rad cap off, to help bleed the system.
It don't show where this bolt is?? And air trapped in a vent tube??
This is,what I read...

Air trapped in the cross over will cause the temperature sensor to read LOW. This is because the sensor is in contact with air instead of coolant. The fan will be late turning on. It will also turn off too soon. The trapped air will also interfere with the flow of coolantflow.

I think the above what I pasted here is what mine is doing.....coming on late and shutting off quickly...

To bleed out the air....I just ran the car, cap off, until the stat opened and the rad level dropped quickly, then added until the rad was filled. And closed her up.
Could this really be air trapped into my 3.8?

 

[General karthief]

Yes, I thought it was on top of the t-stat housing but I'm not sure,

 

[95Stangpa]

I took the cap off and opened up the bleeder valve, and fluid came out of there right away. So I must have bled it the proper way by accident. It's sitting here running and here's what the coolant looks like. It's not bubbling up for anything weird. I have no idea.
That's what the car running in the picture

 

[95Stangpa]

Follow up!! I opened the bleeder up next to the coolant sensor again.
Some air came out. Not much but some did bubble out then started streaming.
Now the fan is kicking on right as it touches the "M" instead of going all the way up to the "A"!!
And goes down to the "R". So it's slowly getting better!!!!
At 45 mph cruise it is between "N" & "O".

My overflow bottle is staying right on the hot line when running at operating temp. Right where it should be.

 

[03StangMaine]

My temp gauge does the same as yours i had engine issues not related to to gauge and wound up swapping in a used v6 that was less miles being this engine was already swapped once and the car has 300k miles but when doing that basically everything was changed all the sensors and i bought a whole new cooling system new hoses new water pump new thermostat and radiator and condenser.. Before changing the engine the temp gauge set like yours ive attached a few files one is the guage with the car off showing it is sitting right so i dont think its been moved and the one with a yellow arrows is where it sits the one with a green arrows is where it should be sitting. My ect is 198-210 which is withing standard i believe which means it should be sitting where the green arrow is.. However i have a theory which i will be testing, i believe it to potentially be my fan thou it turns on and works but before it overheated with ac on (this is with the old engine) and i believe something with fan may be faulty causing it to sit higher i guess saying somethings wrong

Tldr i think it might be a faulty ac relay fan thingy thats on the fan assembly and the fan doesnt spin on all the stages