overheating when parked??

purduecrew · Post by **purduecrew** » Sun May 28, 2006 3:43 pm

hey guys, might have a problem? not sure. Truck is bone stock, but I noticed in todays 90* weather and some days before today, that as Im driving along, truck runs at 205-210 which is fine, but when i parked today to get gas and fired it back up, the guage was up to 235-240!!! I was like wuh oh, thats no good. So, I didnt go anywhere, I just turned the heat on full blast and waited for it to return to 210 after about 30-60 seconds. Is this just some bad heat concentration or is my cooling system getting plugged? Im gonna do some investergatin tonight. Any thoughts? Never experienced this in the five s-series vehicles me and the old man have had. Welp, off to do the quadbeam mod!

quickbiker · Post by **quickbiker** » Sun May 28, 2006 6:06 pm

Check you clutch on your fan. Mine did the same thing and had to replace mine at about 70 k miles I think? Got mine from Rockauto.com. At 82k now and no prob.

AZS10Crew · Post by **AZS10Crew** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:02 am

Your engine is always going to heat up the coolant just after you shut it off because it's not cycling through the radiator when it's not running. Just hop back in the truck, fire it up, and drive normal. Your clutch fan should have kicked in when your started it back up and would probably have stayed running while you drove until it cooled off. Happened to me all the time in AZ.

killian96ss · Post by **killian96ss** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:42 am

purduecrew, it doesn't sound like you really have a problem. I am running a 180* t-stat (stock is like 195*) and in 90*+ weather mine will also hover right around 200*-210* with the fan clutch engaged most of the time. It sounds like I have a jet engine or something when that damn fan stays on.

Make sure you coolant is at the proper level (check when it's cold) and you might also want to try adding 1 bottle of Redline Water Wetter. The Water Wetter will help promote better heat transfer and faster cooling.

Steve

Post by **HenryJ** » Mon May 29, 2006 3:33 pm

That phenomenon is called "heat soak". The stock clutch fan may not lock until 235 degrees IIRC, so no worries

purduecrew · Post by **purduecrew** » Mon May 29, 2006 3:48 pm

ya i was thinking/HOPING it was a combo of the hot humid air we have and the heatsoak factor, just wasnt used to it, none of the other vehicles do that, including the 400hp musclecar in the same weather...

S10CREW01 · Post by **S10CREW01** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:19 am

Thanks for the info. . . Mine is doing the same. Was going to replace all the hoses this weekend, but with this infomation it will save me the dime and the money $$$$$

Post by **HenryJ** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:27 am

Don't get excited until the fluid is puking out. Oh, and don't let the stock gauge get you too excited. It tends to read on the high side, when in reality if checked with a good gauge the temperature is lower.

Post by **Walt** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:54 am

During Katrina, when I had to wait in line for gas on several occaisions due to lack of forsight, my truck ran hot several times. My AC would even go warm. I could cut the AC off and it the temp would drop back down to normal.

killian96ss · Post by **killian96ss** » Tue May 30, 2006 6:29 am

HenryJ wrote:don't let the stock gauge get you too excited. It tends to read on the high side, when in reality if checked with a good gauge the temperature is lower.

This is true with a lot of different vehicles.

The idiot lights (warning light) are even worse!

When they do light up, it means "congratulations you just fried your engine".

Steve

Post by **Walt** » Tue May 30, 2006 6:46 am

killian96ss wrote:
HenryJ wrote:don't let the stock gauge get you too excited. It tends to read on the high side, when in reality if checked with a good gauge the temperature is lower.
This is true with a lot of different vehicles. The idiot lights (warning light) are even worse! When they do light up, it means "congratulations you just fried your engine".

Steve

You know, that reminds me of a wally world story.....

A friend had his oil changed at wally world, and then drove across the street to McDonald's in his almost brand new 2004 Taco 4x4. While he was sitting in the drive thru line, all of his warning lights went crazy, then there was a loud screech and a pop, and his truck stopped running. They didn't tighten the drain plug. He got a new motor out of the deal.

AZS10Crew · Post by **AZS10Crew** » Wed May 31, 2006 5:00 pm

wamason wrote:A friend had his oil changed at wally world...

That's all you really needed to say and I'd imagine 9 out of 10 of us would have known the ending already.

Post by **Walt** » Wed May 31, 2006 9:53 pm

AZS10Crew wrote:
wamason wrote:A friend had his oil changed at wally world...
That's all you really needed to say and I'd imagine 9 out of 10 of us would have known the ending already.

I have the good fortune on being good friend with the local WM Tire and Lube Express Manager

1337vending · Post by **1337vending** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:09 pm

Yeah, what you described is normal...the engine coolant inside the engine block continues to heat up once you stop the engine, and since the water pump isn't moving and the heat from the engine has nowhere to go, the water in the block gets hotter than normal. Now once you start it back up and the coolant gets moving again, the temp should come down pretty quickly.

My rule of thumb is that water temp should be around 100-110 degrees above ambient, assuming a properly working cooling system. So, on a 100 degree day, i would expect my water temp to be around 210. However, if it were an 80 degree day and my water temp were still 210, i would be concerned...

Nothing you should be particularly worried about...

2kwik4u · Post by **2kwik4u** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:23 am

Your water temp should be controlled by your thermostat.

It can be a 20* day, and your temps should be in the 190-200* range.

I'll be installing a 170* thermostat in the near future. And expect to see coolant temps under 200* ALL THE TIME.

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:40 am

2kwik4u wrote:Your water temp should be controlled by your thermostat.

It can be a 20* day, and your temps should be in the 190-200* range.

I'll be installing a 170* thermostat in the near future. And expect to see coolant temps under 200* ALL THE TIME.

You will likely throw a code with a 170* t-stat and I have had zero luck keeping it under 200* on a hot day in a traffic jam. That is with a larger radiator than the stock one and LS-1 fans. Once the t-stat opens, it will remain open and there is not much you can really do after that. IMO

2kwik4u · Post by **2kwik4u** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:55 am

Wierd.....Roomates truck stays down in the 180-190 range all the time with A/C on in traffic.

Ford Taurus Efan
Stock Radiator

EFILive will take care of the code.

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:52 am

Is your roomate's truck a 2.2 or a 4.3? I also forgot to mention that the goodmark hood must help a little in letting heat escape on mine.

2kwik4u · Post by **2kwik4u** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:02 pm

f9k9 wrote:Is your roomate's truck a 2.2 or a 4.3? I also forgot to mention that the goodmark hood must help a little in letting heat escape on mine.

4.3/4L60E....radiator has all the coolers, tranny, oil, and coolant.

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:18 pm

I also have an aux AT cooler. Maybe 4 WDs block more air flow or something? I'm running cooler than stock but, I have seen 210° already this year and outside temp was 90°. I'm also running a 180° and I started tossing a code last fall due to it. I''ve relocated the IAT right after the filter and so far so good.

1337vending · Post by **1337vending** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:31 pm

2kwik4u wrote:Your water temp should be controlled by your thermostat.

It can be a 20* day, and your temps should be in the 190-200* range.

I'll be installing a 170* thermostat in the near future. And expect to see coolant temps under 200* ALL THE TIME.

Well obviously it would be around 190-200 if its 20 degrees out, but as the ambient temp gets hotter your engine temp will go up until the fan clutch kicks on. Your water temp really doesn't have very much to do with your thermostat, its mainly ambient temperature, cooling effectiveness of your radiator, and engine load. The thermostat is just there to help the engine get to operating temperature faster. Putting a 170 t-stat will not automagically lower your temps with no other cooling mods.

IMO cooler thermostats are pointless in our trucks...what's an extra 2 horsepower because you have 10 degree cooler water? Also, i seem to remember a thread HenryJ posted a while back that had a very good explanation of cooler t-stats and correlating performance and engine wear. IIRC the sweet spot was around 180-195 degrees...which coincidentally in sunny SoCal is what my truck seems to run on a daily basis (verified by EFILive).

A popular hot-rodder misconception is that removing your thermostat will make your engine run cooler, while in fact it will make it run hotter! The thermostat is also there to provide some restriction in the coolant passage to lengthen the time the coolant is in the radiator, allowing it to transfer more heat to the air. If you move the coolant around too fast, then it doenst have sufficient time to cool.

2kwik4u · Post by **2kwik4u** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 2:55 am

Theory is theory, and practice is practice. Put a lower temp thermostat in, and watch the temps drop. I've done it on I don't know how many vehicles, and it works everytime.

Also, I agree that there is no performance gains to be had from dropping the coolant temps, however the dropped coolant temps help keep the motor from knocking. Stock trucks with stock thermostats see 3-6 degrees of knock retard. With nothing more than a thermostat change most of that knock goes away.

IMO it's more insurance than it is performance.

1337vending · Post by **1337vending** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 7:24 am

Hmmm, once again I'm running the stoct t-stat and there is no knock to be had on my motor unless i have a bad tune (verified by EFILive). 3 to 6 degrees of KR is a lot for a stock tune...you should probably have yours checked out. The stock tune on these motors is very conservative and you shouldn't be having any knock.

This isn't theory, this is my practice too. I had a 94 camaro with a 160 t-stat when i bought it...it ran around 180-190 degrees in town and up to 200-210 degrees on the track (road course). I fail to see how the 160 t-stat helped keep temps down on the track, since it went up until the fans came on.