Detroit school lesson please

G'day

So after a bit of a wait I finally got a couple of thermostats!

I got around to changing the troublesome side first up today. It appears it has made no difference at all.

The removed thermostat has seized. I heated water in an old pot on a little gas stove till it was 110 degrees and it hadn't budged. So thinking I'd found the problem I fitted the new one and proceeded to fill with coolant. I had a job to get to this arvo so the road test was 15 Kay's with the 20 tonner on. The temp gauge was doing the exact same thing as before.

So I don't know where to head from here, I'm going to pull the drivers side when I get a chance and put a new one in there if it doesn't test right.

Btw, the new thermostats are 77-92 degrees. The old one I removed has 84 written on it but that's it apart from a little detroit logo.

Cheers?

Diga ditch ... you heated water until it was 110 degrees? You cannot do it mate, 100 degrees is the upper limit before it becomes steam. You are looking at the temperature on the Centigrade scale aren't you, as 85 degrees Centigrade is equal to 185 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mate, I'm not entirely sure that you have a problem. The thermostat is only trying to keep the water in the block at the set temperature by regulating the flow of coolant, whether its below freezing or over 40 degrees outside. If your engine is getting hot, its more than likely the radiator is not losing the heat as it should.

90 degrees is about right and if your cooling system is in good condition, it probably won't boil until about 110 degrees. Alot of the electronic engines of today run at about 105 degrees and you won't have problems until its up over 115. The reason behind this is a hot engine is more efficient and is cleaner burning.

The numbers on the 'stat mean that it will open at about 77 degrees and regulate the coolant flow to maintain the temperature between 77 and 92 degrees. If your engine starts going over 100, then I would say there is a problem elsewhere.

G'day

My infrared temp gun said it got to 110. It started to boil at 99.

90 might be just fine but its the difference between the 2 sides that's got me a little worried.

I did a longer trip this morning of about 30 Kay's and the left hand bank got up to 90 fairly quick and didn't rise anymore,the right hand bank climbed upto 85 near the end of the trip but was mostly below 80 on the gauge.

I still haven't swaped gauges round yet to see if the gauge is playing up a bit. That's the next step for now.

Cheers

Mate, as long as the side that gets warmest quickest isn't overheating and you've changed the thermostats I wouldn't be getting too stressed.

Both of my 6V53's have 2 temp gauges and neither of them read the same.

DaD
Gudday M8

Q:?
R the 2 temp gauges mounted in the same position on both sides>

cya

Small variants in gauge is not uncommon unless you to hitech things that have very accurate sensors

My infrared temp gun said it got to 110. It started to boil at 99.

90 might be just fine but its the difference between the 2 sides that's got me a little worried.

If it boils at 99, your radiator cap is buggered and not holding pressure, or there is a big leak but you would see that.

No two gauges will ever read the same, especially electrical ones as the reading depends on how much resistance is in the circuit.

I do a lot of temperature and pressure testing of thermostats, gauges, switches etc. When doing thermostats and water temperature gauges and the like, I always chuck a handful of salt in the water, which raises the boiling point. When doing oil temperature gauges, switches etc., I use a light hydraulic oil in the good old home style deep fryer .... easy to regulate the temperature.

For older style diesels, I like to see around 80-85 C when working.
The big question is what's the coolant temp at the bottom radiator hose.