Running cold

Just wanted to see where on the gauge other peoples engines run. Mine barely gets around the second mark, unless of course it starts leaning out because of the weber and the fun it has with the vacuum advance, but that's a separate issue.

Even when I first got it and it had the stock carb it barely raised the needle. My thoughts on it are that if it's not actually running that low on the temp, that it might be the sensor or gauge itself. My other thought about it running cold though is that the heater barely blows lukewarm. Though that could be the heater core being clogged or maybe all full of dust and what not.

But anyway, just sort of trying to brainstorm on here on potential causes of the gauge reading the temp so low. I guess I could always drive it around for a while and then just stick a thermometer in the radiator and see what it's actually reading.

Thermostat is stuck open or missing. The fan clutch is locked up all the time. Thats the main problems with running to cool. The semi warm heater is the clue.

I drove my '96 Mighty Max up to Ohio last summer in 103 degree weather. When I was driving home I got stuck in a 20 mile long traffic jam, sat in traffic for 8 hours with 100+ temp outside. I saw a ton of newer and older vehicles stalled on the side of the road overheated. The local Rescue Squad was delivering bottled water to people that were stranded. My temp gauge never came past the 1/4 mark and I maybe turned it off twice. I had a smile as big as Texas on my face because I thought I had a freak of mechanical engineering. A few months later when colder weather started coming around I noticed the heat would only be lukewarm. I decided to change the thermostat and found it stuck open. Changed it, the temp gauge sits right at the half way mark, and heat will burn you out of the truck. I would definitely change your thermostat.

Sure enough, it was stuck wide open. I picked up a 195 and it hovers just below the mid mark now, so that's good enough for me. Thanks!