Engine Overheating

Most electric aftermarket fans aren't strong enough to keep the car cool. What thermostat are you running ? Stock is 192°f. My car runs at about 203° up to about 210° with a turbo and 192° thermostat.

There have been a few people that have issues with brand new water pumps not circulating enough coolant. Water pump or thermostat issues usually occur when driving ....the only time the fan helps is sitting and when under about 35mph.

If I were you I'd wire in the dual fan Ford Contour fans. They keep my car temps very stable. In our cars 210 really isn't running hot....but 220 would be up there. I think the L in normal is about 230ish. ( that's if I remember correctly )

I run Contour dual fans set up to run both high and low speed. My fans only run in low speed, unless I manually trigger with my toggle switch. Great fans.

As for factory temp gauge...

I have a 180 thermostat, 3 core copper rad, A/C and dual speed contour fans. Low speed fans kick in at 203 and off at 185. On my gauge, fans come on almost exactly at the half way point on the gauge (horizontal), which if you do the math of half way between 130 and 270 you get 200. Cluster is from a 90 GT.

I know it may sound stupid but did you check your belt lately?Is it within range?It's the last thing you check that gets it fixed.

Did you get all the air out of the system? Stat installed correctly? Just hot in traffic, not when moving?

KRUISR said:

I run Contour dual fans set up to run both high and low speed. My fans only run in low speed, unless I manually trigger with my toggle switch. Great fans.

As for factory temp gauge...

I have a 180 thermostat, 3 core copper rad, A/C and dual speed contour fans. Low speed fans kick in at 203 and off at 185. On my gauge, fans come on almost exactly at the half way point on the gauge (horizontal), which if you do the math of half way between 130 and 270 you get 200. Cluster is from a 90 GT.

Click to expand...

Factory temp gauge needs new sensor. That's where mine was sitting after all the cooling system changes. Now it sits at the mark below the midpoint mark.
The Megasquirt real-time monitoring verifies 195deg with 180deg t-stat & dual Contour fans with DCC PWM (variable speed) controller set to turn on at 187deg.

BTW, t-stat sets the lower temp limit, not the upper temp limit.

I think you need to give more details.
How are you getting the reading of 210?
What fans do you have? Good fans have a shroud.

Blown88GT said:

Factory temp gauge needs new sensor. That's where mine was sitting after all the cooling system changes. Now it sits at the mark below the midpoint mark.
The Megasquirt real-time monitoring verifies 195deg with 180deg t-stat & dual Contour fans with DCC PWM (variable speed) controller set to turn on at 187deg.

BTW, t-stat sets the lower temp limit, not the upper temp limit.

Click to expand...

In 2017 when I put my stang on the road, the factory temp gauge would read about 180 when my upper rad hose got hot (t-stat opening). Then my fans would kick on around the 200 mark (right where fan switch should turn them on). I know the factory gauge is not as precise as aftermarket gauges but it has proven to be close enough to keep me well informed on coolant temps.

Summer of 2018 I changed the gauge temp sender and now my gauge reads about 5 degrees higher for the same reference points. Still close enough and good to know it reads a little high.

T-stat set temp is when it will open, thus enabling coolant flow. With a good functioning cooling system the engine should maintain coolant temp in the range from t-stat to fan on temp. In my case with a 180 degree t-stat, my engine coolant temp floats between 180 and 200 (+/- a couple degrees because neither a t-stat or temp switch is that accurate)

I will have to check what my Anderson PMS says the engine coolant sensor says and how it compares to my gauge.