Hey guys. I've been searching and see I'm not alone in all of a sudden my truck starts showing a temperature value (228-235) above the temperature gauge similar to this thread. Then a few seconds later it will disappear. Also had the cam phasers replaced last year but this issue didn't show up until last week . Seems to happen mostly on highway, not 0-50 no matter how much I punch it on the 0-50.

https://www.f150forum.com/f118/engin...egrees-345116/

My question is (and I did try searching) is there a definitive cause/solution to this issue yet? I am pondering replacing the thermostat with the 195F version or a stock 217F version as a first step. Any light you guys can throw on this will be appreciated. tia.

 

bump

 

So, unless you have turned on the temperatures full-time with Forscan, the temps are coming up as a warning. Think of it as a pre-alert before the temp gauge starts heading north. I think they come on at 225. If you weren't seeing this behavior before, then things are getting hotter than they were previously.

Usually, the biggest cause of this is coolant. Getting the air out of the systems is notoriously challenging. The right way is to use a vacuum system. You can also try "burping" the system by leaving the cap off the degas bottle and letting the engine run a while with the heater set to wide open. Some people report better success getting the truck at an angle - either a few degrees nose-up or nose-down. Fill the coolant bottle to the max cold line before you start this process, and be ready to replenish the bottle if a burp happens.

I also swapped out to a Ford 180 stat, which I'm much happier with. It's not ludicrously cold like the "performance" stats out there, but it gives you more headroom before you start getting into the warm zone. While you're doing that, it's a great time to flush the orange coolant out and replace it with the yellow - save you some trouble down the road.

 

Thanks for that. Maybe I hmmm....will try the burp method since I don't have a vacuum system. Does anyone have DIY for using a vacuum if I were to buy or borrow one? Wondering how entailed it is.Hmmmm.. I wonder if when they did my cam phasers if they didn't get all the air out or if they even touch the coolant during that process. I think it is fairly entailed so I'm guessing they did. I did notice that my coolant was at min cold level. I topped it up to max cold. It hasn't moved, I don't feel it is using coolant. Another enigma is this happened a bunch on my way to Colorado at higher altitudes and has barely happened around town (Texas ) at all. I have to do 2 or 3 60-80 bursts in a row here, vs it would do it on every 60-80 burst in CO. In fact it would do it eon a 70 to 80 burst even going up an incline on cruise control, when reaching the top and rpms dropped the heat would show up. Just like to many users in the thread I posted.

 

Altitude has an effect on the cooling system. The radiator uses the mass of the air passing through the fins to transfer the heat from the coolant. The higher the altitude, the less mass the air has, and the less efficient the radiator works.

 

Altitude is just minorly exacerbating an existing problem. He should be able to make 60-80 pulls on top of Everest without getting into heat like that. He's got air in the system.

 

Agree, driving up inclines probably has more effect than altitude - but the truck should still be able to do that without the temp raising much when not hauling a load or trailer.

 

I wasn't suggesting OP didn't have a real issue. I was explaining why it showed up in CO and not in TX.