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Temp gauge reading

Ingemar Viklund

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Oct 21, 2018
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I replaced a few freezeplugs that were bad on my 318 (the easy ones..) Found some debris / sludge in the coolant and flushed it clean as I could. My plan was to drive the car this summer / authum and pull the engine and replace all of the plugs this winter.. Hovewer the temp gauge is starting to point a little more to the warm side. If it sits long in idle, the needle starts to point towards the r on warm. Should I be worried? 69 plymouth sport satellite
 
Did you replace the thermostat after flushing? Do you have the original fan setup or electric fan(s)?
 
You really got to get a aftermarket gauge to know for sure. All my stuff goes up a hair at idle. I kick in my aftermarket fan to be safe. Drain radiator again, stuff could of broke loose
 
back in the day, I had a 390 AMC engine that started running hot, upon some investigation I found the lower parts of the water jackets clogged badly with rock hard carbon looking material
 
back in the day, I had a 390 AMC engine that started running hot, upon some investigation I found the lower parts of the water jackets clogged badly with rock hard carbon looking material
Seems like the only thing to make it totally clean is to acid dip the block.
 
Might check your dash gauge comparing to a digi thermometer. If you want to run it for a while try reducing the ratio of anti-freeze (if you're running a 50/50 mix) and add some water-wetter until you need be concerned about freezing temps. Coolant retains heat so was one of the things (among several) I did to drop the temp. I'm running about a 70/30 mix and car sits in a heated garage winters so leave it as is.
 
Definitely get a 2nd gauge to confirm. And did you replace the thermostat or just put the old one back in? Whether the freeze plugs were freeze damaged or leaking from corrosion, both would be good reasons to replace the thermostat with new. Only a few bucks. Prestone also makes a cooling system flush I’ve used in the past to help clean things up a bit more. All of this is minimal cost so you can finish the summer driving it until you pull the block to finish your freeze plug replacements. When you have the engine out it may be a good time to entertain a new radiator, even considering one with more capacity. Capacity, air movement and circulation are all the key ingredients to keeping an engine at proper temperature. And is the shroud intact and in good condition?
 
Put a quality high flow thermostat and a mechanical gauge . then decide if its hot or not.

I have a stewart components stat in 2 of my cars ( 3rd will get one here shortly ) and all 3 have an aftermkt gauge to monitor temps .
Ive been down this road on the factory gauge one to many times and not interested in trusting them again
 
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