You might not have overheating issues

[TyroneandGladys]

We had a recurring issue with occasional overheating on our RV till our new mechanic told me to use a infrared thermometer and measure the temp of the upper radiator hose the next time it overheated. Sure enough the temp gauge was showing hot but hose temp was 175. Turned out it was a resistor in the instrument panel. Just came back from a 5600 mile trip and no problems. Talked to several folks who have similar age Ford based RVs and they have also been pulling there hair from overheating issues"

[the_trippers]

Clever idea to do a scan of the return hose instead of just relying on temp gage. Then make a mental calibration note on the temp gage. 175 deg is actually not hot enough for fuel efficiency.

[RacerX10]

hotbyte wrote:
You can do a lot with those temp guns. Saw a YouTube video on using one to find misfiring cylinder by checking temps at exhaust manifold right where it attaches to the head.

I use mine to see if the camp fire cook grill is properly at 375 degrees for cooking pancakes 🙂

[TyroneandGladys]

j-d wrote:
OP - Do you hear your Fan Clutch engage as the temp comes up? We had an '83 chassis and were lucky to have an OEM/Ford Fan Clutch that still worked. We'd hit a grade, gauge would rise, fan would roar. Come off grade, temp gauge would drop and roaring stopped. Do those things happen with your '87? I replaced our radiator with a "high efficiency" one, don't know if that changed anything, but we never overheated. I didn't do IR Heat Gun tests.

I mention OEM fan clutch because Ford no longer sells it and it seems the aftermarket ones are not as effective.

Transmission in a 1986/7 E350 would be a C6 and any temp gauge would have to have a sensor added.

Yes the fan clutch does kick in. Originally even though we would hear the fan clutch kick in we thought it might be sticking at times and not kicking in and that was the cause of the overheating.
There used to be a sizable increase on the temp gauge before the fan clutch would kick in but now it stays pretty much in the same spot with the fan clutch cycling.

[j-d]

OP - Do you hear your Fan Clutch engage as the temp comes up? We had an '83 chassis and were lucky to have an OEM/Ford Fan Clutch that still worked. We'd hit a grade, gauge would rise, fan would roar. Come off grade, temp gauge would drop and roaring stopped. Do those things happen with your '87? I replaced our radiator with a "high efficiency" one, don't know if that changed anything, but we never overheated. I didn't do IR Heat Gun tests.

I mention OEM fan clutch because Ford no longer sells it and it seems the aftermarket ones are not as effective.

Transmission in a 1986/7 E350 would be a C6 and any temp gauge would have to have a sensor added.

[marty1300]

Mich F wrote:

marty1300 wrote:

Mich F wrote:

marty1300 wrote:
What temp can the ford engine go to before damage ? I use the scan guage and without towing I. florida it runs around 194 low to 206/7 high point so far

My 31K runs the same temperatures by my scan gauge in Florida, not towing, driving 60-65ish. My mechanic tells me that's the temps. they design them to run at, to get better fuel burn and whatnot.
I'm not all that happy seeing my transmission occasionally get up to around 204. Thinking about adding another cooler.

Mitch do you have a newer scan guage or is it your RV is newer. My 2010 E350 chassis does not Show trans temp. Although the scan guage is older than the RV.

I had the original scan gauge with a 1997 E350 that didn't show the transmission
temp. That info wasn't sent to the OBDII port on that year E350. On my 2014 MH on a 2013 E450 I have the scan Gauge 2. The MH does send the temp transmission to the OBDII port which the scan gauge picks up under the X gauge commands on the
Scan Gauge. I'm pretty sure your 2010 also puts out the transmission temp. There a code you punch in to set up for that reading. Check the scan gauge web site for more info. I don't believe the original scan gaug could read tranny temps, but I could be wrong.

thanks Mitch I will check it out

[Mich_F]

marty1300 wrote:

Mich F wrote:

marty1300 wrote:
What temp can the ford engine go to before damage ? I use the scan guage and without towing I. florida it runs around 194 low to 206/7 high point so far

My 31K runs the same temperatures by my scan gauge in Florida, not towing, driving 60-65ish. My mechanic tells me that's the temps. they design them to run at, to get better fuel burn and whatnot.
I'm not all that happy seeing my transmission occasionally get up to around 204. Thinking about adding another cooler.

Mitch do you have a newer scan guage or is it your RV is newer. My 2010 E350 chassis does not Show trans temp. Although the scan guage is older than the RV.

I had the original scan gauge with a 1997 E350 that didn't show the transmission temp. That info wasn't sent to the OBDII port on that year E350. On my 2014 MH on a 2013 E450 I have the scan Gauge 2. The MH does send the temp transmission to the OBDII port which the scan gauge picks up under the X gauge commands on the Scan Gauge. I'm pretty sure your 2010 also puts out the transmission temp. There is a code you punch in to set up for that reading. Check the scan gauge web site for more info. I don't believe the original scan gauge could read tranny temps, but I could be wrong.

[marty1300]

Mich F wrote:

marty1300 wrote:
What temp can the ford engine go to before damage ? I use the scan guage and without towing I. florida it runs around 194 low to 206/7 high point so far

My 31K runs the same temperatures by my scan gauge in Florida, not towing, driving 60-65ish. My mechanic tells me that's the temps. they design them to run at, to get better fuel burn and whatnot.
I'm not all that happy seeing my transmission occasionally get up to around 204. Thinking about adding another cooler.

Mitch do you have a newer scan guage or is it your RV is newer. My 2010 E350 chassis does not Show trans temp. Although the scan guage is older than the RV.

[Mich_F]

marty1300 wrote:
What temp can the ford engine go to before damage ? I use the scan guage and without towing I. florida it runs around 194 low to 206/7 high point so far

My 31K runs the same temperatures by my scan gauge in Florida, not towing, driving 60-65ish. My mechanic tells me that's the temps. they design them to run at, to get better fuel burn and whatnot.
I'm not all that happy seeing my transmission occasionally get up to around 204. Thinking about adding another cooler.

[marty1300]

What temp can the ford engine go to before damage ? I use the scan guage and without towing I. florida it runs around 194 low to 206/7 high point so far

[hotbyte]

You can do a lot with those temp guns. Saw a YouTube video on using one to find misfiring cylinder by checking temps at exhaust manifold right where it attaches to the head.